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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2010

Rory McIlroy

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

Q. Terrific final round, good effort over the last two days. How are you feeling post a really good Open, bar one round?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I couldn't help but think about Friday going up the last hole there. You know, if I had just sort of stuck in a little bit more on Friday and held it together more, it could have been a different story. But the other three rounds I played very, very solidly. After that 80 on Friday, I felt as if I came back well by shooting 7-under at the weekend.
You know, the game is there, and I can take a lot of positives out of this week.

Q. How will you reflect and think on what's been a very interesting week in terms of developing your career?
RORY McILROY: I don't think it's been -- I knew that I had a good chance coming in here, and it was nice to sort of be there for a while. You know, yeah, I'm still a bit disappointed to be honest, because I know if I could have played anywhere decent on Friday, I could have been a lot closer to the lead. I'm not saying that I could have got to 17-under, but I definitely could have been contending for second place anyway.

Q. Is that because of the start you got, 63, a major championship equaling record, and from there on I suppose there was only one goal?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, when you start off shooting 63 in any golf tournament, you fancy your chances going into the next three days. It just so happened to be it got very windy on Friday and I just didn't feel with it very well.

Q. Are you beyond the point where a top 3, top 4, top 5 in a major championship is satisfying?
RORY McILROY: No, it's always satisfying to be up there in a major, but in these circumstances after starting so well, I suppose it is a little bit disappointing that I haven't went on to challenge a little bit more.

Q. Are you amazed Louis is at 17-under par right now?
RORY McILROY: Not really. Louis obviously got the best of it on Thursday and Friday and got to 12-under par. You know, so he's 5-under for the weekend, which is still a great score, considering that he went out there with the lead. It was either -- I could see it myself, obviously, after shooting what I did.
Yeah, I mean, Louis has played so well, and he's obviously handling himself well under this pressure.

Q. When you look back at Friday, do you think you could have handled the situation any better?
RORY McILROY: I don't know. I think if I had a day leading up to this event in the week that was as windy as that and actually went out and practiced in it, I probably could have handled it a bit better, but I hadn't played in wind like that for a long time. So it was a bit of a new experience.

Q. Do you regard it as a part of the learning curve?
RORY McILROY: Not really, because major championships and big championships aren't won on days like that. They're won on days when you can score and you can make birdies.

Q. What does it do for your confidence, though? Throw out the 80 and you knew you had a shot at this thing and you were there.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, for three rounds I was 16 under par, so it's in there. It's definitely in there. And I knew I had a great record coming into this event around this golf course. I love this place. It's my favourite golf course in the world. It's just a pity about Friday.

Q. Can you talk about Louis. Do you know Louis well?
RORY McILROY: I do know Louis well.

Q. Did you know he had this in him?
RORY McILROY: Yeah. He played with me in the last round in Dubai in '09, whenever I won, and he contended for much of that. We've all known Louis has been a great player for a long time, hits it great, technically very sound, does everything very well. I think he needed that win early in the season on the European Tour to give him that little bit of confidence to challenge for the biggest events. Him and his wife have now had a new baby, Jana, this year. So he's in a pretty good place at the minute.

Q. Are you happy for him?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, he's one of the nicest guys out here, he genuinely is. I think everyone would be happy if he held onto this eight-shot lead or whatever he has.

Q. Are you looking forward to the next eight weeks?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm going to have a week off next week. I'm playing at Lough Erne on Wednesday. But I've got a week off to kind of chill and then it's Irish Open, Akron, PGA, so three big events leading up to that. Yeah, still, it's a big summer of golf, and I think everyone is looking forward to it. So yeah, there's still a lot to play for this year.

Q. One more chance to win a major before Ryder Cup.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, on a sort of linksey style golf course again. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, and I'm sure the Europeans and British and Irish guys will certainly challenge for that one, as well.

Q. That drive you hit at the 18th was obviously special.
RORY McILROY: It was, yeah. It could have been nice to cap it off with a putt. I actually hit a good putt. I read it straight and it went left at the end.

Q. You got a good reception.
RORY McILROY: I did, yeah. The support this week was great, and I appreciate it.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RORY McILROY: I was trying to get to double figures to be honest, but the conditions didn't really allow it. It was very, very tough out there, you know, just as tough as yesterday, really. 68 I'd say was a very good score, considering the conditions.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RORY McILROY: No, it's not going to give me nightmares. I'm sure I'll wake up in the morning and just look at -- I was 16 under for three rounds of golf around St. Andrews in the Open, and just one bad round. It's fine.

Q. What are your plans for the next few days?
RORY McILROY: Not much, heading home tonight. Probably going to go up to Lough Erne on Tuesday evening, play the Lough Erne Challenge on Wednesday and have a relaxed weekend -- I've got a new driver I have to test out, as well. I didn't have it in the bag this week.

End of FastScripts

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