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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLDDecember 8, 2011Rory McIlroyDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks for joining us. RORY McILROY: You're welcome. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Give us an assessment of the day, obviously a pretty good score and a fantastic back nine. RORY McILROY: It was the perfect start to this tournament for me. To shoot a great score like that, really sets me up nicely for the next three days, and, yeah, I didn't‑‑ I felt like I was playing really good on the front nine. I played three really good birdies but I made a couple of very silly mistakes, hitting it way right on the second hole with my lay‑up, and then‑‑ three silly mistakes, hitting it in the rough on the lay up on the other par 5 and then flying the green on the 8th. A couple little mental mistakes there, but you know, the back nine was just pretty much flawless. I held some really, really nice putts. Just kept giving myself chances and opportunities for birdies, and lucky enough, I was able to take a few. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Did you have a wee word with yourself? RORY McILROY: No, not really. I just stayed patient and I know this golf tournament's 72 holes for everyone and I just need to‑‑ I knew there was going to be some point in the tournament where I would be able to make a few birdies and make a bit of a charge. It was just nice to get a few today. Q. Did you get your test results back yet? RORY McILROY: No, actually. I don't know if I want them back (laughing). Q. How were you feeling out there? RORY McILROY: I actually feel okay. I don't feel too bad. But, you know, I'm still just a little jaded from the last few weeks, but I'm able to go out there and give it my best for 18 holes, and that's all I really need to do. Q. When you first started off, was there a sense that you were playing match‑play and you had to just reign yourself in a little bit? RORY McILROY: No, not really. I really have tried to make a conscious decision this week to really focus on myself and not worry about what anyone else is doing. You know, I sort of made that mistake a couple of years ago, even though I'm in a different position. I really need to be, in, ways, I need to be selfish and really be self‑centered this week and just care about myself. If I can do, that then I might have a good chance. Q. Can you just talk us through what happened at the second, and is it a reflection that you really play this game aggressively? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a great lie in the rough. You know, a wood usually moves through the rough a lot better than an iron does. The hosel doesn't get caught. The sole sort of slides through the rough a bit better. I sort of tried to chop a 5‑wood out of it and get it close to the green and give myself a chance. I just sort of got a little steep on it and a little too much from out to in and cut across it and the ball just squirted out right. I wouldn't say it was aggressive. It was a shot that I think a lot of players‑‑ it's the sort of shot that would have been perfect for a utility club. A lot of guys probably would have used one of those, but I don't carry one. I just had to sort of manufacture a shot with a 5‑wood. Q. Come back straightaway with a birdie? RORY McILROY: Yeah, basically I hit it stiff at the first, hit it stiff at the third, and then the fifth. My iron play was really good on the front nine, and that was one of the positives to take into the back. Q. Were you hoping for Luke to play bad? RORY McILROY: No, it didn't matter today if Luke shot 6‑under or even or whatever. I just really have to concentrate on my game and what I'm doing. And you know, I really need to just keep that‑‑ that's the No. 1 goal this week is to sort of keep that thought process. Q. Did you see or hear about Luke's comment about your talent yesterday? RORY McILROY: No (looking up, rolling eyes) ‑‑ (laughter). Yeah (smiling). Q. Do you agree? RORY McILROY: Look, it's one thing to have talent but it's another to actually have the capability of turning that talent into something productive. I think what Luke was saying was maybe I'm‑‑ golf comes as easy to me as it does for Tiger. I'll never know, but, look, Tiger's won 90‑whatever tournaments worldwide and 14 majors and that's definitely more of a talent than five wins and whatever it is. Yeah, there's different types of talent. You could say some of Luke's short game shots out there today were unbelievable. He's definitely got more talent than me around the greens. There's different types of talent. I think what he said was maybe taken a little bit out of context. Q. I don't mean this in the literal sense of the world, but do you kind of feel invincible right now? RORY McILROY: I definitely don't feel invincible, but I feel like every time I sort of tee it up on the golf course that I've got a good chance of shooting a good score. I feel like my game's in good shape. Yeah, I mean, when you get on a roll like this, it's nice. You don't really have to think about it too much. You're just trying to hit the green and hit the fairway and hole the putt and go on to the next hole. Everything seems sort of stress‑free, and I don't want to say easy, because it's not, but it's definitely nice when you get on little runs like this. It's not going to last forever, I'm sure. I'm sure there's going to be a point where I struggle but right now it's nice to have that feeling walking on to the first tee. Q. But have you ever been on a run like this before? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think coming into this event in 2009, I had something similar. I didn't quite get the win, but I think I finished like that year fourth, fifth, third, second, fourth; I was always up there in the top five. This is the longest period I think in my career I've went playing this level of golf. I don't think I finished outside the top four since the PGA, and before that I finished sixth at Akron. It's been a good run. Q. Were there any moments on that back nine where it felt easy, and could you ever envisaged a nine‑shot swing in nine holes against the world No. 1? RORY McILROY: I mean, it felt like nearly every putt I looked at on the back nine, it went in, which was nice. It's not something I've experienced that often. But, yeah, I mean, I didn't expect Luke to play the way he did. I thought if I could shoot 4‑ or 5‑under the back nine, it would be a really good score; and to shoot 6 to make the putt on the last was just a bonus. Q. Is it important the way you've been feeling recently to get a start like that, and halfway when things seemed to be going the other way, was it more difficult for you to sort of carry yourself on because of the fact that you had been so low on energy recently? RORY McILROY: To be honest, I'm sort of using it to my advantage in a way, because it's sort of taken the pressure off me. I'm sort of like, well, I'm not 100 per cent and if it doesn't quite happen, it doesn't happen and there's nothing I can do about it. You know, so it takes the pressure off in that way that you can just go about your game and try and play as well as you can. Q. Just rattle off the distances of the back nine putts, please? RORY McILROY: Yeah, 10th hole was 12 feet. 13th hole was about 25 feet. 14th hole was about 12 feet. 16th hole was 35, 40 feet. 17th was about 18 feet. The last was, I don't know, what was that, 20, 25 feet, something like that. Q. How many breaks on the one on 13? RORY McILROY: I actually started it pretty straight, because it went left‑to‑right early and then started to come back at the end. Q. You holed all of those long putts but you were pretty calm with them; were you still thinking‑‑ are they coming? RORY McILROY: I hope so. I hope I get myself into position, so it's only the first day. Q. Are you against early fist‑pumps? RORY McILROY: I usually don't get that out in the first round of a tournament (laughter). MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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