|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PORTUGAL MASTERSOctober 17, 2007Rory McIlroyVILAMOURA, PORTUGAL SCOTT CROCKETT: It's been a wonderful start for you on The European Tour this year, maybe just reflect on that and where it's going and where you are now in terms of your career. RORY McILROY: Yeah, as you all know, it's been a very successful start for me on Tour. I've been playing really well for the last month or so and I knew I was playing well in the British Masters, just didn't hole my fair share of putts. And then went to the Dunhill the next week and hit as well as I did at The Belfry, holed a lot of putts and that really sort of got me going. Played Madrid last week and played really well again. Had a chance to win sort of on the last day. Pretty disappointed that I couldn't really get anything going, only shot 70, but overall it's been a great start for me. And you know, I couldn't have hoped anything better and not having to go to Tour School, and being able to play a full schedule, it's pretty much been a perfect start. SCOTT CROCKETT: Obviously this week, coming into it with a bit of confidence as well. RORY McILROY: I saw the golf course yesterday, it sort of suits me, hitting a lot of fairways, and a lot of greens. The greens are so good, you'll have a lot of chances. It will probably be a low-scoring golf course as well. If I can hit the ball in the fairways like I did in Madrid and Dunhill and the British Masters and hole a few putts, you never know what can happen. Main goal for this week is try to get a top two and get into the Volvo Masters, and if I can do that, it would be a great way to end the season. Q. Have you had played here this week? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I played on Tuesday. I played yesterday afternoon, and I was going to play nine and then nine this morning. Tried to get a bit of range work yesterday and had a bit of practise this morning. I'm happy with the way things are going. Q. Two Top-10s, does that put any pressure on you or do you just go onwards? RORY McILROY: Yeah, onwards and upwards. Obviously hoping to have a Top-2 finish because that will get me into the Volvo Masters. If I can do that, that would be a good way to end the season. But I don't think it puts that much pressure on me, because I know myself and I'm playing well. So if I can just go out and try to do the same things I've been doing the last couple of weeks, I don't think I'll have any problem. Q. How have you found the transition from amateur to professional, has it been surprised you how easy you've managed to compete? RORY McILROY: Not really, I've been quite fortunate in that I got to play a lot of events as an amateur in the professionals events. And I think that sort of stood me in good stead, because I got to know a lot of the guys out here and be comfortable in my surroundings. I think it's surprised me that I've done so well so early, but I think I've probably found the transition easier than some guys because I've played a lot of events as an amateur on The European Tour. Q. Do you set a new goal each tournament or do you just go out and play? RORY McILROY: No, I just try to go out and play, and as I said, top two is a goal for me, and if it happens, it happens and it's no disaster because I've had such a good start anyway. Just try to shoot a low score on the day and that's pretty much it. Q. You've got the heavier putter for slower greens, have you gone back? RORY McILROY: No, no. I felt comfortable with it so I'm going to stick with it. I don't think I'll be changing it for a good while. Q. Did you go home Sunday night? RORY McILROY: No, I flew home Sunday night, stayed at home Monday and came Tuesday morning. Q. Are you getting a lot of reaction from the players? RORY McILROY: Yes, it's been fine, a lot of: "Congratulations, well played, well done." Q. Any particular comments? RORY McILROY: Just everyone's been really nice and saying congratulations. I got a text message from Lee just after the Dunhill, saying, "I told you you were good enough to make it out here." That was pretty nice of him to text me. Overall, everyone's been really nice, and, yeah, I think I've been received quite well. Q. What about the reaction from the general public -- RORY McILROY: No, I don't really know, I haven't been home much. I just try to take it all in stride. I'll go home after this week and we'll see what it's like. Obviously I'm a professional golfer 25, 30 weeks a year. But I'm still the same guy, still trying to playing golf, trying to get the little white ball in the hole and that's it. Q. Does it surprise you that you're 2:1 with William Hill to be on the next Ryder Cup team and 10:1 to win on the PGA Tour next year; will you even play the PGA Tour next year? RORY McILROY: I don't know. You know as good as I do. I don't know how to answer that. Obviously I'm doing okay at the Ryder Cup standings at the minute but that's only after a few events. If I play well next year, you never know what can happen. I'm just trying to put it at the back of my mind at the minute and go out and play golf and try to get my first win under my belt. That's all I can really do. I'm not trying to go out and make The Ryder Cup team next year. It's not a huge goal of mine because I have plenty more years to play Ryder Cups. I just want to go out and try to play golf and that's it. 2:1 to play on the Ryder Cup next year is pretty extreme. Q. Climbing up the World Rankings, you may be able to overtake Darren this week. RORY McILROY: Hopefully. I only spoke to him last night in the hotel and that was about the last couple of weeks. I'm at 240 at the minute and stay in the top 200 after this week. Q. When you set out a few months ago -- top two would be fantastic. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it would have been, absolutely. Q. You talk about wanting to play well and play golf, is that increasingly difficult with the attention and do you find it intrusive at all with the success? RORY McILROY: No, I play well under pressure. I feel the pressure I put on myself to perform well. I'm not saying I don't care what other people think, but as long as I'm happy with where I'm at with my game and what I'm doing, then that's all that matters to me. Q. So what pressure have you put on yourself? What goals have you set? RORY McILROY: Well, I mean, you sort of -- every time you go out and play golf, you try to play your best and get the most out of your game on that day. You know, that's the only thing that I want to do is try to get most out of my game as I can. If I think I've achieved my best, I'm happy. It can't go your way all the time, which sort of happened last week in Madrid. Couldn't really get it going but I tried my best and that's all I could do. If I can keep doing that, I'll be happy. Q. Have you learned things about yourself? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I played in the last group last week which was a great experience for me, just to sort of know how that feels. So hopefully I'll get into that position again and I'll know better how to handle it. But I think I handled it pretty well last week. As I said, I just couldn't get it going. Every time I picked up a couple of shots, I dropped one or two. It's been a whirlwind this week and just trying to take it all in. Q. Will you play next week? RORY McILROY: Not going to. It would be nice to be the youngest winner but I said last week, whether you are 18, 19 or 20, it's still young to win. Not going to try go out with the mind-set of being the youngest winner on Tour because the main thing for me at the minute is go out and perform the best I can in each tournament I play. If I can do that, I'll be happy. Q. Have you got a full-time coach? RORY McILROY: He was in Hollywood, coaching me since I'm about five or six. Michael Banger. Q. How often have you spoken to him or been to see him? RORY McILROY: I speak to him after every round. Spoke to him after every round in Madrid. I was on TV quite a lot so he got to see how I looked. I went down to see him between The Belfry and Dunhill, and I'll obviously go down to see him this week -- or next week, I the week off. Yeah, he's been coaching me since I was five or six, and he knows my swing better than anyone. Q. Has he been happy with your performance? RORY McILROY: I'm sure he has been. I see don't know why he shouldn't be. Q. Anything he saw on TV? RORY McILROY: If it's not broken, don't fix it. Q. With the new generation coming on -- RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've played a lot the last couple of years. I've played a few junior tournaments with him and he was at Oklahoma at university. But I played in event that he won. And if Pablo can go out and European Tour events, there's no reason why I can't. There's Pablo and Oliver Fisher, he's got his Tour card. Sort of saying to myself, if Olly can do it, there's no reason why I can't. But there is a new sort of generation coming through at the minute, and it's very good and it's pretty cool. Q. Have you had time at all to -- RORY McILROY: No, whenever I play a shot and I don't say, oh, I might lose money and Ryder Cup points. I just play the best shot I can. I think I played aggressively but also smartly. I don't do anything out there that's absolutely stupid. I know my limitations and what I can do with a golf club. And if I can just sort of -- I've got Gordon on the bag with me which is great. He gets me around the golf course pretty well and he knows the right shot to hit at the right time. But I mean, I play aggressively and I'm not going to change that just because of money or Ryder Cup points. Q. Is there some entertainer inside you, do you enjoy that aspect of your profession? RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously you've seen me in amateur events, I love playing in front of huge galleries. I think it sort of spurs me on as well, I don't know if it's to try to prove to people or show them what I can do or whatever, but I seem to play well in front of big galleries. Q. What other tournaments do you know you're playing? RORY McILROY: Well, I've got Hong Kong and MasterCard Masters, and then I think I'm going to go to Carlsbad, Titleist, and spend a three days there and pretty much be most of December. Q. Of all the shots you've hit in three tournaments, what's been the one that you've enjoyed most? RORY McILROY: Probably the shot on 17 at Dunhill the last day. Yeah, that's probably -- those last two holes at Dunhill on Sunday were very nice. Yeah, playing that 17th was pretty cool, hitting the great shot that I did and holing the putt and following with a birdie on the last, as well, perfect way to end the week. Q. What level of pressure was that, playing that second shot, playing the last hole? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was -- to be honest, I wasn't thinking about anything at that particular moment. I was just trying to birdie the last two holes and post a number. Luckily I was very fortunate that a couple of guys made mistakes on the way home. But it gave me a right third and I nearly secured my card. Q. That shot was 6-iron, how many yards? RORY McILROY: It was about 195 yards -- Gordie, he told me to hit it 20 feet right. I didn't listen to him. Q. Two-shot lead coming down the last, would you settle for a bogey? RORY McILROY: I wouldn't play for a bogey. I would try to hit it on the middle of the green and make two putts. A win is a win, if you win by 12 or one, it's all the same. Q. Being a great admirer of Faldo and Tiger Woods as well, are those still players you look up to? RORY McILROY: Well, Tiger's Tiger. He's probably going to be one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest player of all time. I think anyone my age if you asked who was a role model in golf growing up, they would say Tiger Woods because he's done so much for the game. But I mean, I'm not going to try to model myself. I'm going to go out and be Rory McIlroy and see what I can do. Q. Has anyone special got in touch with you that you weren't expecting to hear from? RORY McILROY: Yeah, there's been so many phone calls. - but I think just the amount of support I've got has been tremendous and everybody wants me to do well back home. It's been really great. But you know, yeah, I don't know if I've had anyone really special -- Q. Somebody you haven't spoken to ever before? RORY McILROY: No, not really. SCOTT CROCKETT: We all wish you well this week. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|