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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

February 10, 2011

Rory McIlroy

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Assessment of the 65 to start us off, Rors?
RORY McILROY: It was a great way to start the tournament. Felt in control of my ball most of the day. Got away with a couple of tee shots on the 17th and on the second; if it was a different day, I might have been able to even get it on the green, but ended up making two birdies from them so that was fortunate enough.
Apart from that, I played really well, really smart golf and took on the pins if I needed to and left ones alone that I didn't need to go at, and you know, it was just a very solid round of golf.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: I noticed in your TV interview you mentioned you were slightly nervous this morning and that it was a good thing.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, Tim said this is my second tournament in nine weeks, and it's great to feel the buzz again. I did feel a little nervous going out this morning, because that's the way you should feel. You know, I was talking at the start of the year about not playing as much to sort of feel like I prepare properly for the events. You get through four, five, six tournaments in a row -- but when you play every once in awhile, you really get yourself motivated for it. It was great to feel like that today and hope to feel like that for the rest of the tournament.

Q. You spent a couple of weeks practising in Dubai when you were not playing in Qatar and Bahrain and you spent some time with Justin Parsons at the Els Club. Can you tell us what you really worked on?
RORY McILROY: I went home for two weeks. I came out before Abu Dhabi to practise at the Els Club and I only practised at the Els Club just over the weekend there. I got in on the Friday night.
I went home after Abu Dhabi, worked with my coach, Michael Bannon, for nine days and just basically worked on the same things I've been working on since the end of last year. Just trying to put the club in a better position on the takeaway and put it into a better position on the top, and then from there, everything should happen naturally on the way down.
So just tweaking a few things in my swing and still a work in progress, but it's definitely headed in the right direction.

Q. Can you give us an example of a couple of holes where you didn't really follow your new philosophy and did go for the pins?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, the two par 3s on the front nine, the 4th and the 7th, which I ended up making bogey from the one on the 7th. I just took the water out of play played left of the pin on 4 and played for the pin on 7. I was going well and there was no point shooting fives, if you don't quite hit the right shot, it will come short of the water or leave yourself in a tricky situation.

Q. I know you're happy with the score, but is it as good 64 as good as a few years ago, how would you compare -- was it harder?
RORY McILROY: It's definitely -- no, I feel like to shoot 65 these days, I don't have to play as well as I used to --

Q. Become more easy, does it?
RORY McILROY: A little easier, because I'm not putting myself under as much pressure on the golf course, going at every pin and trying to make myself hit great shots all the time. I'm sort of, as I said, just thinking about it a bit more and trying to decide when is a good time to go for it and when isn't.

Q. But do you have to work a lot harder for that 64, do you think?
RORY McILROY: Yes, definitely.

Q. You said yesterday, I think you may be coming in under the radar a little bit this week. Because of that, did you feel it was important this morning to shoot a good score, post one early?
RORY McILROY: I felt it was important to shoot a good score, because I knew the wind was going to pick up this afternoon. I had a little bit of an advantage. The guys in the morning have had a little bit of an advantage going out and playing in perfect conditions for 11 or 12 holes, just started blowing a bit on our back nine. It's not a necessity to shoot a good round.
I only shot 71 in Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago in the first round in the tournament, but with conditions the way they were out there, I knew that something in the 60s was going to be, not necessary, but it would be a great start.

Q. When you're playing these conservative shots, do you still have to fight your natural instinct, do you have two voices going on?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, a little bit. Like the one on 9, my last hole there, I was trying to play it a few feet right of the pin but the wind was off the right and the slope was right-to-left. Ended up going straight at it.
No, not really. I feel like I've been very disciplined and it's something I really want to work on, it's something I really want to try to implement into my game. You know what, it seems to be working pretty well at the minute.

Q. You said you felt nerves on the first tee; were there too many times last season where you felt stale on the first tee?
RORY McILROY: Definitely. This is great; cutting six or seven events off the schedule this year is going to be fantastic.

Q. You would never pick holes in a 65, but can I just ask you whether there were any areas for concern, maybe a couple little short putts, and conversely, which were the highs of the round for you today?
RORY McILROY: My putting was pretty good. Can't really -- I mean, if anything, my pace putting wasn't great. I could work on that. But I felt as if I held a lot of putts that, you know, I needed to. I mean, I hit it to eight feet on 5 that I missed. Apart from that, I mean, I actually putted really, really well.

Q. So no real faults then in the round?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I lost a couple of tee shots to the left, but apart from that, I feel as if I'm pretty good out of the rough. So have to be aggressive off the tee still, and as I said yesterday, trying to be a little more conservative going into the greens.

Q. And the highlight, you had so many birdies, which was the best?
RORY McILROY: The one on the 8th hole, my 17th, coming off a bogey, coming back straight back with a birdie like that was great.

Q. Can you talk about the 17th?
RORY McILROY: I played a practise round on Tuesday and I hit balls -- I hit driver off the tee, and I said to JP that I'm going for it because I can get there easy enough. I just didn't quite get all of it today. You know, I got really lucky that I didn't go into one of the bushes in the desert.
I had a great -- that was probably one of the best shots I hit today, the shot out of the desert and hit it to ten feet and was able to make a three. But on any other day, I could have been taking an unplayable and dropping it and making four at the best or five or six.

Q. When you play this course, you defended last year, but when you play this year do you still draw upon memories of the four rounds two years ago?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, you do. You draw on memories -- definitely. I remember a 6-iron that I hit into the 9th hole in the first round in 2009, I remember the 5-iron I hit into the 10th hole in the third round, and I remember a lot of the shots from that week.

Q. Just the amount of love and gratitude that you have from Dubai, do you feel something special when you come and play over here, starting from the sponsorship, the exemptions that you got as a young kid; do you feel something -- that you want to give something special when you're playing the tournament?
RORY McILROY: Yes, definitely. I've always since I've turned pro, I've always felt as if I play well here in this region. Definitely Dubai; Dubai is the one professional tournament I've played more times than any other. Yeah, it's a special feeling.
I've gotten to know so many people over here, and with the connection with Jumeirah and the great sponsorship I have from them, it feels like a home from home and that's where I come after the new year to start my season and I'll hopefully do that for a lot more years to come.

Q. Do you feel you want to give more than 100 per cent over here?
RORY McILROY: No, I don't think it's that. I just feel that I feel very comfortable playing over here. I think that's the big thing. Like Martin Kaymer says he feels like Abu Dhabi is his home course; I feel like this place is sort of the same way.
Yeah, it's great, it's great to come back here every year, and to see the people that you've gotten to know over the past few years, it's great.

Q. What do you do now for the rest of the day? Do you practise or gym or what?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'll probably just work on my pace putting a little bit, and then I'll go to the gym for a while. And then I've got a couple of friends out here who are playing the Emirates Amateur next week so I might go to the water park with them later on this afternoon.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Tough day. (Laughter)

Q. What's the main difference between the Rory this year and the Rory two years ago, apart from the haircut? What's the main difference?
RORY McILROY: Hair colour, haircut -- oh, yeah, sunglasses. I feel like I've gained a lot more experience in those two years, and I feel like I'm a more mature and rounded golfer. That's basically -- I don't think -- I think the ability to strike the ball was there and I think the ability to chip-and-putt was there a couple of years ago. But just gaining that experience and yeah, just basically going along and learning from previous mistakes that you may have had, and move on. I feel like I'm doing that at the minute.

Q. Not strictly related to your round, but you were there at the time. What did you make of Rhys smashing the club around the tree, and have you ever done anything like that in your short career?
RORY McILROY: No, I mean, obviously it wasn't in bad temper. It was during a shot. Yeah, he was -- it wasn't going too well in his round and he took the shot on, which I can completely understand and it just didn't come off.
I've broken clubs on the golf course before, but not during a shot (laughing).

Q. Do you know which club it was he broke?
RORY McILROY: Not sure. Looked like a 6 or 7.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, thanks for joining us.

End of FastScripts

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