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THE HONDA CLASSICFebruary 28, 2014Rory McIlroyPALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA DOUG MILNE: Rory, thanks for joining us after 4‑under 66 in round two of The Honda Classic. Got off to what looked liked could have been a long day with two bogeys in your first three holes but bounced back with six birdies. With that said, just a few opening comments. RORY McILROY: Yeah, it wasn't the start that I wanted to get off to. Yeah, it was just a slow start. Just struggled to sort of find my rhythm the first few holes. I mean, I had a good warm‑up on the range and everything, but just had a couple of loose drives. Once you get yourself out of position on this golf course, it's very easy to make bogeys. So wasn't the way I wanted to start, but I stayed patient, made a couple of good birdies before the end of the front nine and then played really, really good on the back, and held a couple of really nice putts. To be 11‑under par after two days on this golf course is a good effort. Q. How much more relaxed or confident or comfortable are you than you were a year ago at this time? RORY McILROY: It's different end of the spectrum I guess. I wasn't quite comfortable with my golf swing. I was still tinkering with equipment. It wasn't‑‑ I just wasn't feeling in control of, you know, what I needed to be in control of. This year is obviously a lot different. Got off to a good start; I'm confident; I'm playing well. This is the second straight tournament I've opened with a 63. So if I can keep building on these good starts, then hopefully I can start converting. Q. You talked late last year about how important it was for to you find the driver and ball combination and that kind of kick‑started everything for you. Curious how would you compare the way you feel over a drive, whether it's with a driver or 3‑wood compared to, say, last fall? RORY McILROY: I guess last fall is when I started to use the driver and the ball combo. So probably need to go back to I guess the summer last year when it didn't feel‑‑ it was getting there, but it still wasn't where I wanted it to be. But yeah, I can play different shots. I hit a really nice little low drive down the second and then got on the third when it was downwind, launched it up in the air. So, I mean, the playability is just there. I feel confident that I can hit different shots with it, which is key for me. Q. To be able to turn it around after a scratchy start in the middle of the round, is that a sign that you are able to trust things a lot more in your game and your swing right now than you were even eight months ago, six months ago? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. I think it's just a sign of a little more maturity, as well, not really trying to force the issue or press, because I've made a couple of bogeys early. Just stay patient and realize, you know,72‑hole golf tournaments, it's inevitable that you're going to make some bogeys in there, get yourself out of position. And I knew I had‑‑ not like I was thinking ahead so much, but I knew I had some opportunities coming up. I had the two par 5s which were reachable, a couple of short par 4s. So I knew that with the way I'm playing and the confident in my ability, I would be able to get those shots back. I didn't panic. I didn't try to do anything different. Just tried to keep playing the way I was. Q. Fair to say you maybe wouldn't have handled that stretch as well last year compared to this time? RORY McILROY: Yeah, of course, because when you're not quite in control of your swing, your confidence can sort of go in peaks and troughs. When you hit a few good shots, your confidence can go up quite quickly but then you hit one bad one, it can sort of go down again and that's where I was sort of most of last year, where now I feel I'm happy with where my swing is, and even if I do hit a loose shot, I can get over it much quicker and much easier because I have the confidence in what I'm doing. Q. 49 putts through 36 holes; is this the most comfortable you've felt on the greens for a while, and is there a contributing factor? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I did‑‑ I mentioned I did a little bit of work with Dave Stockton last week which has definitely helped. I had not seen him since Tiger's tournament in December. So it was nice to catch up with him, and we tweaked a couple of things. All of a sudden yesterday it started to feel very, very come for table. Green speeds here, you can be aggressive with them. I don't feel like the putts really can get away from you that much. So you can really get the ball rolling at the hole. So, yeah, I mean, I'm confident and that's probably‑‑ 49 putts after‑‑ that's the lowest putting totals after 36 I've probably had, maybe in my career. So it's obviously going in the right direction. Q. The weekend in Dubai, especially the last round, is that just golf, what happened to you there, or is there anything you zeroed in on that you worked on that bothered you from then? RORY McILROY: I tried too hard, which was a start‑‑ not even just the last day, but the weekend, because I had started to well in the tournament, I felt like I should have been further ahead and I tried a little bit too hard. My course management on Sunday was probably not as good as it could have been. I should have taken a few more 3‑woods off tees. I was just making tee shots more difficult for myself than I needed to. You know, 3‑wood into the fat part of the fairway would have left‑‑ set up maybe a wedge or a 9‑iron. There's a couple things I took away from that. You know, you always try to learn week‑by‑week and try to incorporate what you've learned the week before into the next week. Q. Talking to Scotty and Billy, who obviously saw the 36 holes and are pretty impressed with what you're doing; tossing last year out, these two days, where would you put these two days compared to when you were winning majors and stuff before? RORY McILROY: I don't know, I've had plenty of 36‑hole leads before. I mean, it's up there. I don't know, I mean, I was leading by ten at one point during the second round of the U.S. Open a couple years ago‑‑ I mean, it's up there. I think I was leading after two days at the Honda two years ago. So it's‑‑ I'm playing well and I'm comfortable and it's just another 36‑hole lead. Q. Forget the fact that it was 36 holes, whatever, the point where you were saying, where have you been this comfortable and you felt like you could go out there and just hit it and there was no thought about swing mechanics and anything else and you've actually been able to execute as well as you're executing. RORY McILROY: Probably since the Playoffs in 2012. I felt very comfortable then after the PGA, and then Deutsche Bank, BMW, that's when it was automatic. Then I started to get into a couple of bad habits, didn't play so well in THE TOUR Championship but still played well in The Ryder Cup and into Dubai but probably September of 2012 since I felt as comfortable as this. Q. Last year was an extreme obviously but you've cycled out of it. The goal going forward, maybe to have less lows and highs and kind of not a little bit more flat line but not have the type of down that you had last year? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. I think one of the goals for me this year was consistency. You know, not making the bad round into a 71 or 72 but obviously still having the good ones. It's quite emotionally draining when you have all these highs and lows and it's nice to be able to keep it more on an even keel, but yeah, consistency in my golf game and my golf swing will give me that more of the flat line, as you say. But yeah, that just comes from confidence and working on my swing and making swings that I feel comfortable with and seeing the shots that I want to see. Q. And what is it about you and PGA National, this is obviously not an easy track, but you've done extremely well on it; why is it a comfortable place for you? RORY McILROY: I'm not sure. I can see myself shoot scores here. You know, I can see 63, 64, 65 out there, maybe some guys can't. But once you get on a roll, it's not like it's the longest course in the world. You've just got to position your way around, and you've still got quite a lot of wedges in your hand but if you're comfortable with that and you get yourself on the fairway, there's plenty of opportunities to make birdies. Q. Yesterday you said the par save on 9 really kind of got you going and you had three birdies in a row; anything that kind of got you going today to save the round? RORY McILROY: Yeah, I held a good sort of four‑ or five‑foot putt on 14 for par. And then the two birdies on 16 and 18, I held a great putt on 18, which gave me a little bit more of a spring in my step going to the back nine. But yeah, just how I finished the‑‑ my front nine was key in how I played the back nine. Q. Can you pinpoint when that confidence surged again? Was there anything like that Bridgestone range session ahead of the PGA, anything like that? RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was somewhere during the Asian stretch last year. I played two tournaments in Shanghai, I played an exhibition with Tiger, and then I played in Dubai, and it was somewhere, I can't really tell you what exact moment it was, but it was somewhere in those few weeks where I started to really get the feel for what I needed to do, and I've continued it on and I had a great off‑season and I hit the ball well and I practiced hard and I've continued it on into this year. DOUG MILNE:  Rory, we know you have you've got to keep going, so we appreciate your time and best of luck. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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