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IRISH OPEN

May 16, 2008

Rory McIlroy

ADARE, IRELAND

Q. Congratulations. That was a terrific approach into the 18th, one of the shots of the week so far.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, played nicely today. Sort of struggled early on, but was 3-over after three. And then the last 15 holes I played in 3-under which is really good out there today. At least I finished the round well with the four on the last, and hopefully that will give me a bit of positive energy going into the weekend.

Q. That birdie does leave you level par for the day, 2-under for the tournament, you're right in there.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm only four off the lead which I'm quite surprised. With not much wind, I thought the guys would have kicked on a bit, but happy to be where I am and in good position for the weekend. Hopefully I can play well tomorrow and get myself in contention and I'll be very happy.

Q. Are you setting aside for a big finish here?
RORY McILROY: I'll see what happens. I'm playing nicely. If I can get a few putts to drop over the next couple of days -- -- I think on this course I just need to hang on and not make too many mistakes. At the end of the week if you do that you'll be pretty close.

Q. This is your second Irish Open, your first as a professional, are you enjoying the experience?
RORY McILROY: It's fantastic, with the atmosphere and the crowds and everything, really enjoying it. I couldn't have played much better I suppose and have good friends and family here. It's been a good week so far and hopefully I can make it an even better one last couple of days.

Q. Your maturity as a professional, you showed maturity the way you came back after the start.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely, that bogey on 2, and then the double on 3, I sort of -- you know, I go out with the attitude that if I can par every hole and really crank out a couple on the par 5s, and that's what I did today. I birdied the par 36th and birdied the ninth as well and had eight straight pars and had a nice birdie at the last.
Overall it was a steady day. Hopefully I can go into the weekend and shoot a couple of good scores.

Q. You must be looking forward to moving day, Saturday.
RORY McILROY: Moving day, I've played well in third rounds this year.

Q. Near record galleries for the second day in the Irish Open and playing with a huge one around you, and you have Harrington's gallery to compete with, that must have been fun.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think with all of the Irish guys doing so well the last few weeks, it just adds to the atmosphere and excitement of the tournament. With Clarke and McGinley up there, I'm not that far behind. And Harrington is even; if he can get a couple over last two or three, he's well in there, as well. There's a few Irish guys up there and I'm sure there will be big cards at the weekend and create a great atmosphere.

Q. Some of the more senior players described the golf course as a monster; would you agree with that assessment?
RORY McILROY: I wouldn't say it's a monster. It's nowhere near U.S. Open tough. But you have to drive it well and put it in the fairways to give yourself chances to hit it close on the greens.
I've said this all week; if you hit fairways and hit greens, you're in the going to be far away, because it's not a putting contest like it was last week. If you don't hit fairways, you don't hit greens, you're going to struggle.

Q. What did you hit --
RORY McILROY: 5-iron yesterday, 6-iron today. 6-iron today was 206 yards.

Q. Like many other putts, looked like it was going in, didn't it?
RORY McILROY: Over-read it, like a few putts today. But I'll go to the putting green now and work on it and hopefully improve for tomorrow.
It was okay, I was making putts for pars today, no problem but making them for birdies is a different story. I felt as if I should be doing better, but then you look at all the guys scores, there's no one really making a move. You feel as if you're struggling but you're actually doing pretty well.

Q. Were you surprised the score leading when you went out is still the leading score now?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I thought either Richard Green or Jeev or Edfors would have made a little bit of a move, but I'm not complaining, I'm closer to the lead that way.

Q. Nicely positioned?
RORY McILROY: Exactly.

Q. Do you like this style of golf?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think I play better when it's tough golf courses, because I mean, I've never really -- I do put quite well but I'm not one to shoot 20-, 24-under when other guys are, like last week. I didn't play in Italy because I just got back from Japan, but also 25-under won and that's not really the sort of golf course that I don't think I would do well. Where you have Robert Karlsson, he seems to be a low-score specialist, in Wales last year he shot a really low number and last week he was doing well.
But yeah I think I probably do play better on these sort of golf courses. I'm not saying I get complacent but I do concentrate and really do try and work hard to get a score out of it.

Q. Who do you work on the greens with?
RORY McILROY: Just me. I'll go and do a few drills.

End of FastScripts

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