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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY MORGAN STANLEYJune 2, 2010Rory McIlroyDUBLIN, OHIO LAURA HILL: Good morning, everybody. We'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy, making his debut at the Memorial Tournament. Turn it over to you for opening comments. RORY MCILROY: I got in Sunday night. Played the golf course Monday. It was a real pleasure to play. You know, I'd never really -- I watched a little bit of it on TV, but played on Monday, and it's such a good golf course. The conditions of the greens. The conditions of the whole place. It feels like it's going to be a really special event, especially as it's Jack Nicklaus' -- it's his tournament. He hosts us, and he really makes us feel welcome. So it's shaping up to be a good week. LAURA HILL: Let's take some questions. Q. Rory, what, if any, are your experiences with Jack, meeting him? RORY MCILROY: First time I met him was in the car parking of a mall down in West Palm Beach, which is quite funny, yeah. It was during the '09 Honda Classic. And then this year, I sat down and had lunch with him during the Honda Classic week in the players club, sort of picked his brain. I was struggling. I was putting myself into positions to win a lot and not really finishing them off, and he was best at obviously finishing off tournaments. So I sat down with him for an hour and a half and just asked him questions, and he told me a few stories. Really, it was great to hear from him what his thoughts were on winning and what he did and how he stayed focused and everything. So it was great for him to take time out of his schedule to spend time with me and have a chat. Q. What was your first question to him? Do you remember? RORY MCILROY: I just sat and listened. I just want to win. Obviously, he was the best at doing that. Q. What was his advice to you? Anything that you gleaned from what he told you? RORY MCILROY: He was very big on patience, very big on if he was in contention, going on the stretch, the back nine holes, he always let the other person make the mistake. You know, he told me a story about a U.S. Open -- I can't remember when it was, but he had to putt to win, and he blew it like four feet past, and then he missed the one coming back. So he three-putted to lose. I don't know when it was, pretty early on in his career. He said, from that point on, I said to myself, I'd never three-putt again. So he said that was one of his -- he didn't mind making a bogey if it was -- he hit a bad shot or it was a mental error, but three-putting for bogey, he hated that. So I took a little bit from that. Yeah, I think the biggest thing was he just went about his own game and did his own thing. He actually said for the majors he prepared a little differently than everyone else. He went to the major championship venue the week before and actually played a 72-hole tournament in his head. So he'd go on Tuesday and play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, obviously get to know the greens, get to know the course. He'd go home for the weekend, spend the weekend with family, and not come back to the tournament until maybe Tuesday evening. So he'd already seen the course, and he'd already -- you know, he'd already mapped out what he wanted to do. He knew his game plan. When he got back on Tuesday, he said that he heard a lot of the guys complaining about the rough or complaining about the conditions or whatever, and he said he knew that he had a slight advantage over them already before he teed it up. So he was very big in preparation. Q. When you're sitting there for an hour and a half with Jack, was there any, wow, I can't believe I'm doing this for you? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, sitting there the whole time, I was afraid to open my mouth. I just wanted to listen. It was incredible. Then it was funny. He sat down on the Tuesday of that week, and then the Wednesday I'm in the player family night at the tournament, and he comes and sits beside me. So I had lunch with him two days in a row. I can't believe I'm doing this. It was pretty cool. I sat down on Monday as well, just chatted to him a little bit. He sent me a really nice note after Quail Hollow, which was really nice of him. So he's obviously, you know, tracking my progress a little bit. Q. I assume, when you ran into him in the parking lot, awe approached him, I presume? RORY MCILROY: It was weird. It was the week of the world match, but I just got put on the quarters on the Sunday. So we flew to West Palm Beach. So I drove in with my dad, parked in the parking lot, and I seen Jack and another man walking towards us. And I'm like, dad, that's Jack Nicklaus. He said, I think you're right, yeah. I sort of stopped and looked. You know, I went over and introduced myself. Mr. Nicklaus, I'm Rory McIlroy, really pleased to meet you. He said, yeah, I was watching you at the Match Play that week because he designed the golf course there at Dove Martin, and the greens were getting a little bit of criticism. So he asked me about them. And I said, no, they were fine. Q. Rory, Mr. Nicklaus said yesterday, when offering advice to young players, it was all about preparation. As your career and your game develops, has your preparation developed along with that? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, definitely. You know, as I said earlier, the way he prepared was probably different than anyone else, but he did his own thing and whatever worked for him, obviously, it did work. Yeah, I mean, if you're 100% prepared to go on that 1st tee on Thursday knowing you've done everything you can to be ready to play, that's all you can do. Then you've just got to go out and hit the golf shots. But definitely it gives you that little bit more confidence knowing that you've prepared properly going into the tournament. Q. Jack didn't take any credit for your 62, but did that play anything he said help with that? Or was that just one of those things? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean, I had that chat with him at the end of February, start of March. And that took me nearly a couple of months to win. It wasn't like -- I wasn't getting impatient or anything. But I think really staying patient and not being -- you said, you do realize you're 20 years old, don't you? Yeah, I mean, I was -- I ran into him and Barbara yesterday, and Barbara says, he's taking all the credit for that 62. So no. As I said, it was just a privilege to sit and talk with him for a while and just chat and get to sort of get an insight to what he thought whenever he was in contention and what he did to win. Q. Just wondering if the reaction, if you sense a difference in the reaction to you after your win. RORY MCILROY: Yeah, definitely. Especially over here in the States. I mean, back in Europe, it's pretty much the same. Yeah, I mean, a lot more people recognize me and want my autograph or everything like that. Yeah, it's been great. The reaction has been fantastic. It's amazing what a win does for you. You know, it really gives me a lot of confidence going into the second half of the season, and I hope that I can use that confidence to play some better golf. Q. Here in North America, do you get an opportunity when you're in a tournament, do you get an opportunity to see anything or go out anywhere off the course? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. When I was in Charlotte at Quail Hollow, I got to watch the Bobcats play the Magic. When I was in Doral, I got to see the Heat play a couple of games. So I still get out and do a little bit. Q. Do you see Jack as a mentor? Do you think it will be an ongoing relationship? RORY MCILROY: I don't know. I mean, I'm just happy to be able to spend time with him now and again and talk. You know, I was -- I feel very privileged that I was able to do that. It's obviously helped me over the last few months, what he said to me. You know, hopefully if I ever need a little bit more advice, I'll be able to go to him and ask him. Q. You reached out to him? RORY MCILROY: No, not really. I think he -- Q. He took an interest? RORY MCILROY: Sort of. I think it was basically, I think he heard I was going to work with Bob Bertella, and he said, well -- or someone said Bob Bertella hasn't won 18 majors. I still work with Bob, but it was just Jack just sat down and said, look, I think I'm pretty good at winning tournaments, and I think I've got a little bit that could help you out. Q. So there's good nuggets there? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. Q. Rory, Robert Allenby talked yesterday about, I think, winning a professional tournament when I was 19 and how he thinks now. There is so much better coaching, and the reason for maybe more and more younger guys being able to win tournaments, it seems like they're getting even younger than you. Mateo is 16. Why do you think it seems to be getting more younger guys are qualified to play at this level now? RORY MCILROY: I think the coaching actually got better. I think the equipment has helped a lot. Some maybe 20, 30 years ago, you know, you wouldn't think a 16-year-old could hit it 300 yards. And, yeah, I think you can go into so much detail about golf, biomechanics and trying to make certain muscles stronger for the golf swing and everything. So, yeah, the coaching has definitely helped. I think guys are just starting from an earlier age and getting better fundamentals and better basics from the start. From there, it makes it easier to mold a golf swing around good fundamentals. Q. When did you first get exposed to those things you just talked about, the biomechanics? RORY MCILROY: Probably when I was about 12 or 13. So from a pretty young age. Q. Just given your conversations with Mr. Nicklaus, what does it mean being here at this tournament for the first time? RORY MCILROY: I figured out how to play. No. It's a tournament that, you know, I've grown up and watched it on TV. Tiger's had a great record here. I'm a huge fan of Tiger's, everyone knows. You know, I was really excited about -- everyone's told me how great a golf course it is. I went and played 18 on Monday, played yesterday again, and it's fantastic. It's really got everything. It's got risk and reward. You can make birdies on the par 5s. You know, there's a few tough par 3s. You know, coming down the stretch, there's a few tough holes. So it's great to be here, and it's great -- especially playing the skins game this afternoon, it really makes me feel part of the tournament, which is pretty special. Obviously, it being Mr. Nicklaus' baby, it makes it even more special. LAURA HILL: Rory, we appreciate your time. Q. Did Colin asking to you play at Celtic Manor? RORY MCILROY: Not really. I think he more asked the guys through the media. He said in an interview he'd like to see a few of the guys play. Obviously, I've not seen that article. Q. You had already committed here? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, because I took my card up here, I was always going to play here, yeah. End of FastScripts |
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