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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLDDecember 6, 2011Rory McIlroyDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES MICHAEL GIBBONS: Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Rory. Welcome back to the Dubai World Championship. RORY McILROY: Thank you. MICHAEL GIBBONS: I suppose after last week's uneventful finish you'll be looking for the same again this week. RORY McILROY: Hopefully it won't come down to having to hole a bunker shot at the last, but if it does, I know that I've done it before really looking forward to this week. It's a golf course that I've had some success on the last couple of years with a third place and a fifth place. I've had a third and fifth and I've played well around this golf course. I just went out there this morning and the golf course looks fantastic. They have overseeded and it looks like it's been in the best shape it has been‑‑ it looks in the best shape, ever, really. Excited. There's a lot to play for. Still got a slim chance of trying to win The Race to Dubai, and so it's nice to just have that coming to the quick. MICHAEL GIBBONS: You know exactly what you have to do. RORY McILROY: I've got to win and Luke has to finish outside the top nine or ten, whatever it is. I'm really not counting on him to do that because he's only finished outside the Top‑10 about twice this year. It's going to be a tough ask but I'll give my best and be great to finish the year on a high. Q. If I can just come back to Hong Kong, that reaction, have you thought about it since‑‑ you went absolutely ape. RORY McILROY: I did. I went nuts. Q. Did you surprise yourself by how crazy you went? RORY McILROY: It's a tournament that means a lot to me. Ever since 2008 when I lost in a playoff‑‑ it's always been a favourite tournament of mine and it's one that I really wanted to win. I said that last week after I won. Doesn't matter how prestigious the tournament is; you always have your favourites that you want to win, and for me Hong Kong was one that I wanted to get my name on that trophy. Yeah, I've never been that excited or animated on a golf course before. I think it just shows you how much it meant to me. Q. Just the style that you won it, the fact that you came from behind, you'd never really done that before in pressure terms, was that something to do with it, as well, that you sort of proved something to yourself? RORY McILROY: Not particularly. I played very well on Sunday and I did miss a few opportunities on the front nine, 6,7 and 8. It could have been a very, very low round. I met up with my mom and dad yesterday, and we said congratulations and everything, but he said, "How many putts did you miss."  I went, "Thanks, thanks very much."   (Laughter). It was nice, I played very solid golf coming down the stretch. I think I was tied for the lead after nine holes and to shoot 3‑under on the back nine to win was obviously very pleasing. Q. How much have you got left for this last leg? You said you were fatigued last week and you had a long sleep; how are you fixed going into this? RORY McILROY: I'm not‑‑ energy‑wise where I want to be, but I took a day off yesterday and took it easy. Going to play the Pro‑Am today and practise, and I'll probably take another day off tomorrow. Maybe hit a few balls. But that's really it. Really try and conserve my energy and focus that all into the four tournament days. I'm not 100 per cent, but I'm still able to go out and play 18 holes and try and give it my all. Q. In hindsight, did you maybe overdo it with that whole tour of China thing and fitting it all in, this 12 weeks on the road? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's definitely the longest stretch I've ever played. It's something that I probably won't do again. I'll think about it a bit more. But you know, it's something I wanted to do. I have no one to blame but myself for wanting to play and wanting to sort of go week‑after‑week. But yeah, I mean, it's something you won't see me doing next year for sure. Q. I think I read or heard you were going to go and have some tests yesterday just to make sure everything was all right; did you? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I went and visited the doctor yesterday and had some tests done. But I won't get the results back until later on this week. So just waiting on them to see how everything is. Q. What were they testing for? RORY McILROY: Blood tests, because my white blood cell count was very low the last couple‑‑ after the Maldives and Dubai when I had two weeks off. So see if the blood counts went back up again. Q. You seem to have set up, with your win on Sunday, Westwood winning on Sunday, Tiger winning on Sunday, suddenly, what was already a very exciting season, this season, seemed to have turned into a fantastic one looking forward to next year. Would you just give us your thoughts on that, please. RORY McILROY: Yeah, you know, usually December is a month in the golfing calendar when not much is happening, but Sunday, it was great to see‑‑ obviously great to see Tiger back, and even the way he won was very, very impressive, birdieing the last two holes when he needed to. I think you saw by his reaction, as well, on 18, how much that meant to him; and Lee playing so well in Sun City, shooting 62 on Saturday. It looks like next year is going to be an exciting year with a lot of players playing well. You know, I'm just very happy to be involved in that group of players that are playing well, and have a chance to go and win more tournaments and hopefully have a chance to win Majors, as well. Q. What do you think Tiger will be like next year? RORY McILROY: I don't know. I haven't really saw that much of him play. But I mean, as I said, he finished very impressively on Sunday, and that's something that stays with you, that instinct and that will to win whenever you have to. He's done it so many times before, and it looks like his game is really getting back in shape and as I said, it's going to be an exciting 2012 for golf. Q. Obviously you've had a fantastic season with some great achievements, but if as you said, the slim chance you win and Luke finishes where he needs to for you to win this weekend, how would that sit in your list of achievements for this season? Where would it rank if it did happen this weekend? RORY McILROY: It would obviously rank second after winning my first major. You know, there's a long way to go before any of that happens. I need to play very well to beat a top‑class field, the top four players in the world are here, and Top 60 in Europe, so it's going to be a very tough ask. As I said, Luke has not finished outside the top nine very often this year. But if it was to happen, it would be a great achievement. It would be a great way to finish this year, which has been my most successful year‑to‑date. It would set me up nicely for 2012. Q. Who do you think the best golfer in the world is right now? RORY McILROY: It's tough to say. I mean, for me, over the last 18 months, Luke Donald has just been‑‑ he's just been so consistent. He's won five times in the last 18 months, I think he's won four times in year, and all big events, World Match Play, Wentworth, Scottish Open and obviously the Disney when he needed to. And he's finished, as I said, hardly finished outside the Top‑10. You know, he's deservedly the No. 1 ranked player in the world at the minute, and you know, I feel as if I'm playing well. I would love to try my best to overtake him. Q. Just two questions. When you look at Luke, and like you said, the way he's played this year, what is it going to take to beat him this weekend? And how did coming out of Sunday and the way you finished, how does that help you coming into this week? RORY McILROY: I mean, to be honest, I don't really know what it's going to take to beat him this week. I just have to focus on my own game and try to shoot the best scores possible. I can't really do anything else. I can't worry about what Luke does or about what anyone else does. I just have to go out and play the best that I can, and‑‑ sorry. What was the second part of that question? Q. Just coming out of Sunday. RORY McILROY: I think if anything, it will just give me that little bit extra energy to really try to finish off this European Tour season very, very well. You know, give me one last extra push. It gives me a little bit of momentum coming into this week, as well. Q. You talked about the satisfaction of winning an event in Hong Kong that was one that you've always really wanted to win, but how much extra satisfaction do you get out of a victory that you needed to have in the context of The Race to Dubai? RORY McILROY: Yeah, that was‑‑ you know, I had quite a lot to play for on Sunday. I wanted to obviously win to keep my chances alive in The Race to Dubai and I knew that I had to win to keep my second‑place ranking in the world. But it's not really something you think about when you're on the course. You just have to go out and play, and as I said, try and shoot the best possible score, and if it happens to be good enough at the end, then that's great. Luckily enough for me, it was. But it is, it's very satisfying knowing that you need to play well and you go out and do it. Q. Two years ago when you were here, you came in leading The Race to Dubai and Lee passed you, does that still rankle with you, and do you feel that the tournament owes you one for this week? RORY McILROY: No, not at all. Even if I had of played my best that week, it probably wouldn't have been good enough, anyway. Lee was head and shoulders above everyone else that week. He deserved to win. I think he was 24‑under par or something when he won. The way he finished he deserved to win that year, and that week. You know, I mean, it's not something that I really think about too much. If it had of been‑‑ if I had been leading the last day and lost it, it would have bothered me more. But there's nothing I can really do about someone playing that well. Q. The first day that year when you came off, you were talking about how you actually gave away a lot more about the way you were feeling inside, and Lee actually said he would never have said that. Do you feel you've learned from that and you would never make that mistake again? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was something that really cost me the tournament. I mean, it was just something that I said and something‑‑ I said what I was feeling. It was tough to sort of fully concentrate on my own game when you're looking at the player beside you doing what he's doing and always keeping an eye on him. But yeah, I feel like it's something I've learned, because when I go out on Thursday with Luke in the last game, I'll only be trying to concentrate on myself and make sure that I can play the best that I can. Q. If Tiger were to build on what he achieved on Sunday, does the idea of taking him on next year as the best appeal to the competitor in you, as someone you've grown up admiring? RORY McILROY: Of course. I think if anything it would just be a challenge and a real‑‑ you know, you want to test yourself against the best in the game, and if you were to come up against Tiger on a Sunday, it would probably be the biggest challenge of my career obviously. It's something I would look forward to. It would be a huge experience and a huge learning curve for me just to see how I would handle it. But it's not something that I have experienced, and it's not something that a lot of players in my sort of generation have experienced yet, and it would just be great to have the opportunity to do it at some point next year. Q. Just going back to two years ago for a second, it was almost as if you were intimidated a bit by Lee. How much do you think you've changed since then and how much do you think you intimidate others? RORY McILROY: I don't know. I mean, for me, that's not really what golf's about. It's not about intimidating anyone else. It's just about going out and concentrating on your own game and playing the best that you can. You should never really feel intimidated on the golf course by anything. I mean, if some guys have that mind‑set, then that's fair enough, but I don't feel as if I need to intimidate anyone to beat them. Q. Obviously the end of the Tour and you're saying energy levels are quite low, but how much do you look forward to coming here to play in Dubai? RORY McILROY: I love it, I really do. It's a part of the world that I've done well in before, and it's obviously somewhere that I've grown to know and love over the past few years. I do spend a lot of time here and it's just great to come back. I've gotten to know a lot of people here, and you have friends you go out to dinner with; it's just nice. It's a nice, relaxed field whenever you come here. You know you've got great restaurants, great hotels, you're really well looked after.  Yeah, it's nice to come back. Q. Nice way to end the year. RORY McILROY: Yes, exactly. Q. With you and Lee and Tiger winning Sunday, and you going out with Luke on Thursday, is that exciting for you to pit yourself against the top rivals who are all playing great at the same time, or would you rather run away with this week like did you at Congressional; is that more enjoyable? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. (Smiling) yeah, definitely would rather have it that way but realise that's not going to happen every week and you're going to have to fight for it sometimes. But it will be great. It seems like everyone's playing very well at the minute. You've got Luke who is coming off his best season ever. Lee looks like he is starting to play a little bit better again. Martin Kaymer won in China a couple of weeks ago; played with him in the World Cup just before Hong Kong, and he seemed to be playing well. You've got the top four guys in the world all here and all seem to be on form. So, it will be hopefully a very exciting week. Q. How would you characterise your relationship with Luke, and how do you think you'll interact with him on the course? Any different to usual given that a lot is on the line? RORY McILROY: No, not really. I feel like I've got a good relationship with Luke. I've gotten to know him pretty well over the last couple years, and spent a bit of time with him down in West Palm Beach playing a bit of golf with him last year before the Masters. You know, he's great. He's a very easy guy to get along with. And I don't think there will be any real difference come Thursday. I'm sure we'll have a nice time out there and chat and just treat it like any other round, any other golf tournament. Q. You talked about your energy levels a lot in Hong Kong, and then again here, you said you had some tests. Is it just do you think the long road and fatigue, or do you think something else is going on there? And two, again with Luke, you said he's had his best year ever. What makes him such a good golfer? What made this year so good for him do you think? RORY McILROY: I mean, you know, I did pick up a virus when I had the couple weeks off in between China, HSBC, and then going back to the World Cup. I picked up a virus, and that's why my blood count was pretty low. And energy levels are not exactly where I would want them to be, but as I said, waiting on the results to come back later on in the week just to see how I am and see if everything is okay. And then Luke, he's very‑‑ he's just very consistent. I think he's always had a great short game, and he always holes the putts that he should. But I think one of the big reasons that he's played so well this year is his driving has improved a lot. His driving accuracy, he's never‑‑ he's obviously never been the longest off the tee, but he's starting to hit the ball in the fairway more, and set himself up with‑‑ he's got such a great iron game as well, that if he hits it in the fairway, he's going to have plenty of chances for birdies. Q. When did you actually last play with Luke? You've not even been at the same tournament I don't think since the PGA. RORY McILROY: Not sure. I don't know. Maybe that time in West Palm Beach before the Masters? Q. Last year? RORY McILROY: Well, this year. I don't know. I couldn't tell you who I played with last week (laughter). Q. You look really jaded and you're obviously not feeling great; would you have pulled out if this had not been such a big week, and Race to Dubai? RORY McILROY: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't like pulling out of tournaments. I think you saw that at the PGA this year. But I mean, even if I didn't have a chance to win, I'd still play. It's a big tournament, a lot of World Ranking points and there's still a lot to play for. MICHAEL GIBBONS: A fair bit of money, as well. RORY McILROY: A little bit. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, thanks very much. Good luck for the week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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