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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLD

November 18, 2009

Rory McIlroy

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

SCOTT CROCKETT: Thanks, as always for coming in and joining us and welcome to the Dubai World Championship. We have talked a lot this year about The Race to Dubai and what it might mean to win and now we are actually here. Just give us your thoughts on what could be a very big week in your career.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, you know, obviously it's been a long season. Started in Shanghai last year for some of the guys; I started in Hong Kong, and yeah, it's been great. You know, I think everyone has really been looking forward to it. You know, a lot of talk was about, you know, Top 60 getting into Dubai with 15 players in the bonus pool. So I think everyone is really excited for it.
We played the golf course yesterday. For how new it is, I think it's in great shape and it should be a really exciting week obviously with the four of us trying to win The Race to Dubai. Obviously there's so many great players here in the Dubai World Championship, so I think it should be a great week.
SCOTT CROCKETT: All of us who have watched over the recent weeks have seen your form is in pretty good shape. You did well in China and you did well last week. You must be pretty confident about your own game going into the week.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I feel as if I struggled a little bit early on in China, found something on the range on Thursday evening, and then yeah, my last two finishes have been very, very solid. Fourth in the World Golf Championships, best-ever finish in one of those, and then second last week again for the second time in a season.
So, yeah, I'm coming in here with a good bit of form and hopefully I can keep that going and give myself another chance to win this week. It would be nice to get a double in Dubai.
SCOTT CROCKETT: You played in the Pro-Am yesterday, give us your thoughts on the golf course itself.
RORY McILROY: The golf course is, with all new golf courses these days, big fairways, big greens, a lot of bunkering, and I think aesthetically, I think it looks very good with the white bunkers and the redwood chips. I think it will look good. There's probably a few bunkers that are positioned a little too close to the middle of the fairway. It doesn't -- some of the holes don't give you many options. So a lot of the guys will be hitting shots from the same area.
So I think -- I don't think anyone will actually get away from the field which will make it an exciting tournament. A lot of the guys will be hitting in the same place from tees to the fairways, and then from there it will be a matter of iron play and putting.

Q. At 30 in the world and you're No. 1 -- did you think you would be in this position? Did you ever in your wildest dreams think you would be in this position at this stage of your career?
RORY McILROY: I think I got off to a great start to the season this year, obviously winning in Dubai. And I said after that, my goal would be to try and break into the Top-10 in the world by the end of the season, and I've got pretty close to that. So hopefully another good week this week might get me into that Top-10.
But you know, when I turned pro in September of '07, I never thought that I would be able to get to this point so quickly. It just shows you that if you're willing to putt the work in and you practise the right things, then this is possible. So I'm very fortunate to be in this position, and you know, hopefully if I have a good week this week, I can finish off what has been a great season.

Q. The championship and The Race, if you win the Championship, you obviously win The Race, but would winning The Race be a consolation for you if you didn't win tournament?
RORY McILROY: Definitely.

Q. How big of a consolation? How highly do you regard The Race?
RORY McILROY: If you win The Race to Dubai, it shows how consistent you've been over the course of the year. Whenever I went to the top of The Race after the Dunhill Links, I think I earned just over two million Euros and I thought to myself, I'll probably need to get to about 3 million Euros to win. So I'm now just over 2 1/2, and I still think I'll need a very good finish to finish it off, if not a win. I'm still thinking about winning the Dubai World Championship and if I can do that, then everything else will take care of itself.

Q. Did you think by the end of the season, it would come down to just four of you, bearing in mind Paul is injured?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think it's been -- I think this has been one of the most exciting finishes of The European Tour season for a long time.
So I think the concept of The Race to Dubai and obviously the season-ending Dubai World Championship, I think the whole idea has worked very well this year. There seems to be a lot more excitement about the Money List and about The Race to Dubai.
So it's worked well, and obviously it comes down to the four of us, and whoever can play the best this week will obviously have a great chance.

Q. Could you just tell us your thinking behind deciding to take up PGA Tour membership this year, and because you are doing that, is this your best chance of being European No. 1, if not your last chance?
RORY McILROY: I don't think it will be my last chance. You know, I mean, I had an opportunity to join the PGA Tour, playing basically the best fields in golf. Most of the events I'll play over there will have Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker; you have all of the best players in the world. At the end of the day, I want to challenge myself against the best. The only way to do that is by playing in the best fields possible.
So that was my thinking behind it, and I think I'll become a better player by playing a little bit more over there, as well. I'll be playing with better players, which obviously you can learn a little bit from that. And becoming more comfortable in that environment; obviously looking ahead in my career, I want to try to challenge for majors and everything. I think that will benefit me in the long run.

Q. Just on the same theme, is it just a question about adding on the FedEx events, or will you play a much fuller schedule in America?
RORY McILROY: Any just added on the FedEx events next year, then from the events I played this year, I would fulfill my obligations to play my 15 events. But I'll probably play a couple more anyway.

Q. Colin Montgomerie loved the fact that when he was in his prime, The Race came to a climax in Valderrama which he considered just about the toughest course played all year. How tough is this and would you like to have a stab at a winning score this week?
RORY McILROY: I don't think it's as tricky as Valderrama. You know, I don't think it's one of the toughest courses that we'll play all year.
But saying that, because no one has played it before, I don't know if the scoring will be quite -- I could say mid teens maybe, 14, 15, something like that. Yeah, I'd say something like that would probably have a good chance to win.

Q. Just on the PGA Tour again, obviously it was not an easy decision for you, would you say what almost stopped you doing it; what were the considerations that were sort of making you think twice about it?
RORY McILROY: Well, I went around looking for different opinions and a little bit of advice. I went to Clarkey, Westy, Chubby, Ernie. I went to a few of the guys, and I said, "Look, I'm thinking about it, what do you think?"
And a few of them said, "Well, you know, there's no rush, why don't you try and win a bit more over here before going over there."
And then a few other guys, I spoke to Jeev who has taken his -- he went over there to fulfill or to try and get into the Top-125 on the Money List, and he said to me, "Why not? I mean, you're young, you've got the -- you know that you've played well over there, and do you want to play over there."
"Well, I love playing over there."
He said, "Well, there you go."
I just think I had to make the decision on my own at the end of the day, and it's something I really wanted to do. So I had to listen to my own heart and, yeah, I sort of made the decision myself.

Q. Just to follow up to the last question, how tough is this course compared to say the Emirates Course where you won the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year?
RORY McILROY: It's hard to say because the Emirates plays a little differently. There's not much rough here this week. I think it's going to suit someone that can hit it -- it's a long golf course, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Alvaro Quiros did very well this week.
But yeah, it's hard, because we have never played here before, and you don't really get a sense of how good the scoring is going to be; but I think if you can shoot something below 70 every day, then you're going to have a very good chance.

Q. What you've seen of the course so far, how does the course suit up to your game?
RORY McILROY: I think it sets up great for me. It's long. It's wide off the fairway; I can take driver out and give it a rip. The fairway bunkers are quite generous and there's a lot of mid -- I hit a lot of 5-, 6-, 7-irons into the greens yesterday, which I think is one of the -- is the strongest part of my game, especially last week, my iron play was fantastic.
I'm looking forward to this week. I think the course sets up well for me, and I'll hopefully give it a good run.

Q. We were talking to Ernie just now and he said the same as everybody else has said, and this will make you blush: He said a lot of very nice things about you, as so many people have said about you as a player and as a person and as they call you, a kid. Are you able to describe to us here and now what it feels like to know that so many other people say so many nice things about you?
RORY McILROY: (Smiling) yeah, it's great. You know, I just feel very lucky that I'm able to play with the likes of Ernie. It was only a couple of years ago I was watching these guys on TV and thinking, oh, I'd love to be able to do that one day. And to be sitting here now, 13th in the world, leading The Race to Dubai, I'm just really enjoying it. This is what I've always wanted to do.
You know, I'm sort of just living out my dream, and I couldn't be happier. If I can play golf like that for the rest of my career, happy and realizing how lucky I am to be playing a great game like this for a living, then I think I'll be doing okay. But it's great for guys like Ernie and other guys to be saying these great things about me.
I suppose I'll just have to keep doing it and keep trying to get better.

Q. Sorry to go back to the PGA Tour thing, but if you've got Chubby, Darren and Lee saying, hold on a minute, why don't you just play a bit more; how difficult was it to go against that advice? And also, do you feel you've reached this age now where if you've got your A Game, you're going to challenge to win anywhere?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, the thing about -- I think Lee has tried playing in America, Darren has tried playing in America, and it didn't really work for them. I think they were giving me advice on their past experiences, and I feel as if I've done pretty well in the States this year, and I enjoy it. I love going over there. I sort of get the feeling that they would rather stay in Europe, and I want to venture out and I want to try and test my skills and test my game against the best in the world. Sometimes that's in America. Sometimes that's over here.
I just want to play in the best events whenever I can.

Q. Knowing this season still has a few days to go, but with your move to America, do you have in mind already your goals and aims for next year?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I mean, I've got -- honestly, this is the end of a very competitive season for me. I've still got two more weeks left, the World Cup and Sun City. But after that, I have six weeks off, and I'll have a chance -- this has been a 12-month season for me. It's been quite long, so I'll have a chance to sit back, reflect, and analyse what I've done throughout the year.
And then when I've done that, I can think ahead to next year and set my goals and see where I want to be in maybe a year's time down the line. I haven't thought ahead about next year. My mind is still on this week, and obviously the two weeks after this. But when I get home over Christmas and new year, I'll definitely think about where I want to be next year and what I want to achieve.

Q. Just going back to the America stuff and just to get it completely clear, is it right to say that Chubby, Lee, Darren and Ernie all thought that maybe you should stay here and win, and it was the conversation with Jeev, your heart wanted to go and the conversation with Jeev was the tipping point that said, yeah?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I had lunch with Jeev during The World Match Play Championship, and it was probably -- I sat down with Jeev. It was just normal conversation. I didn't make a point. He had just come back from Turning Stone in Vegas where he hoped to wrap up his card for next year. I said, "I'm really thinking about going."
He said, "If you want to, why not. It's great. If you enjoy it, why not?" This is a guy that holds tour cards on about six different tours, or four different tours, so it's easy for him to say. Yeah, I wanted to go and I think that was probably the conversation that sort of swung it for me.

Q. In your 606 blog conversations with Lee last week, you made some remarks about Nick Faldo?
RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. What were you alluding to there, and if you're going to win this week, would you rather win it the Seve way or the Faldo way?
RORY McILROY: I think what I was trying to -- I think I was trying to sort of stir it up a little bit. It wasn't anything against Nick. Nick's helped me a lot. I think the thing about 606, it's a bit of banter, and I think just to -- I like going on it to see what people are saying, and I'll throw in the odd comment to stir it up a bit. I think it's just quite funny.
It was just -- it was a sort of a retaliation to a comment, as well, posted by someone and they were saying that their favorite golfer was Nick Faldo and I said, well, however could it be that whenever Seve was doing what he was doing. But it was no big deal.

Q. In terms of how you want to be remembered as a player, the Seve way, not the Faldo way?
RORY McILROY: I would have -- yeah, I think it's nothing against Nick but I think Seve had a lot more fans than Nick did. Seve, he was the catalyst for European golf. He was the man.

Q. Have you been sort of made conscious from the other side of the fact that you're going to probably be treated like royalty once you go to America? I just wonder if someone made that point, because obviously you have been hugely popular this year; did that play a part in the decision, as well?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I think I suppose I've been popular because I've embraced the whole tour. As I said, I love going over there and playing. I think it's great.
But yeah, I've obviously made a lot of fans over there, but that wasn't why I wanted to go over there. I wanted to go over there to play against the best players in the world.

Q. Do you have any doubts or anxieties at all, playing over there?
RORY McILROY: No.

Q. Just a question about the newness of the course. It looks like the 17th is going to go down as the signature hole here, modelled on Sawgrass. Can you make comparisons with the one at Sawgrass?
RORY McILROY: There's water. (Laughter) That's about it. (Laughter).
It's a lot longer. I mean, I hit 6-iron in yesterday. Sawgrass is only a 9-iron or a wedge. The green is a lot bigger than the one in Sawgrass. And yet, the whole area of the island is bigger, but I'm sure if you are standing there with a one-shot lead on Sunday, it will look a little bit smaller than what it is.
It's more, it's quite a shallow green, but it's wide. Obviously if the wind picks up downwind or into the wind, then it will become trickier.

Q. Would it be fair to call it the signature hole of the new course?
RORY McILROY: It probably would be the signature hole but my favorite hole is the one before that. I think the 16th is the best hole on the golf course. I think it's a very demanding hole.

Q. Just about the rivalry with Lee, the fact that he's been so resurgent this year, has moved back into the top 5 in the world, is it going to make it sweeter that you have gone head-to-head and come out on top over the last few weeks?
RORY McILROY: Yeah (nodding).

Q. Because you grew up admiring him, or what?
RORY McILROY: It would be very nice to beat him. (Laughter).

Q. Did you have an invite to Tiger's tournament in December, first of all?
RORY McILROY: Did I?

Q. Have an invite to Tiger's event?
RORY McILROY: I wasn't high enough in the World Ranking at the time that the list went out.

Q. You had an invite before, didn't you?
RORY McILROY: Well, sort of. It was sort of -- he asked e, "Would you like to play."
And I said, "Well, I'd love to." The stipulation was that I had to play the AT&T in July and there was talk of The European Tour going to -- or The European Open going to Portrush at that time. If I had to miss The European Open at Portrush, I wouldn't have been too popular back home.

Q. And what's the scheduled start next year?
RORY McILROY: Abu Dhabi. So start in Abu Dhabi, and do the desert swing. Very similar to what I did this year.

Q. First event in America?
RORY McILROY: Match Play.

Q. So many amateurs who reach world No. 1 status find it incredibly difficult to transition from being the Amateur to the professional. Now we acknowledge your exceptional talent, but do you think there are any other reasons why you have been able to bridge the gap that so many amateurs can't do?
RORY McILROY: I think I was very fortunate. I think I played, I think it was double figures, European Tour events, before I turned pro. So I was very fortunate to be able to get invites to the Irish Open, the British Masters, Scottish Open, I played in The Open Championship, Spanish Open, Portuguese Open. I've played all of those events as an amateur.
So I got to know about The European Tour. I got to know some of the guys on The European Tour. I think that made the transition a little easier for me, knowing that I wasn't completely out of my comfort zone. I think that's probably one of the reasons, and I think it was the same thing with Sergio. Sergio played something like 15 or 18 European Tour events before he turned pro, and obviously he made the transition pretty easily as well.

Q. I spoke to Danny Lee and he said that his confidence has been knocked by playing in the United States so early. Did you find that in any way when you played those first few professional tournaments; was your confidence knocked?
RORY McILROY: No, because I finished tied fifth in The Match Play, 13th at the Honda Classic, and I was up there after two rounds at Doral. So I'm a pretty confident player, pretty confident guy, so it would take more than that for my confidence to get knocked, I would say.

Q. When the prize money and for this tournament and The Race was cut, how much was that spoken about by the players, and how much is money going to be a factor on Sunday if it's a double whammy, with two things on the line?
RORY McILROY: The prize money, I don't think anyone really cared. It's still a massive is amount of money. So I don't think whether you're winning 1.6 million for this week or 1.25, I mean, it doesn't really matter. It's still a massive amount of money.
And yeah, obviously on Sunday, if it comes down to the wire, it is a massive amount of money that we are playing for, and I'm sure that will be in everyone's mind.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Rory, thank you very much. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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