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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 15, 2011Rory McIlroySANDWICH, ENGLAND Q. Rory, Paul Casey was in here saying it was a grind, but you ground it out very, very well today. RORY McILROY: Yeah, I did. It was a grind. Yeah, I mean, it was -- even though it was nice and it was sunny and it looked nice out there, it was very tricky. The course is playing a lot firmer, a lot of cross-winds, and to shoot something in the 60s today I'm very pleased with. Q. You nominated level par as the place you wanted to be at halfway. Yesterday you asked for a 69 of yourself. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it would have been nicer to be a couple better, but I'll take that going into the weekend. I'm very happy with my position and within striking distance of the leaders. Q. And the way you played today, because you showed almost every skill in the game out there, bunker play, ball-striking, all seem to be in pretty good shape. RORY McILROY: Yeah, everything is working pretty well. It's just a matter, as I said yesterday, of keeping it tight and not hitting too many loose shots and keeping it around par, because with the weather coming in tomorrow something around that score is going to be very close. Q. What do you figure about weather that the wind blows up to 30 miles an hour and everybody is going to have to -- RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course. It's the same for everyone, and there's only seven shots separating this field. It's very open. Q. What can we expect on the weekend given all the players bunched together? RORY McILROY: I mean, I think you'll see a lot of chopping and changing at the top of the leaderboard, but that's -- yeah, I said in an interview there, it's the most open Open I've seen in a long time. Yeah, I think it'll be exciting to be a part of and it'll be exciting to watch over the next two days. Q. How big was that par save? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was huge. I put myself under a lot of pressure to hole that putt. I thought it was going to be a big putt for me, and makes me feel pretty good headed into the weekend. Q. What's the difference in the way you approach the weekend of a major in one where you're chasing as opposed to one where you're defending, which is what you're used to? RORY McILROY: Yeah, that's true. I don't think you can have any different mindset. I've got to go out there and -- it really depends on what the weather gives us. I can't go out and be defensive, especially now. But four shots in 36 holes on this golf course in these conditions is nothing. It really isn't. I'm very happy with my position, and I just need to keep doing the same things I've been doing. Q. You almost had the real momentum going on a couple of occasions. RORY McILROY: Yeah, being 2-under through 7, had a bit of a -- I hit a bad second shot on 8 and made bogey from there. You know, if I had have hit a good shot in there, I would have had a nice bit of momentum going into the middle part of the round. No, I was happy with the way I played. The two times I made two birdies in a row I followed it up with a bogey, which wasn't great, but you're going to bogey holes out there. You've just got to accept that. Q. After being the front runner in the first two majors of the year, are you enjoying your experience, or your refresher course if you like, as being part of the chasing pack again, the hunters rather than the huntees? RORY McILROY: No, I think the top of the leaderboard is always where you want to be. If you're there, you've got an advantage over the rest of the field. I'm very happy with my position going into the weekend. I'm happy with where I'm at. If I get off to a decent start tomorrow I'm right in it. Q. Darren Clarke is leading. Just thoughts on Darren being up there? RORY McILROY: Yeah, brilliant. This sort of golf really suits his game. He's grown up on links, and he likes to play different shots. It's the sort of week where, yeah, you've got to just manage your game very well, and he's good at doing that, hitting different shots and changing the trajectory. It's good to see him up there. Q. Nice that you're both within four shots. RORY McILROY: Yeah, he's doing a bit better than me at the moment but I'm planning on changing that. Q. A couple golfers are looking forward to this bad weather. Are you one of those? RORY McILROY: No, I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to it. I've just got to put up with it and persevere. No, it's -- I think for the tournament it could make it very interesting, but yeah, I mean, you've just got to take what you've been given and just try and deal with that. Q. Is it frustrating at times? You've been through it before where suddenly you get that bad streak of weather and it's just Mother Nature. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's lucky. I was sort of bemoaning my draw early on this morning. I saw the guys finish up last night and it was flat calm, and I woke up this morning and the sun was shining, and I was like, nice draw. But you can't do anything about it. You've just got to go and do the best you can with what you have, and that's what I've tried to do the first two days. Q. At some point obviously you want to get -- I know you do want to get that -- RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course, but whether it's on the front nine tomorrow or on the back nine on Sunday, there's still a lot of golf left to play. If I was in this position with 12 holes to go, I'd say I'd be in a pretty nice position. Q. If you could choose your playing partner, would it be Darren? RORY McILROY: I'd know what to say to him to put him off, I think. (Laughter.) No, I really don't mind. I don't mind. To be honest, yeah, I'd probably rather play with someone that I don't know too well just so I can keep my mind on the task at hand. But we'll see what happens. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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