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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 26, 2011Graeme McDowellRory McIlroyHAINAN ISLAND, CHINA SCOTT CROCKETT: Gentlemen, thanks, as always for coming in and joining us. Well done today, another fantastic performance atop the leaderboard going into the final round. Maybe give us your thoughts, start with yourself. GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, solid day today. We are right where we want to be going into tomorrow. The leaderboard was really going to sort of not mean anything until tonight, and we are two shots ahead going into tomorrow, but some great teams up there, some great players. We are going to have to go and play well tomorrow. But this is where we want to be. We are both playing lovely. You know, I managed to heat my putter up today and make a few, and we are very excited looking forward to tomorrow. SCOTT CROCKETT: Looking at the scoreboard, a lot of good scoring today. Important that you maintained your own form today to keep on top of that pile, wasn't it. RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely, going out there today, we thought something similar to the first day was going to be a solid score and we ended up sort of coming one short of that. But anything around 8‑, 9‑, 10‑under par is a good score in that format, and I was just lucky enough that Graeme played very, very well today and held a lot of great putts. You know, I was a spectator for the majority of the round, but it was good. As Graeme said, in a great position going into tomorrow and we have given ourselves every chance. SCOTT CROCKETT: Were you looking at the scoreboard? Were you aware of the surges made by the Germans and South Africa, in particular? GRAEME McDOWELL: When we saw the scoreboard, I think we were on 6th green and we saw Germany were off to a flyer. We actually expected that today. I think there were 18 teams within five shots of the lead. We knew someone was going to go low today, and the leaderboard was going to be fairly bunched going into tomorrow. We are probably a little disappointed that we couldn't pick up a couple more on the way in there. We really could have put a little bit of daylight between us and the chasing pack. But two ahead, we are going to have to go and play well tomorrow, it's as simple as that. Some great scoring and that was always going to happen today a little bit. SCOTT CROCKETT: Similar strategy to Friday for tomorrow, is it? RORY McILROY: Yeah, same game plan. Graeme will take the odd‑numbered holes and I'll take the evens. Yeah, just go out and play like we have done the last three days, and you know, if we can play like we did on Friday tomorrow, then we have got a great chance to lift up that trophy at the end of the day. Q. You just mentioned about lifting the trophy. What would it mean‑‑ I know you want to stay in the present, but what would it mean to lift this trophy and add the World Cup along with a Ryder Cup victory? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it would be incredible. Just to add your name to the list of names and countries that have won this tournament, the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, there are just two American teams that feature four of the best players ever to play the game. So to be able to put your name on a trophy like that would be very special. GRAEME McDOWELL: I completely agree with Rory. The legends of the game have won this trophy, and you know, to go out there with one of your best friends and experience the highs and lows of this game, hopefully the high is tomorrow, to be coming down the back nine on Sunday sharing the experience with someone‑‑ that's what makes the team stuff so amazing. To be able to pick up something like The Ryder Cup and share that as a European Tour, and if Rory and I have a chance to win this great trophy tomorrow, to be able to share that as great friends, that's something extra special. You know, there's no substitute for that. This is a very individual sport. But we get the opportunity to go and battle it out with each other tomorrow, so it's going to be a lot of fun. Q. The European Team has won quite a few Ryder Cups in recent years, and the No. 1 player in the world is a European player, Luke Donald. So do you believe the level of the European players are much better than the U.S. players at the moment? RORY McILROY: You look at the World Rankings and you see that the top four are European players‑‑ it's hard to say. I mean, all of these things I think go in cycles, because you look back at the late 90s and early 2000s, and it was dominated by American players. And now it's a lot of European guys have started to play well, and the last three world No. 1s have been European. Europe has won a few Ryder Cups, but I mean, I think if you look at it, it really is very, very even. America has got a lot of great players, and so does Europe. I think next year The Ryder Cup will be very exciting and very evenly contended. Q. We see five out of the top six players right now in the top three teams are Major winners, and both of you are Major winners. What's your advantage going into tomorrow being Major winners? And if you do win tomorrow, how are you going to celebrate? GRAEME McDOWELL: You know, there's no massive advantage being a Major Champion. I think the leaderboard reflects four or five of the very top teams as regards World Ranking and experience. Tomorrow is going to be a battle and there are some great teams up there. We are going to have to go and play our best, and you know, it's just another Sunday afternoon, and we are going to have to go and just play hard, hole the putts, and may the best team win. But how are we going to celebrate? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm heading west and Rory is heading east, but I'm sure we might manage a couple of glasses of wine before we do that perhaps. We just love to give ourselves the opportunity to win tomorrow, and you know, we'll be working hard to do that. But it's going to be a tough test tomorrow. Q. Rory, would you like to say something? RORY McILROY: I think Graeme pretty much covered it. Q. Some golf players say that when they are playing golf, they will know the meaning of life or something like that, so I want to know, do you have any, how to say‑‑ GRAEME McDOWELL: Can you explain that one? (Laughter). SCOTT CROCKETT: Are they asking Graeme and Rory to explain the meaning of life? There you go. RORY McILROY: The meaning of life? GRAEME McDOWELL: (Leaning back, smiling.) Go ahead, Rors. Can I write this down? RORY McILROY: Bring out the philosophical side of me. I mean, I think just to be‑‑ (laughing). I mean, I don't really know how to answer that. I mean, for me to be‑‑ for me, golf is just a tiny little bit of what I am or what I do. That's very‑‑ what this is very small in comparison to what life is. I think your happiness, your health, your family, the people around you is the most important thing. And being in the position that we are in to help others that are less fortunate than us, I think that's very important. You know, if you can do all of those things and keep your head and keep your perspective in the right place, then I think you'll be able to lead a very content and happy life. SCOTT CROCKETT: Yes, sir. Golf or philosophy? Q. Rory, this is a good one for you. What's harder, to teach the No. 1 player to playoff, or to teach the No.2 player to play tennis? RORY McILROY: Definitely to teach the No.2 player to play tennis. She has definitely more potential at golf than I do at tennis. Q. Do you enjoy playing tennis with her? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I do. I definitely do. It's something I want to try and improve. But, you know, I'll let her stick to the tennis and I'll stick to the golf. But she hit a few balls last week in Dubai, and she's got quite a lot of potential. So, it's fun. It's fun to see someone close to you sort of improve and get better. Yeah, you know, it's good fun to be able to play tennis with her. It's good fun to be able to bring her to the driving range and to hit some golf balls. Q. When you compete on the Tour, especially the last several weeks, you've been playing almost seven, eight weeks in a row, how do you keep up with your physical condition and mental toughness? You've been performing very well, almost week‑in and week‑out. What's your secret here? RORY McILROY: I think really, every week is different and you sort of take each week as it comes. I've actually over these past eight or nine weeks that I've been travelling, I've done quite a lot of work in the gym and feel like I'm in pretty good shape. I'm just coming off the back of two weeks off, as well, so that was a chance for me to sort of recharge the batteries and refresh my mind a little bit, and come back and be motivated and ready to go for the last few weeks of the season. So even though I've been away from home for a while, it was nice to get those two weeks off to just chill out and really be ready for the last few weeks. Q. Have you ever thought about competing in the Olympics in 2016 and winning the Olympic Gold Medal? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think it's a big goal of anybody who in whatever given sport that you play, if it's in the Olympics, to have a chance to win an Olympic Gold Medal would be incredible. I'm still not sure what way the golf tournament there, the format, is going to work, but it would be a great opportunity and a great chance to be able to play in the Olympics. It would be great fun. It would be an opportunity and an experience that not a lot of golfers would have had, because golf, it's only been recently that announced that it's back in the Olympics for 2016. Yeah, it would be very nice to play in, but it's still four years away. We have to get 2012 out of the way first, and then we can think about it then. SCOTT CROCKETT: Thanks very much as always. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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