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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONALJuly 31, 2013Rory McIlroyAKRON, OHIO SARAH GWYNN: Rory, thanks for joining us today and welcome to the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. This is a pretty good tournament for you given your results. Just sum up how your feeling coming into this week. RORY McILROY: Yeah, I always love coming back here. It's a really enjoyable two weeks here starting off here in Akron and then obviously following up with the PGA. It's a great week to play. You get four competitive rounds and work on your game. It's great facilities, great golf course. I think the guys love to come and play here. I've obviously had some good results here in the past, and hoping for something similar again this week. SARAH GWYNN: Last year it really kick started an amazing run to the end of the season. Do you feel like you're in a position to do that again this year? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I was sitting up here this time last year probably not feeling as if my game was in great shape, and I'm sitting up here this year a lot more positive. So that's a great sign. Yeah, I mean, it's a great golf course. It's a golf course I feel like I can do well on, and I feel like I'm‑‑ if something similar could happen like it did last year, get a good finish here or get into contention, obviously that would set me up for the last major of the season and going on from there, set me up for the great end of the year. Q. Based on your experience can you talk about the importance of not only playing the week before a major but playing well the week before a major, how much that helps? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it does for sure. I've tried all different ways to get ready for a major, and I've done well not playing the week before. I've done well taking three weeks off the week before. I've done well playing the week before. I've sort of done it all. But I think you're getting a good, competitive outing the week before a major, you can't‑‑ it's something you can't get when you get a week off. You can go play a round of golf, you can go practice, but there's nothing quite like getting into contention and knowing how that feels. You saw with Phil, he won the Scottish Open and then followed that up obviously with an amazing win at Muirfield. And I feel like that's sort of what‑‑ last year I finished fifth year, and that gave me a lot of confidence to go on to the PGA and obviously play the way I did. Q. Based on that, do you see any similarities between this course, Firestone, and Oak Hill for next week? Is there anything that you can use this week to help prep for next week? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. They're both old‑fashioned, traditional golf courses. I think the fairways at Oak Hill have probably got a little more bend to them. You've got to shape a lot of shots at Oak Hill. Here the fairways are just sort of straight out in front of you. But the greens are similar. They're quite small, slopey. And the par‑3s here and the par‑3s at Oak Hill are strong holes, and you're going to have to hit some good iron shots. I've heard the rough is really up at Oak Hill from when I was there maybe six weeks ago, so I'm looking forward to seeing what that's like. But, yeah, this is a great golf course. You have to drive the ball well. Every aspect of your game has to be done to do well here. As I said, old, traditional style golf course, and next week is something similar. Q. Can you compare and contrast your preparation this year for this tournament going into the PGA? And also, is it purposeful for you to take off last week? Did you feel like you needed that rest last weekend? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've always taken the week off after a major. I took the weekend off, as well, after that major. Yeah, it was never really in my mind to play after the Open. I was always going to take a week off and get ready for these two weeks. And I've got a great run of events coming up, six tournaments in eight weeks. I'm going to play a lot of golf until the end of the season, so it was nice just to have that week where you can practice and work on your game and get ready for these tournaments coming up. Q. When you look back on the last sort of 51 weeks, how would you describe what's gone on in your golfing life? RORY McILROY: 51 weeks? It's been up and down. It's been‑‑ obviously I've had some great weeks and some great wins, and I've had some very average ones, as well. But it's like everything; you're going to have ups and downs. My highs have been incredibly high and my lows have been pretty low. It's just about trying to stable everything out and try and make it a little more on an even keel. Q. You were back in Northern Ireland, weren't you, last week? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I spent four days in Monaco and then I spent the weekend back at home, yeah. Q. And you played with your mates? RORY McILROY: Yeah. Q. Is that the first time you'd done that for a while? RORY McILROY: It is, yeah. It's the first time‑‑ I had a couple of friends came over to Florida before Quail Hollow and THE PLAYERS. I played a couple of rounds of golf with them, played pretty good those two weeks, had the chance to win at Quail Hollow and finished top 10 at PLAYERS. Yeah, I just wanted to go back and did a little bit of work with Michael and played with some friends, and it's nice to go out and play for the sake of playing, not playing because you have to or play because whatever. Just go out and play and enjoy and play some courses that I played growing up. Q. Did you birdie the last seven or something? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I was 7‑under for the last seven when we played Holywood. Q. Is that a good thing for you to do? RORY McILROY: Exactly, it makes you realize why you play the game. It makes you realize why you started, because you love the game. And when you were younger, you'd sort of do anything you could to sort of get out on the golf course. Yeah, it's great just to go out and play with friends, play with friends that you've grown up with, and it's just‑‑ it brings you back, and it makes you realize, I guess, why you play this game. Q. At Muirfield you were pretty honest after the first round and again a little bit the second day about your mental state. Just wondering, have you put that behind you and moved on from it, or do you dwell on that much after to try to take anything from that? RORY McILROY: Not really. Muirfield was a very difficult test, and it was‑‑ definitely wasn't a golf course to go to whenever you're not quite 100 percent mentally and technically with your game. That's why I was obviously a little bit despondent after those two days. But it's something you just leave in the past. It's not something you dwell on at all. I've left it behind, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. I've got a lot of great events coming up and events that I did well at last year. So hopefully those positive memories can see me through and I can start to play the golf that I know that I can. Q. What was your reaction to Gary Player's recent comments? RORY McILROY: I haven't heard. I don't know what you're talking about. Q. You didn't hear any of Gary Player's comments? RORY McILROY: No. What did he say? Q. I don't want to misquote him. RORY McILROY: I haven't heard anything. Q. It was just advice on what sort of wife you should get. RORY McILROY: Okay (laughing). Q. I did want to ask sort of along those‑‑ he was kind of giving you advice about your type of wife/girlfriend. How do you react when people offer those kind of things from out of the blue? RORY McILROY: I don't know. I mean, I have the utmost respect for Gary Player. He is an incredible man. Obviously the success he's had on the golf course, but just the way he's lived his life and how healthy he is. Obviously he's an inspiration for everyone. I don't know what he said. This is the first time I've heard it. I don't really know, all I know is I've got a lot of respect for the man, and he's someone that I definitely look up to. Q. Can you compare and contrast how you prepared last year for this tournament and the PGA versus this year? Did you really want that trip away to relax? Did you do anything differently last year? RORY McILROY: I did the exact same thing. I came in Monday ‑‑ last year I did some work with Michael Bannon, my coach, the week prior to here. We flew over on Monday, did the exact same thing, and practiced Tuesday and Wednesday. I got some really good time with Dave Stockton the last couple of days, same thing I did last year. So the preparation has actually been pretty similar, apart from the fact that I feel like my game is in better shape now than it was last year. I was really searching last year for answers, and I've just come to the conclusion that I just need to go out there and play. I was focusing too much on mechanics and technique, and I just needed to go out there and see the shots and play them, and obviously that seemed to work pretty well. Q. What you just said about Dave Stockton, I remember here last year he gave you a bit of advice to smile again. Is that something he said again? RORY McILROY: Same sort of thing, yeah. You know, I've always said, it's easier to smile when you're making birdies. But yeah, of course. Attitude, and I guess the thing that he said to me last year that I'm trying to do again is if someone's watching you from the outside, don't let them know whether you're made a birdie or a bogey. It shouldn't matter. And that's something that I‑‑ yeah, I've become a little bit too emotionally involved with my golf over the past few months, I guess. And I've let it either get me excited or get me down, where I should really just not get too high or too low about it at all. Q. One more thing along the question of kind of baring your soul. Your honesty is appreciated, but do you ever wish you weren't so honest? RORY McILROY: Sometimes, sometimes. But, yeah, I guess it's just me. I mean, I'm not going to sit up here and pour my heart out, but I'll tell you how I'm thinking and I'll tell you what's on my mind. If I get asked a reasonable question, I'll give a reasonable answer. SARAH GWYNN: Rory, thanks for coming in. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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