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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 16, 2011

Rory McIlroy

SANDWICH, ENGLAND

Q. Was it almost a day of two halves today?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it seems this tournament more so than anything else, you need to get a good draw, and it just hasn't really worked out for me this week. It was really tough out there this morning, and I felt for the first 13 holes to get through those in 2-over par was a pretty decent effort. And then to give two shots away on 14 was very disappointing. You know, tried to make a couple birdies coming down the last four holes but wasn't able to do it, and I think 74 was the best I could manage.

Q. Your shoulders just slumped on 14 a bit. Is that fair to say?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, you've done so well for 13 holes to keep yourself in it, and then to hit -- you've got half of Kent on your left and you hit it right, it was a bit disappointing.
Yeah, it was a tough one to take.

Q. And in terms of where you are now at 4-over, obviously the leaders are far away at the moment, but what do you think your chances are tomorrow?
RORY McILROY: It all depends on the conditions. If the conditions are decent, I could see myself going out and shooting maybe 4- or 5-under and getting in the hunt. Well, if they were like this it would be okay, but if the conditions are similar to what they were this morning, then it's going to be very tough to make ground up on the leaders.

Q. How soon after that tee shot on 14 did the weather improve?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, well, it wasn't even that. The weather, I took my wet jacket off on the 13th fairway, so the weather started to improve by then.

Q. You were on the 1st tee with no waterproof jacket on and then on the 2nd (inaudible.) Rickie was kind of there buttoned up in waterproofs from moment one. Do you feel like you could have been more prepared for the weather?
RORY McILROY: No, I mean, the weather that I was hitting balls in on the range and the weather that we teed off in was fine, so there was no need for a wet jacket. And then, yeah, obviously the heavy rain came on the 2nd. It didn't put me off. I made the putt for par on the 2nd after putting on the wet jacket. So no, it didn't make a difference.

Q. You've been saying all along that you're comfortable. Obviously this is a setback today I would think for you?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course. You know, it's a big setback. I obviously wanted to go out and get myself closer to the lead and not further away from it. I wasn't able to do that today. I'll need a good one tomorrow, and if it doesn't look like I can win, I'll try my best to get a Top 10 or a Top 5.

Q. Do you become more aggressive in this situation tomorrow? Will you have to be a little more aggressive than you might have been in other situations?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I mean, you can't get aggressive. You try to just hit to the middles of these greens. It's just one of those golf courses where if you get aggressive, you can look very silly.

Q. Talk about how well Rickie played.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, Rickie played really well. He's such a natural player and he's got a lot of feel, so he controls his ball flight very well. And he's got a great short game. He gets it up and down when he needs to, holes good putts at the right times. 68 out there in those conditions was very impressive.

Q. You were saying on Thursday that you found the pace of the greens difficult to deal with. Do they fluctuate? How tough is that for you?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I thought especially with the wet weather they sort of -- yeah, they slowed down considerably today. I struggled to get the ball to the hole. But yeah, my speed just hasn't been great all week. But yeah, I mean, it's -- they look pretty fast, they just don't seem to roll as fast as I think they are.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RORY McILROY: Well, I thought the moment I hit it it was OB and then it was starting to hang on, so I was thinking, this could be okay. I think it bounced inbounds and then bounced out. Yeah, it was touch and good, but as soon as I saw it bounce right I knew it was OB.

Q. How are you striking the ball generally?
RORY McILROY: Thursday and Friday was really good. Especially yesterday I felt as if I hit the ball really nicely. Today, you can never really judge because there's so much wind and you're trying to play shots -- I mean, I've rarely struck the ball off centre. I've struck the ball pretty well. Might not be going in the right direction, but it's off the middle of the club face.

Q. You seemed to struggle a little bit from the tee today.
RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. Sometimes right and then sometimes left.
RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. Any explanation as to why?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I mean, yeah, when the weather is that bad, you seem to just lose a little bit of your rhythm or a little bit of your timing. And when the weather is like that, if your timing is off a little bit, it can magnify the misses.

Q. How many shots behind is too many?
RORY McILROY: What did Paul Lawrie come back from, 10? Well, it's been done before, so I'll just have to keep the hope.

Q. Is it neat for you to see Darren up there?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's fantastic. I saw him, he birdied the 1st hole today, which was good. Yeah, it's great. He's waited a long time to win that major, and it would be great if this week was the week where he could get his first one.
But yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back and watching some of the coverage and seeing how he does.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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