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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

November 2, 2011

Rory McIlroy

SHANGHAI, CHINA

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Many thanks for joining us after a very damp day on the golf course. Just give us your thoughts going into the week, obviously playing well, you won last week.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm excited to come back here. Coming off the back of last week and the win, it was just nice to get another win this year. I feel as if I've been coming very close and not quite getting it done. To get another win was fantastic.
This is a golf course where I've played well at before and had a couple of top-five finishes the last two years. You know, it's a golf course that I feel pretty comfortable on. Excited to get going. The golf course is in incredible shape. I think it's the best we've ever seen it, and even with all of the rain today, it's held up really well and hopefully that's most of the bad weather out of the way for this week.

Q. Great time to run into form with some very good tournaments coming up. Do you see this week as a chance to cut into Luke's Money List lead?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think I'm 1.3 million Euros behind Luke. I've got three big events coming up. I've got this and I've got -- I'm playing the World Cup but that doesn't count towards The Race to Dubai, but Hong Kong and Dubai. So three more chances to really try to cut into his lead.
With him not being here is this week, because his wife is giving birth to their second child, I feel like I've got a chance to cut into that lead a little bit. It would be fantastic to get another win, the second win in two weeks, and cut into that lead. But it's such a strong field here, and there's a lot of guys with a chance to win.
If I could catch up a little bit with Luke this week it would be fantastic and just to get a little closer to him.

Q. Would No. 1 on the Money List be one of your ambitions?
RORY McILROY: Yes, of course, I feel as if I've had -- I obviously have not had as good of a season as Luke, because he's been the most consistent player in the world now for probably the best part of 18 months.
If I can give it my all and really give it a good go for the next few weeks, and even just run him close, I think that would be a good achievement in itself.

Q. For starters, you seem to have had a lot of drama in your life over the last few months. How have you managed to cope?
RORY McILROY: You know, it's been fine. I think the most important thing for me at the minute is just to concentrate on my golf and make that the primary focus, which it always has been.
I've got a good run coming up to the end of the season. This is a big week, and looking forward to playing with Graeme in the World Cup, and then Hong Kong and Dubai to look forward to, as well; again, to try to cut into Luke's lead.
All I'm trying to do is concentrate on finishing this year off really well and put me in a good position going into next year.

Q. You've had a good run since the last we saw you, which was with your arm taped up. Since returning from that, I don't think you've finished worse than third, depending on what you did in Bermuda.
RORY McILROY: Third as well, I think. Yeah, it's been a good run. It's been very consistent. I feel like I've had a few chances to win. I definitely had a chance to win in Holland, and a chance to win the Dunhill Links at St. Andrews. Didn't really have a chance to win in Korea because Rickie got so far ahead. But it was just nice to get myself over the line last week. It was great to get another win. I was really pleased with it.
Even though it was only a 30-man field and didn't really carry -- obviously carried a very high prize fund, but no World Ranking points or anything. But it was still nice just to get another win.

Q. You have played on many golf courses. What kind of course do you like best? And the second question -- would you have any plan to design courses in China?
RORY McILROY: Getting to play golf all over the world, you get to experience so many different golf courses. You know, some of my favourite golf courses are in the U.S. Augusta is probably my favourite golf course in the world; the likes of Muirfield Village, Quail Hollow, Firestone where we play another World Golf Championship, those sort of traditional tree-lined, park-lined golf courses I really enjoy.
And secondly, no, I mean, I've never thought about course design. I wouldn't know where to start. I'm not experienced enough or old enough to start doing that sort of stuff. Maybe in ten or 15 years' time, but now, I just want to concentrate on playing golf courses, rather than designing them.

Q. Do you realise how popular you are in China at the moment? What do you think of the Chinese fans? And secondly, more and more new faces are winning Majors like you. What do you think of this trend?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I sort of -- I've spent quite a bit of time in China over the past few weeks. It's just nice to get so much support from the Chinese fans. It's still a very new sport to people in this country. But I love how enthusiastic they are and how much they want to learn about the game.
Obviously with golf being involved in the Olympics in 2016, it's really going to help golf in China. It's fantastic, and I think to get my first win here last week was quite important. It was nice to do that.
And yeah, I mean, the Majors have been -- starting with Charl this year at the Masters and Darren, it was his first major, but everyone probably thought that his best chance was maybe a few years ago. And myself and then with Keegan winning the PGA, it seems like guys are more and more ready to win the big tournaments now, which I think is great for the game to see new faces coming along and winning golf tournaments, and obviously the biggest golf tournaments like the Majors.
I think there's so many great players that have still to win Majors, and I'm sure that in the next few years, they will probably break through and do that as well. I think it's good for the game that there's so many people coming out and playing well in the big tournaments.

Q. Someone said you are quite different from the other players. They also think sooner or later you will be the richest person in this field, maybe the famous one in this field. How do you think of that? Do you feel pressure?
RORY McILROY: No, not particularly. I mean, again, all I'm trying to do is win golf tournaments. You know, everything else that comes along with that is secondary to the fact that I'm trying to become the best player that I can be.
So you know, it's obviously very nice and we are very fortunate to play for a lot of money. But you know, that doesn't -- no amount of money can substitute how it feels to win golf tournaments, and that's all I'm trying to do.

Q. Second question, we know that your girlfriend is in Shanghai now and she also went with you today. How do you think of the support from your family and your girlfriend -- and do you have any plans in the future, maybe marriage plan? (Laughter). Thank you.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: A bit early for marriage.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's obviously great to have Caroline here. I've been to a couple of here tennis tournaments. This is the first time that she's at a golf tournament, and if the weather keeps going like this, it might be the last one she's at, as well. (Laughter).
No, it's good to have her here and she's enjoyed being in Shanghai for the last few days.

Q. I noticed you skipped the marriage question, but I'll pass that?
RORY McILROY: Thanks, Alex.

Q. You mentioned young guys. About four years ago at this time, you had just come out after playing in the Walker Cup. Tom Lewis just came out similar, and obviously won. I wanted to know if you could talk about what it was like when you first came out after that, and the issues that he has to deal with, if there's issues or struggles coming out after a successful amateur career.
RORY McILROY: I didn't get off to the start that Tom did. To win your third tournament out as a pro, it gets him into events like this week, and next year gets him into I think Firestone and a few others.
Obviously it's an incredible start to your career, and it makes things a lot easier, not having to go to Q-School and not really worrying about your card. You know, for me, I was just delighted I finished third at the Dunhill Links and followed that up with a fourth place at Madrid to get my card. And I was just delighted that I had somewhere to play the next year.
And Tom, you know, intentionally put a lot of pressure on himself to get his card and not want to go through Tour School and do all that. You know, he's proved himself; that he was definitely good enough to do that. He's got so much confidence in his own ability and I thought it was great to see him win in Portugal.
You know, he's just made life a lot easier for himself after that win. He can just go out and concentrate on his golf and not have to worry about too many other things. I don't think he's got too many issues at the minute.

Q. Going back to what I started with, if you look back at this entire year from Sunday at Augusta to Congressional to the little jarring moment at the PGA, some of the stuff off the course, female companionship, management, the whole nine yards, how much do you think you've aged this year?
RORY McILROY: (Laughing). You know, it's been an interesting year. A lot's happened. There's been incredible highs and a few very -- the one very disappointing low. But I think that disappointing low was needed to experience the incredible high of Congressional.
So it's been a great year. When I get a chance to reflect on it over Christmas and the new year, it's been a fantastic year and I wouldn't take it back.

Q. I would imagine, people have known about you for quite some time, but I would think the U.S. Open win has brought so much closer inspection of just about everything you do. Are you comfortable with that, and is it going to take or has it taken time to adjust or get used to it?
RORY McILROY: It's definitely taken time. I think I'm becoming used to it. I mean, I didn't -- I didn't even expect the attention or the hype that was going to come after winning at the U.S. Open. I mean, it really hit me when I walked into the press conference at The Open at St. George's. It was the first time I had really addressed the media after Congressional, and it was -- it was a bit of a shock to me to be honest.
I feel as if I'm learning to deal with it a little better, and it's quite an adjustment to make. But, you know, that's just part and parcel of what we do, and I'm very glad to be in this position, very glad that people are interested in me.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, many thanks for joining us. Good luck this week.

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