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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 17, 2010

Rory McIlroy

MARANA, ARIZONA

STEVE TODD: Thanks for coming in. Hard fought victory. Just how deep did you have to dig for that one?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean definitely didn't make it very easy for myself today.
I got off to a very slow start, and Kevin got off to a very good start. 4 down through 6, so it wasn't looking too good. I just hung in there and played some good golf around the turn. I think I hit a really good drive on 15, which after missing the putt on the previous hole to get back to 1-down. And then to go square through 16, I knew I was in a pretty good position. And I think I hung in well and had a great drive on the last, which I think put him under a little bit of pressure. And he hit a bit of a wayward one.
I was pretty fortunate to get through today. I'll need to play a lot better if I want to progress into the latter stages of the tournament.
STEVE TODD: Was there any one particular hole?
RORY McILROY: I eagled the 8th and birdied 9 and 10. And I gave him it back at 11. I made bogey there. But I think those holes were really the turning point where at least I hit a couple of good shots and got a little bit of momentum going there. And, yeah, so I think that was pretty much it. And I think the drive on 15 was a big -- a key moment, as well.
STEVE TODD: Oliver Wilson tomorrow, you know more about him than today's opponent, probably.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Ollie is a great competitor, Ryder Cup player, has gained a lot of experience through that. He's going to be a very tough opponent. So I'll have to play a little better than what I did today to get through it. And if I can just get off -- if we can get off to a better start than we did today, then hopefully that should be the key.
I'm looking forward to it. There will probably be a few more words spoken out there tomorrow than there was today.

Q. Let me apologize in advance for asking this question now, but we're on British newspaper deadlines, and I know it was a brilliant comeback from you. We just heard that Tiger Woods is going to make a statement on Friday. He's going to speak at TOUR headquarters and apologize for his behavior, his agent says, and possibly announce a come back to tournament golf and just wondered if you -- probably obviously the first you've heard of it. Do you have any instant reaction to it?
RORY McILROY: Not really.

Q. Not at all surprised he's making the statement in the middle of a big tournament?
RORY McILROY: He's got to come out at some point. I suppose he might want to get something back against the sponsor that dropped him. No, I don't know. It's just -- it's not -- I mean, it's just went on for so long, I think. I'm sick of hearing about it. And I'm just looking forward to when he's getting back on the golf course.

Q. When things go against you like that as they do early on in a round, how do you keep yourself going? Did you feel when you went 4 down through 6 and when he chipped in, for example, do you really feel this is over for me and how do you overcome that?
RORY McILROY: I was looking on the positives, because I thought I could get to Ravenhill on Friday night for the Ulster game.
You know, we both missed the green on 6. I hit a great bunker shot to 3 feet and he chips in behind me. And I was thinking, well, here we go. But I suppose you've just got to -- you know, over 18 holes it doesn't really even itself out, but if you play long enough, you know, he's going to hit a few bad shots. I'm going to hit a few bad shots, and luckily enough the bad shots I hit today were at the beginning. And then I made a bit of a strong finish.

Q. What happened at 3?
RORY McILROY: 3? Oh, he hit -- what happened to me? The wind was off to the left, I was hitting it at the pin and trying to hold it against the wind and just came out of it a little bit. I came out of a few shots to be honest.

Q. You seem to be angry with yourself, Rory, is that sort of --
RORY McILROY: I'm not angry with myself, I just -- I didn't -- I suppose I feel very lucky to get through, because I didn't play very well. And I know I'll have to play better tomorrow, but I suppose I should be probably -- you know, I just didn't -- I just wasn't very happy with the way I played, so it wasn't -- that was about it.

Q. I know the standards are very different, but you must have been in those sort of situations many times as an amateur, does that come back to you?
RORY McILROY: It does. JP said to me on the 7th green, he said three or four down after 7 in the west of Ireland, I don't know, but I remember in my first round match of the Ulster Boys when I won it, I was 3-down after nine against Paul Hanlon, and then came back to win on 18, and then came back to win in the tournament.

Q. You remember these things?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, you do remember them, definitely. And there's been a few times in my amateur career where I've been a couple down with a few to play and been able to win. And you sort of draw from that. Obviously the standards are a lot higher, but you still have to -- you do the same things to beat your opponent. You have to better him on any given hole, I suppose.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RORY McILROY: 2-down with four to play. Yeah, I was in the exact same situation last year against hunter as I was today against Kevin. And birdied the last two holes to win. I took a lot from that, as well. And I knew if I could get him up the last today I knew that I'd be in a pretty good position.
STEVE TODD: Thanks, Rory. Best of luck.

End of FastScripts

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