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September 20, 2012
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Q. Was it as hard out there as it looked?
RORY McILROY: If you don't hit fairways, it's hard. If you hit the ball in the rough here, it's very, very difficult to get any control on your ball. We went into the greens. Obviously, putting the ball on the fairway is a premium, and for the most part today I did that, but any time you don't hit a fairway, you're making life difficult for yourself.
Q. Obviously, all the buzz has been about you and Tiger playing together. It continued today. What was it like out there? There were a lot of people pulling for you out there?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was good. It was great. I always say groupings like that, it's a great atmosphere, it's a great buzz, and wish I could have shot a couple shots better.
But I'm in a good position going into tomorrow. Yeah, I mean, I'll just go out there tomorrow and give it my best again like I did today.
Q. How would you sum up your chipping today?
RORY McILROY: It's tough to say because of the lies that I got around the greens were very, very hard, very tricky. I mean, good chip on 18. I had a really tricky one there on 14. My bunker play was really good. It's better, you're better off missing it in the bunkers here than in the rough. But, yeah, my chip in and out of the rough wasn't so hot.
Q. I saw you putting, and you missed some putts that you've been making during this stretch?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, my speed was just off a little bit. I was even a few short, and then the ones that, yeah, I just the ones that I missed were a little lack of speed.
But, you know, it evened itself out. I made a good one for par there on 13, and I made a good one for birdie on 12. Lipped one in on 15 for birdie too, so it sort of all evens itself out in the end.
Q. Is it a difficult golf course to learn fast, or is it pretty straightforward?
RORY McILROY: It's straightforward. You know what you've got to do out there. You've got to hit the fairways, and you've got to hit the greens. I don't think it's any sort of disadvantage coming here for the first time. It's all out there in front of you. Not really much course knowledge or local knowledge needed.
I mean, the greens are pretty sneaky, sneakily slopy. So you've got to make sure that you keep the ball below the hole as much as you can.
Q. With the conditions tomorrow, are you going to change your strategy?
RORY McILROY: No, keep doing the same thing. I felt like I hit the ball pretty good, so just go out there tomorrow and try to play the same way, and maybe hole a few more putts and turns what I shot today into something in the mid-60s.
Q. What happened on 18?
RORY McILROY: I was trying to bring it in to the left with the wind.  If I hit a good one, it would have gotten there, but I didn't think I needed all of it. It was the right club, I just didn't hit it the way I should have.
Q. What did you hit?
RORY McILROY: A 5‑iron.
Q. Does it seem more relaxed to you this week, even though $10 million is on the line?
RORY McILROY: Not really. It's the same. You're going out and playing, trying to play well. I haven't noticed any change in atmosphere at all.
Q. How big was the par putt on 13, momentum‑wise for you?
RORY McILROY: It was big. To birdie 12 and then it looked like I was going to give that shot straight back on 13. It was pretty lucky if it didn't hit the hole. It was probably going ten feet by. It was a big putt for momentum, for sure.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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