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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 22, 2013Rory McIlroyVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, many thanks for joining us, welcome back to the BMW PGA Championship. Start us off with your thoughts and feelings ahead of the week, Rory. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's always great to be back at Wentworth. I think it's an event that all of the Europeans and people on The European Tour look forward to coming back to every year. It sort of kicks off I guess the golf season in Europe leading up to The Open Championship. You know, it's always a great atmosphere. You play in front of crowds who really get behind the tournament and are very supportive, and you know, they don't get the opportunity to watch a lot of golf these days in this part of the world, so when they can, they really turn up in great numbers and support the players and the tournament, which is great. MICHAEL GIBBONS: A quick word on your game, not the greatest start to your season by our own standards. RORY McILROY: Yeah, for sure, everyone knows it's been a slow start to the season for me, but I feel the last few weeks have been really, really good. I'm really excited and positive where my game is at. From tee‑to‑green the last few weeks it's been the best it's been in a long time and it's just a matter of holing a few more putts and if I can do that, and keep giving myself chances to win tournaments, get into contention and sooner or later, hopefully walk through that door and get the first win of the season. Q. It's been a fairly quiet week so far. Which topic of controversy would you like to discuss first? RORY McILROY: (Laughs). Q. Your choice. RORY McILROY: My choice? No, I'll let you choose, go ahead. Q. Can we start with Sergio's comments last night. I know Tiger literally just as you walked in the door, he responded on cTwitter‑‑ RORY McILROY: What did Tiger say? Q. He said he believes it was hurtful; it wasn't silly and clearly inappropriate, but it's time to move on and he feels that Sergio's regret was real and truly expressed. RORY McILROY: I'm sure it was. Look, it was an off‑the‑cuff comment and it shouldn't have been said, and I think Sergio realised that as soon as he said it. And you know, I think as Tiger he said, it's time to move on. It's a bit of a mountain of a molehill at this point; and I think everyone knows that they are not the greatest of friends. And look, I'm not the greatest of friends with a few people on Tour and it's just the way it is. It's just unfortunate that it's had to be played out in public the way it has. But you know, it's just time to get back on the golf course and play golf and do what they do best. Q. Did Sergio‑‑ you said he realised as soon as he said it; did he say anything to you afterwards after you left the stage? RORY McILROY: I was sitting on the sofa at the front and I sort of glanced back and was like, ahhhh; but you know, it is what it is. I think he really does regret what he said and he's truly sorry for it. Look, I'm a friend of both guys. I know both guys pretty well and I get on with them pretty well. You know, there's definitely no malice or anything like that in what he said. It was an off‑the‑cuff comment, a bit of a jokey question, and I think that's all you've got to put it down to. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Sticking with the controversy. Q. While I've got the microphone. We spoke to Graeme last week in Bulgaria about the reports about your management structure and what‑have‑you; can you just tell us what the situation is? RORY McILROY: Look, I'm here to try and stay on point and talk about golf and talk about everything else. Look, I can't really comment on speculation at this point. Obviously you guys know that something's up. That's fair enough. But at this point I can't really say much more. Q. You were talking about friendships there and you get on with people on Tour; you have always had a special relationship with Graeme, and yet there was a sense yesterday that that relationship may be under pressure. Have you had an opportunity in the last 12 hours or so to kind of sit down and talk to Graeme and basically sort it out? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I spoke to Graeme yesterday afternoon. We got back to the hotel and we just had a chat. Everything's good. So there won't be any quid pro quo at the wrong time the next few days or any of that stuff (laughter). Look, it's all good. I'm great friends with Graeme. He's been a real big brother to me on Tour. I remember playing practise rounds with him at the Dunhill Links, for example, back in 2007 when I got my card. He really showed me the ropes out here for a couple years, and you know, it's great to have good friends on Tour and he's obviously somebody that I consider a very good friend. Q. There seemed to be a bit of stress between you yesterday. Is that a sign of how difficult recent times have been for you, without commenting about what's happening? RORY McILROY: Not really. I guess it's just ‑‑ obviously I know what I said to you and Bernie, and I guess at the time I meant that. But you know, it is what it is and it's water under the bridge and away we go. Q. I can understand you saying you don't want to comment further, but wouldn't it end speculation if someone did say something? RORY McILROY: I can't comment further. Q. You can't? Thank you. You said on SKY Sports that if you join the circus you have to be prepared to put up with the clowns; what did you mean by that? RORY McILROY: I thought it was quite a good comment. Something someone very smart told me a couple of days ago. Q. Is it in relation to the management or‑‑ RORY McILROY: No, it's just‑‑ think about it. Just think about it. Q. All this talk, how distracting is all this talk and taking your mind away from golf? RORY McILROY: Not at all. Once I get on that first tee, my mind is focused on shooting the best score possible and that has not changed and that will never change. Q. Would you ever fancy managing yourself? RORY McILROY: We'll see. Q. When do you expect it to be sorted out, and was it a mistake at Sawgrass to say so definitely that nothing's changing? RORY McILROY: No, I mean, again at that point, I can't really comment on it. I mean, I don't want to get myself in a position where I don't want to be in. Look, it is what it is, and the truth will all come out one day, and I guess you'll just have to be patient. Q. Is this because of contractual(inaudible) with your present management? RORY McILROY: Could be. Q. Can I ask you a question about golf? MICHAEL GIBBONS: Please, do. RORY McILROY: Thank you, Karl; brilliant. Q. Are you entirely comfortable on this golf course? Is it a place that you feel you can come this week and win? RORY McILROY: I think the way the course is set up this week, I'm more comfortable on it than the last few years, because I mean, last year, we had unbelievable weather and it played really firm. This year it's a little softer which I think suits me a bit more. You know, the best finish I had here was in 2009 when the course had not been changed and since the changes, I've sort of struggled a little bit. But I think that you know, every year it's sort of been quite firm but this year it's been quite soft, so it might suit me a little better this year. They have made another couple of adjustments to the course. They took a bunker out on 6, and last year they took the bunker out right of the 18th fairway, which I think was a big improvement. They are making the course a bit more playable, and I think that showed in the scores last year. I think Luke won with 14‑ or 15‑under, and the previous year was 6‑under or 8‑under. Still, it's a scorable golf course, this week especially, with the conditions being quite soft, it just depends how the weather is. Obviously the weather doesn't look so good the next few days, so might have to contend with that for the first part of the week and see how it goes from there. Q. What was it like getting back together with the other 11 from Medinah last night, until the controversy; what was that feeling like between you all? RORY McILROY: It was great. It was nice. We had a nice little presentation before we left for the dinner, all 12 of us together. José presented us with a nice gift or a memento for the week in the hotel that we are staying at. It was just great to have all the guys back together again. Even like José was there, and he was just giving a speech‑‑ and this is before we left to go to the dinner. I felt like, I don't want to lose it here. He's such an inspirational character, and just being with all of them brings back so many great memories of that week. It's the best‑‑ I said this last night, but I'm very proud of my individual achievements in golf, but by far the best experiences I've had on a golf course have been at Ryder Cup. Q. You told us here last year that you felt that you had taken your eye off the ball a little bit as far as your golf is concerned. Given all that's gone on, the scrutiny over the club change and the management, do you feel you'll be able to keep your eye very much on the ball this week? RORY McILROY: For sure, I've been working hard on my game and practicing and that's been the No. 1 priority for me is getting my game as good as it can be. There's a big summer of golf coming up; Memorial next week and building up for the U.S. Open, and then it's not long after that that The Open Championship comes around the corner. There's a lot of events one after the other from now until the end of September, and it's a real time in the season where you have to knuckle down and play some good golf. I'm determined to do that after the start that I've had to the season, so I'm fully focused on that and looking forward to the next few weeks. Q. I was going to ask you about the big summer of golf, you and a lot of the guys have three venues in the next three Majors that a lot of guys have not played before; you have Akron the week before the PGA but how does that affect your preparation going into major venues that you have not played before? RORY McILROY: It's okay. It's something that I deal with a bit more than anyone else. Trying to think of the venues last year. Q. Kiawah. RORY McILROY: Kiawah, never played. Olympic I've never played. Lytham I'd played before, yeah; didn't make a difference. Yeah, you're going to go to golf courses sometimes you don't know but sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes you play a course‑‑ you don't play it blind; you play practise rounds but you don't have any expectations on the golf course because you've never been there. Q. Will you go there beforehand? RORY McILROY: I'm doing a media day for the PGA the Monday after Memorial at OakHill and then I'm going to go to Merion after that and spend a couple days there, Tuesday, Wednesday, and get to know the place and see if I can figure out how to check wind without looking at the flag. Q. Have you played Muirfield in your amateur days? RORY McILROY: Never, never been to Muirfield. I'll take a visit there, as well. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, thanks for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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