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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 2, 2012Rory McIlroyCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: We'll get started. I'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy, the 2010 champion of the Wells Fargo Championship. If you want to go ahead and make some comments about coming back to play at a place where you won and your thoughts coming into the week. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's always nice to come back to somewhere where you've had success at. I've got great memories of this course and of this tournament from 2010. Yeah, I mean, I've played some great golf here and played not‑so‑great golf here last year. But yeah, looking forward just to get back out on the course. I've had three weeks off, and it feels good to be back, and looking forward to this run that I've got coming up. Q. Talk about the change at 17. RORY McILROY: Yeah, just a new tee box. It makes it a better angle. Definitely a more inviting shot. You're not hitting as much towards the water, so you're basically‑‑ it makes it more of an exciting finish because at least guys have got a chance to maybe make a birdie there coming in, whereas in years gone by you'd just bail out to the right and try and take your 3 and just get out of there. Q. So it's an easy hole? RORY McILROY: It's made it a little easier, yeah. Q.  What's the club there on the tee? RORY McILROY: Probably‑‑ I've hit 6‑ and 7‑iron the last two days, so something around that. Q. What did this win here do for your career? RORY McILROY: I don't know, it was nice to get that first win in the U.S. It was my second win of my career. I think it gave me the confidence‑‑ you know, a lot of European players come over here and struggle to win, so to come over here and get a win early was nice. So yeah, it gave me the confidence to know if I came over here a little bit more that I did have good chances of winning tournaments here. Q. The eagle Friday, think back to that. RORY McILROY: That was huge. I was outside the cut line and I hit a driver and a 4‑iron to six feet on 7, which was my 16th, and holed out. I knew I needed to really‑‑ really what I was trying to do was birdie the 7th and birdie the 8th hole because that's a good chance, as well. Birdied 7, had a chance on 8 and didn't make it and had to two‑putt from 60 feet on 9 to make the cut and was able to do that. Had a great weekend after that and was able to get that win over here. Q. Did the win at all play out, fast‑track you in terms of taking up your card over here? Was that something you were immediately considering at that point in the ballgame? RORY McILROY: I had my card at that point. MARK STEVENS: He was a rookie in 2010. Q. How big was the 62 you shot here? RORY McILROY: It's up there. It's probably the best. I'm trying to think if I had any other‑‑ yeah, to shoot 62 on this golf course was‑‑ Q. Compare that to what happened at Congressional. RORY McILROY: No, the 62 here was definitely better. It was more‑‑ I don't know, I just felt more‑‑ I obviously felt in control at Congressional, but I don't know, I think just under the circumstances being four back, you follow up a great round like a 66 on a Saturday, to follow it up with a 62, sometimes you don't usually do that. To be able to do that was fun. Q. Have you been tracking the ebb and flow of world No.1, and are you at all amused to have been in and out while you were kind of on the sidelines watching TV or whatever you've been up to? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, it's so volatile because guys are playing here and playing there, and it seems like when I play, Luke doesn't play; when Luke plays, I don't play. It would be nice to‑‑ I don't know, I think it keeps it interesting. But I mean, it would be nice to assert my authority in that No.1 position and keep it for a while. Q. Do you think there will be a firm No.1 by the end of the year? RORY McILROY: I hope so. I hope you're looking at him. Q. On Monday of the U.S. Open conference call you talked a little bit about how the perceptions change or expectations maybe changed after you won at Congressional. Any specific examples of how your life changed, maybe something you were able to do in solitude before but after the Open‑‑ RORY McILROY: I think a lot of changes last year to be honest. But yeah, winning a major does change your life. It lifts you from being a top‑class player into maybe the elite in a way. Not many people can call themselves major champions. I'm working hard to try and be able to call myself a multiple major champion. But yeah, it's the highest prize that we have in golf is to win one of the four majors, and I was just happy to do that and obviously want to try and win some more. Q. How was it different when you went home after Congressional? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's been‑‑ after I went home, it's‑‑ for the first couple weeks it's a bit crazy. But it dies down. It's not so‑‑ it's a pretty big deal, but it's not‑‑ people obviously get very excited at the start and then it sort of calms down after that. Q. I think you've played once in six weeks. How is your form‑‑ RORY McILROY: Seven. Q. Seven weeks. How is your form? Any concern you might not be ready this week? RORY McILROY: No, I've got a good stretch of golf coming up, here, PLAYERS, back in Wentworth, Memorial, U.S. Open, so I've got a nice little run of five in seven weeks, four in five, five in seven. Looking forward to that, and just trying to‑‑ I want to play good here and try and build up to the U.S. Open. That's the next big target for me. Q. Did you have a good practice last week? RORY McILROY: Yeah, great. I got to Florida, spent seven days there and did some really good practice, had Michael Bannon out, had Steve McGregor here. They're both still here and both did‑‑ we all did some really good work, so I was happy with that. Q. Why is it so hard to follow a low round with another low round? RORY McILROY: I'm not sure. Q. It seems like it would be easier. RORY McILROY: It's funny, you see guys shoot a 63 or a 64 on Thursday, and then I think if you shoot anything in the 60s on Friday it's a really good effort. I'm not sure why, but it just happens that‑‑ again, once you shoot a 64 or a 65 or whatever on Thursday, your expectations might just be a little higher and you might be even through 9 and you start to push a little bit because you know that you can shoot a low score. I think that's one of the reasons, instead of just taking it hole by hole and making sure it's‑‑ thinking it's a new day and basically just starting back at even par again and playing the way you did on Thursday morning. Q. A lot of guys will win a major and they can get kind of overwhelmed with the business of golf and people wanting their time and new sponsorships get thrown at you. How do you handle that and did you get kind of inundated with new companies coming after you? RORY McILROY: I mean, that's not for me to handle. That's for the person on your left to handle. Q. But in your eyes where does that rank in importance for you? RORY McILROY: All I want to do is just play golf and win golf tournaments and the rest takes care of itself. It doesn't‑‑ of course you're going to have to have discussions about it from time to time, but the most important thing for me is the golf and making sure that I'm comfortable on the golf course and have enough time to put into my game so that I'm ready every time I play. Q. Having a 54‑hole lead has its challenges. When you were able to pull it off on Sunday, having the lead, what does that do for you? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's nice. There's different‑‑ I think having a one‑shot lead going into Sunday compared to having a four‑ or five‑shot lead is completely different. You sort of feel like you're tied even if you have a one‑shot advantage. You can be one shot behind, you can bogey the first, another guy birdies, you're one shot behind and you have 17 to play. Having a four‑ or five‑shot lead is completely different because there's two ways you can approach it. You can try and protect your lead, or you can say, okay, I'm four shots ahead, I want to try and go five shots, want to try and go six shots, want to try and go seven. There's different ways you can approach it, and I found out last year that approaching it the first way didn't really work. I think for me if I'm three ahead, I'll try and go four ahead, if I'm four ahead I'll try and go five and keep my foot on the pedal and try and build as big a lead as possible. Q. Last year after you were disappointed at Augusta you jumped right back in and played at Malaysia, Masters, U.S. Open, going to Haiti. This year you took three weeks after. Did you digest what happened at Augusta any differently this year? RORY McILROY: Not really. I played pretty good the first two days, 71‑69, was in third position going into the weekend and in a really good position. Just that front nine on Saturday killed me. So I can't‑‑ it's hard to put your finger on it. I knew there was things that ‑‑ I struggled to hit the ball right to left at Augusta. If you're struggling hitting the ball right to left there, you're not going to do any good. I couldn't turn it around some of the corners, which usually is my typical favorite shot. I've just been working on that a little bit the last week or so and trying to become more comfortable with that shot again and be comfortable working the ball both ways. But yeah, that was‑‑ I didn't drive the ball particularly well at Augusta, and you need to drive it well. You need to put your ball in the fairway to have a chance to go at the pins. That was the disappointing thing for me about Augusta. Q. You did a commercial shoot yesterday? RORY McILROY: Yeah. Q. I wonder if you could talk about that, how it came about. RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously the PGA TOUR is heavily involved with St.Jude Children's Hospital, and it's something that I'm quite‑‑ if I'm going to do anything like that, I want it to be with kids because I feel like I can relate to them a little bit better than anything else. If I can help raise awareness, raise money for the hospital, all the kids that go there and all the families, I mean, they basically don't pay a penny. It's nice to be able to do those things and to do it with someone like Sean White, as well, who's a superstar in his field, and to bring us together to raise awareness, and to have the little seven‑year old boy there, Dawson, he was unbelievable. To see someone go through what he's going through basically and to have all this positivity coming out of him, he's so‑‑ it just makes you realize how lucky and how fortunate we are. I certainly know if I was going through an illness like what Dawson was, I don't know if I would be as bright and as happy and as cheery as he is. It's definitely inspiring to see. Q. Any examples of what he said? RORY McILROY: No, I don't think it's what people say, I just think it's his actions, his smile. He was just so excited to be here, to be videoing a commercial. The director of the commercial said, if you don't remember your lines, we've got a Teleprompter, and he goes, "I don't know how to read." So he memorized his lines for the last week, and he was brilliant. He was more of a pro than I was. It was cool to see. Q. Have you gone back and watched any footage of last year's U.S. Open, and if so was there anything that stood out to you? RORY McILROY: I think just the approach, just the mental approach was the big thing for me. It's hard, I mean, it sometimes feels easy when you're in control of your golf ball like that and it feels good; you're driving the ball well, your irons are good, you're getting it up‑and‑down when you need to, you're holing the putts for birdies. It all seems pretty straight forward when it's like that. It's the times when you don't feel so good, maybe like the weekend at Augusta where you need to just find a way, and that's the big thing for me. So yeah, I mean, I might look back or obviously the lead‑up to the U.S. Open they might be playing the highlights or I might catch some of them. But I know inside what I did and how I felt, and it's just trying to recapture those feelings and bring them into this U.S. Open. Q. Was there ever a moment at the U.S. Open where you felt like you didn't have it? RORY McILROY: No. Seriously, I felt a little nervous or anxious the first few holes on Saturday just because I knew going into the weekend with a six‑shot lead was nice but I still felt that it could have been a little bigger, and to widen that gap from six to eight going into the last day was nice. I got it up‑and‑down for par on the third hole on Saturday from like 90 yards. That really calmed me down, and I ended up birdieing the next after that, and that got me going. Q. You mentioned the other day that you haven't played Olympic and won't until the week before the Open. How difficult is that to play a major on a course that you have so little experience like that, and it's a very different course than Congressional as you know. RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course. It's okay. I mean, I've felt like the last few years I've been playing a few courses that have been new to me. It's been okay. I suppose if it's a new course to you, you don't really know where all the trouble is, so you're not thinking about it. Yeah, you know, I'll play a couple rounds the week before and then play a little bit the week of, and I'll make sure that I get to know the place as good as everyone else that week. But you can know the courses as well as anyone, but you have to hit the shots, as well, so it's all down to‑‑ you can prepare as much as you want and you can put all the work in, but you need to produce when the gun goes. That's the secret. Q. How many events will there be this year compared to last year? RORY McILROY: This year I'm going to play at the minute it looks like 23 plus the Ryder Cup. Last year was more like 30. Q. With that in mind, was that taken from your fears of being stale? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't want to be burned out by the time I'm 30. I want to try and prolong my career as much as I can. I sometimes take a little bit too much out of myself, especially at the end of the season, so it's trying to be‑‑ basically the most important time for me in the golf season is from the start of April until the end of August. That's when all the big tournaments are and that's when you want to play your best golf. All the stuff either side of that is more preparation work and making sure that your game is getting ready and your body is physically ready for that time of the year. For me that's‑‑ I'll play hard through‑‑ I've got a busy stretch coming up now. I know I've been criticized a little bit for not playing as much as some other guys leading into these few weeks, but I know I've got a big stretch coming up, and I want to be as fresh as possible for this. Q. Are you still trying to find perfect balance for you? RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course. I'm trying to find the perfect balance between golf and having a normal life and everything else. For me there's more to life than just golf. I don't know if people are surprised to hear that, but I have a lot more going on in my life than just golf. Q. How much golf did you play from the Masters until now? RORY McILROY: To be honest, I left my clubs in the States, so I went back to Europe for two weeks and didn't touch a club and then came back here, and I've worked hard since I got back. Q. And making time to see Caroline, as well? RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course, there's everything. We both travel a lot, and it's very important that you find time to do the things that you want to do. MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Rory, and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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