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JP McMANUS INVITATIONAL PRO-AMJuly 5, 2010Rory McIlroyADARE, IRELAND STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us straight from Paris. How are you feeling about your game at the moment coming into this, nice relaxing week, and you've had a good weekend, as well. RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I played tee-to-green in France, probably the best all year. Hit it great. Got a lot of good work done the week before with Michael Bannon and went to France hitting it lovely. Putted like an absolute idiot over the first two days. Didn't hole anything. Held a few on Sunday which sort of got me going, but if I had held any putts over the first three days, it probably would have been pretty comfortable. Yeah, I mean, I'm feeling comfortable with my game, and obviously it's a good time of the year to be playing well. STEVE TODD: We've had a few of the guys come in and talk about the attraction of JP. How does it feel to be in such a star-studded field? RORY McILROY: It's fantastic. I think it just shows, to get Tiger and come and play, to get such a quality field to play a three-day Pro-Am, it shows how much influence JP has, and this event is fantastic and raises so much money for charity. They have done a great thing with the hats this year and making the hat as your ticket. They are going to raise a lot of money for charity that way also. It's a great week and it's every five years and they really make the most of trying to give back to the community around here. So I think what they do is fantastic. STEVE TODD: We were just talking the last time this was played, you were obviously just a young man then; shows how far you've come in five years really. RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think I was getting ready to play in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond this time five years ago. So yeah, it definitely doesn't seem like five years but it's been great. Obviously gained a lot of experience over that time, played some good golf and you know, as I said, just managed to be in this field and you know, it's just nice to sort of -- JP welcomed us last night and said thanks for coming but I think everybody is happy to be here for us. Q. How disappointed were you to not be in the playoff yesterday? RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously, realised the putt on the last was to get in the playoff. I hit a good putt and that's all I could ask of myself, 12, 15 feet. Jiménez nearly had the same putt to win, and it lipped in, on TV his broke more than mine. I hit a good, aggressive putt that just didn't come down for me. Looking back on the weekend, looking at all the missed chances that I had, you all look back and say, I had had holed that putt or that; but I gave it a good run on Sunday and that's all I could really ask. But preparation-wise, going into The Open, I was very happy with the way my game was and with the way it's going. Q. I suspect if you can't win one of those major tournaments, you couldn't be happier to see somebody other than Graeme McDowell. Can you give us an idea of your reaction and how much you appreciate what he's achieved? RORY McILROY: It's incredible. Obviously played a lot with him over the last couple of years. I suppose I've seen firsthand how much hard work he's put in and he's got so much belief in himself, and you know, it's almost as if every time he gets himself up there and into contention, he seems to have really either finished it off or make a really good effort at it. At Pebble Beach, he got himself in front and stayed there, and all credit to him. He was the one that lasted the longest on a very difficult golf course. It was a very, very impressive performance obviously especially coming off the win at Celtic Manor. He's a major champion now, it's great. Q. Is it true you shed an emotional tear? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I was crying for some reason. When his dad run on to the green, I was watching it with Holly and I looked at her and we were both just crying. It was just amazing that he won a major. It just showed obviously how much hard work he's put in and he's one of my closest friends so it was great to see him do so well. Q. Looking forward to playing together in The Ryder Cup? RORY McILROY: Definitely. Q. In the fourballs and foursomes in the Vivendi Trophy, you had tremendous success. RORY McILROY: Yeah, and we played well in the World Cup also. We get on great with each other on the golf course. It was funny, after he won in Wales, I sent him a text saying, "Do you want the odds or the evens." And Graeme says, "What tee do you want to play off first." It will be great, obviously we are both pretty much certain to make the team, and touch wood that we don't get any injuries or anything else happens; that hopefully we'll get a game with each other in Celtic Manor. Q. Does Graeme winning at Pebble Beach give you any added incentive? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely, as I said, I spent a lot of time with him and to see him progress his game and turn himself into Major Champion, yeah, it definitely gives me an extra incentive, looking at him and I can say, well, if G-Mac can go ahead and do it, hopefully I can do it as well. Yeah, I mean, it would be nice to be one-all going into 2011. Q. Is St. Andrews your favourite course, and if so, can you explain why? RORY McILROY: It is my favourite course, and because I've played well there, any time you play well at a golf course and you go back, you always have good memories and those good memories sort of -- it's almost like an extra shot. It sort of keeps you going and you're looking forward to playing holes again. Yeah, it's such a different golf course, as well, especially if it's playing firm, it's going to be running a bit. So it will be quite a bit different than the sort of golf we have been playing for the last few events. I'm really looking forward to it. The Open at St. Andrews is probably the most special event that you can play. You know, I feel as if I'm pretty excited with where my game is at and if I can keep that going into that week, hopefully I'll have a good chance. Q. Why do you think you've had such success there? RORY McILROY: You can hook it all day. I don't know, the first time I played it, I didn't really think much of it, but you start to play it a bit more and you start to appreciate how good it is and the sort of subtleties of the greens and lines off tees; you can play it so many different ways. It takes you a little bit of time to learn what way to play it that sort of suits your game and you can be aggressive, you can take a lot of drivers off tees and you can try and drive a couple of the par 5s and that's something I've always sort of liked. It's a tough finishing stretch, as well, be 15 and 16 are two tough holes and 17, obviously with the new tee and 18 gives you a chance. But yeah, it's just -- I've always felt that it sets up pretty good for me. Q. You said the best tee-to-green all year, just touching on Quail Hollow, has there been a bit of frustration since then that you haven't played to the same heights you played in the final round there? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't expecting to out and shoot 62 every time obviously. After such a performance like that, it's hard to keep it going. There's always to be a couple of weeks where you'll lose a bit of momentum. I came out and didn't play good at THE PLAYERS, wasn't too keen on Wentworth, didn't play great. And then went to Memorial, played lovely, finished 10th there, probably could have gone a little better, and just didn't really have it all at Pebble Beach. So the two majors been about disappointing this year, obviously, but as I said, I feel as if I've done a lot of work, and I'm really, really happy with where my swing is at and where my ball-striking is at. I gave myself so many chances last week that I could have converted and it was just a pity that I couldn't. As I said, I gave it a good run in the final round and the preparation week going into the Open, it was a very good week. Q. Graeme McDowell was very complimentary of your style and game and play and he said at the U.S. Open that your aggressive style didn't particularly suit Pebble, but do you think it will particularly suit St. Andrews? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, it has done before. It's not as if I go out and I hit driver off every tee. It's not as if I'm clueless out there. I feel as if I have a tee shot that I can hit driver -- because there's where I feel that I have an advantage over most of the guys hitting 3-iron off the tee. I feel like I can hit driver and get it down there. That's one of the reasons I didn't like Wentworth because it didn't give you any options to try and get any sort of advantage over the other guys. So, yeah, St. Andrews, as I said, you can play it so many different ways, and if you feel comfortable on a certain tee shot that you can get it down close to the green, then you can do that. So if you look at the guys that have won there, John Daly in '95, Tiger in 2000, 2005, the guys that obviously drive it long and are quite aggressive when they need to be. So I think it is a golf course that suits an aggressive style of play. Q. Now that you're playing in America and a lot more target golf, talk about the transition of that mind-set for taking the ball high into a green and then into St. Andrews that you know is now going to be very, very fast and hard? RORY McILROY: The thing about the States is they always try to get the greens quite firm. So obviously you need to hit it quite high going into the greens. But you still need to be in control of your ball. You can't -- yeah, obviously it is a little bit different about you I think playing a lot of links golf growing up -- every time I'm at home anyway, I'm playing links golf, going up to Portrush or County Down. So I'm always trying to keep in the thick of it. But once you play a couple practise rounds, you get back into it. Apart from tomorrow, the next two weeks, I'm just going to be playing links golf. But hopefully it will just sort of come back, and I haven't played it so much as an amateur or junior as well, trying to practise shots around greens that you haven't played in a while. That takes a couple of days to get used to it. Once you do, it's just like back to normal. Q. Inaudible. RORY McILROY: I don't quite know to be honest. I try to help anyone, if anyone came to me to ask me something I would always try to help them as I could. I'm sure with all of the guys out there it's the same. Golf is a bit different. It's just the tradition of the game, the etiquette of the game. Obviously you're rivals on the golf course but it still has to be friendly and you still have to sort of have a few manners. I don't know, it just -- Q. (What if you and Graeme were paired in the final group in a major on a Sunday)? RORY McILROY: I don't know. I'm sure I would still be quite friendly. Obviously we would be both trying to win. But yeah, I suppose you've just got to go out and play golf and just whatever happens, happens. You're not going to fall out about it after you play. But yeah, I have all found it -- especially playing amateur golf, because you play so close to some of the guys and then you have to play them in a match or something. You play them and you're maybe not concentrating 100 per cent because you're sort of chatting to them around. But yeah, I suppose something like The Open Championship at St. Andrews is going to be a bit different. I'm sure Graeme will still talk to me the way around and I would still talk to him. I suppose it's just one of those things, I'm sure I'll have it for the rest of my career, but you're going to be paired with people and you're going to be playing against people that you've gotten quite close to or you're quite friendly with, and you've just got to -- for four and a half, five hours that day, you've just got to try and beat them and afterwards, it's whatever happens, happens. Q. (Was it important for you to see Graeme win as he did, for your own chances)? RORY McILROY: I don't think I needed to see him win, but it definitely made the whole winning a major a bit more realistic to me. I've always tried to sort of -- whenever someone has asked me about a major, I've always tried to say, look, as soon as I win one, then I'll be more comfortable talking about it. But it definitely leaves the aura -- just sort of disappear slightly. Majors are what every golfer is trying to win and you don't win many of them, so you know, when they come around, they are very special and yeah, I don't know if I was placing too much of an emphasis on them or whatever, but seeing Graeme win definitely made me realise that it was a lot more -- it was a lot closer than I thought it was, put it that way. Q. (Or if Havret had come through) -- RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, Grégory is a great player, you can't really take anything away from him. He played great that last round, especially playing with Tiger. But yeah, I mean, if Greg had won and held that putt at the last, it probably would have made me -- but then you see -- not trying to take anything away from the likes of Shaun Micheel or Todd Hamilton or Ben Curtis, but they popped up from nowhere and won majors, as well. But I suppose it's because I'm quite close and quite friendly to Graeme and I've sort of witnessed it firsthand; makes you realise, it's not too much of a -- I don't have too much of a distance to go to try and get to that point. STEVE TODD: Thanks a lot, Rory. Enjoy this week. End of FastScripts |
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