McIlroy Looks for Two in a Row


After becoming only the second top seed ever to win the Match Play Championship on Sunday, Rory McIlroy is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., for this week's $10 million Players Champions. Golf's so-called "fifth major" starts Thursday at the Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass.

The 25-year-old McIlroy had a long, but ultimately successful final day at TPC Harding Park. After a birdie on the 22nd hole early Sunday morning gave him a 1-up victory over England's Paul Casey, the Northern Irishman edged Jim Furyk by the same score and then rolled past Gary Woodland 4 and 2 in the Championship Match.

It was his second World Golf Championship title, augmenting his victory in last August's Bridgestone Invitational, and his first win since the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February of this year.

The Match Play win also cemented McIlroy's position as the unquestioned No. 1-ranked player in the world. The latest rankings, released Monday, gave the Ulsterman a points' average of 12.6246, well above No. 2 Jordan Spieth's 9.0522.

On Wednesday, McIlroy met with reporters and discussed his chances to reel off victories in two consecutive weeks. For the first two rounds he'll be paired in the attention-getting pairing with No. 2 Jordan Spieth and No. 7 Jason Day. Here's what he had to say.

MODERATOR: Like to welcome world No. 1, Rory McIlroy, to the interview room here at the Players. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Making your sixth start here at the Players. You're certainly trending in the right direction; after three initial missed cuts, you finished eighth in 2013 and sixth last year. And on top of that, you're coming off your second World Golf Championship victory and 10th Tour title last week at Harding Park. With that said, a couple opening comments on being back here at the TPC Sawgrass.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, excited to be back here. As you said, I didn't get off to the best of starts in my career here at the Players. Started with three missed cuts and that. But I feel like each and every year I come here I learn to play the golf course a little bit better. I've adopted a more of a sort of conservative strategy over the last couple of years and it's really paid off. I had to battle to make the cut last year, but once I was in there, I had a good weekend and finished the tournament off well. But, yeah, obviously coming in here off the back of a nice win last week and feel like I'm playing well, so hopefully I can improve on those eighth and sixth place finishes over the past couple years.

Q. In anticipation of you and Jordan playing together tomorrow, there's going to be a little - Jordan thinks there's going to be a lot of excitement out there. I wonder if you could address that, and also, if you could have any part of Jordan's game, what would it be?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, when I saw the draw come out, I was excited to play, not just with Jordan but obviously with Jason Day as well. I've gotten to know Jason quite well over the past number of years, and I remember the first time we played together down in Australia back in 2005 at the Australian Masters. So I'm looking forward to it. It's always nice when you're a part of a group that's got a little bit of a buzz around it and a good atmosphere. And what part of Jordan's game would I like? I guess putting. He's obviously been putting phenomenally well over the past few months. I think that's been a big thing for him. You look at the putts that's holed and the putts that he's holed when he needed to. That's been a big reason why he's done so well.

Q. Tiger made a point the other day about this golf course that when you're on, it feels like you shouldn't shoot worse than 67 and when you're off it feels like you can't break 75. Wonder if you've felt the same way, and is that true at other courses, or is this one unique?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think this one is just unique where it - I heard something that it sort of tests everyone and favors no one. That's sort of what it's like. It doesn't really suit any style of game, but everyone feels like it's a challenge here. There's times on any golf course where if you're playing well you feel like you shouldn't shoot any more than a 67 and there's times on any golf course where if you're not playing so well - I think here, though, this golf course, it magnifies your weaknesses or any - if you're game's off just a little bit in any department, it really magnifies that during this week.

You don't have to hit it that long off the tee, but you have to be really precise. If you do miss it in the rough, especially now that we - it's Bermuda rough and they can get the golf course as firm as they want, it's tough to hit greens from there. You think it's a real sort of place where precision players would excel, but - and it is. If you're a precision player you do have a great chance around here, but at the same time there's still quite a few long holes out there and holes you got to get it out there. You've just got to do everything well.

Q. If you had to describe it in one word, what would it be?

RORY McILROY: Frustrating.

Q. Wonder if there's still any element of tiredness after last week and whether the draw that you've got for the first 36 is just the sort of thing you would have needed to get the juices flowing straight away again.

RORY McILROY: I don't think I need any extra incentive to get the juices flowing this week. It's one of the most important tournaments of the year. I don't think any tiredness is there. I stayed in San Francisco on Sunday night and I flew back on Monday. I spent yesterday at home, didn't fly up until -- basically just landed an hour ago. So it's nice to get a couple of nights in my own bed and get up here and I feel pretty fresh and I'll go out and play a few holes this afternoon and be ready for tomorrow.

Q. Belated happy birthday to you, sir. Congratulations on winning the WGC Cadillac last week and especially the way you did it. I can't remember the last time somebody won three matches in the same day because literally you're getting up and playing a match with Paul Casey, so that was really strong. What's the challenge coming from a tournament like that where you played seven tough matches to coming to a course like this when now your focus has to shift to 72 holes of stroke play? Is that an adjustment that is difficult or something that you know you have to do and it will be easy for you?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, a nice thing about this week is you know how many holes you have to play. You've got 72 holes. You don't have to go into extra holes after any 18. So in that way it's back to what we normally do. I think if there's any adjustment to be made it would have been last week where we only play match play once or twice a year. This is back to our normal format and back to what we know best. So I don't think there should be any adjustment. If anything, the adjustment comes with the golf course and the conditions. It will be nice not to play in a sweater and have mittens on this week like I had to last week. But yeah, I think this week it is; it's all about the golf course and all about making sure you're well-prepared to play the best you can out here.

Q. You've played with Jordan before, obviously. Will it feel a bit different now that he's No. 2 and Masters champion?

RORY McILROY: Honestly, I don't think so. I'm pretty much paying attention to myself out there when I'm just sort of trying to get myself around the golf course, and regardless of who I play with, that doesn't really change. I'll notice it because there's going to be a bit more buzz around the group and a bit more excitement. But to me I'm out there and I'm focusing on my own game and trying to do the best that I can.

Q. Do you remember the first time you played with him and what did you think?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I played with him the first two rounds at the Valero Texas Open 2013. Back then I can't really remember how we did or what we shot. He would have been 19 then? Really solid game, obviously. I felt like he didn't do anything - there was no weaknesses; everything he does, he does it well. It's very solid. I feel like his game is very much that way, where he drives it well, iron play is good, his short game is good, his putting has obviously been phenomenal over the past few months. That's obviously a huge part of the game. If you can putt like he has, you're going to win tournaments and you're going to win big tournaments. But just a very solid all-around player, especially for the age he was back then.

Q. Obviously since the Masters there's been a lot of chatter about you and Jordan and this budding rivalry. When you hear media trying to build something like that up, does that in any way get your juices flowing at all?

RORY McILROY: Not really, because it's been, like last year it was Rickie, this year it's Jordan, might be someone else, could have been Tiger. It's sort of, you know, there's been four or five rivalries over the past year. (Laughter.) So it's not, it doesn't really do anything for me.

Q. Going back to last week for a second, how important was that, was winning to you last week, and secondly, how has your attitude or feelings about this course sort of changed or evolved over the years?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was important to get that win. I think I said that last week, regardless, whether it was a stroke play event or a match play or what, it's always just nice to get given the trophy at the end of the week. I felt I hadn't played my best golf since sort of February, since coming over here and playing at the start of my PGA Tour season. I felt like I hadn't really got into contention to win and that's something that I wanted to do. It's something at the start of last week I said I want to give myself chances to win. It was nice that the first week out again I am able to do that. I want to continue to do that. I want to try and get myself into contention again this week and just keep going. I'm in the middle of a nice little stretch here, a lot of golf, and I just want to try and play the best that I can.

Q. Your feelings about this course?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've always enjoyed this course, even from when I first came here. But it's taken me awhile to learn how to play it. But I've always enjoyed it. It's always a course that I look forward to coming back to. Obviously you've got all the excitement around 17 and the closing few holes, but it's a great golf course. It's one of my favorite Pete Dye golf courses. There's been a few that I've had to wrap my head around and this is one of them, but it's a challenging golf course. You've got to play the angles, tees line you up awkwardly on the fairways, and you've just really got to know what you're doing around here.

Q. Would you like a consistent rival? Someone like Arnie and Jack and Phil and Tiger, someone to push you all the time?

RORY McILROY: Not really. As long as I'm one of them (laughter), the other can be whoever it is. I don't mind.

Q. Well done and congratulations on last week. Heading back to your comment in Abu Dhabi about writing the goals down on that little piece of paper, just wondering how that piece of paper is looking right now, the goals for this year, coming off victory last week, and obviously how important this week is in potentially ticking one of those off?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's looking a little rugged, but yeah, I'm on my way. There's certain goals that I've set for myself that I want to obviously still achieve this year. I said it last week, there's one goal that I didn't achieve last month, but we'll try again next year and but I'm getting there. There's a few goals that I am close to that aren't anything to do with winning tournaments or that, it could be something to do with trying to improve a certain aspect of my game or - so yeah, I mean, I'll take that little piece of paper out every so often and have a look at them and check on how I'm doing, but that first win over here stateside was a big part of achieving a few of those things.

Q. Obviously you've talked a lot about this, but the way in which you won last week, and I know we discussed PGA Championship last year, the confidence and heart you took from that, how much really does that energize you, motivate you as you head into this big stretch of tournaments now?

RORY McILROY: I think it will really stand to me hopefully when I get myself into contention more and if I'm in tight battles down the stretch, knowing that I can produce the golf that I need, the golf that I need to win at a crucial time. Looking back at the putt that I holed against Billy on Friday evening, the way I battled back against Paul, the way I battled back against Jim, those things will - they do, they give you confidence, knowing that if I am able to get myself in contention going down the stretch one of these next few weeks that I'm able to produce my best stuff when I need to.

Q. Was there a particular moment when you decided or realized you needed to play this course conservatively, and how difficult is that for you, given that it's not really the way you like to approach things?

RORY McILROY: It's always hard for me when I can't get driver in my hand, because I feel like when I get driver in my hand I can give myself an advantage over the rest of the field. So it does, it's just about being very patient and approaching it a different way, winning a different way. I feel that would make me a more complete player. Winning around this golf course would - I definitely have a feeling that if I was able to do that, it would - I would be able to win a different way. A little bit like Wentworth last year, where that's a golf course I had always struggled on, but I found a way to get it done, even though it was a little wet last year and I was able to maybe hit driver more than I was in the past. It's always nice to come back to courses where you haven't had much success on and finally be able to crack the code and get the job done, so hopefully that will be the case this week.

Q. A two-part trophy question. As a kid, how much of the motivation to winning was the trophy that you would get if you did, and has that changed as a pro when of course you get money along with the trophy?

RORY McILROY: No, I guess whenever you're a kid all you got was a trophy, so that's all you wanted. Now it's not even about - the trophy's very nice, but it's not really about the money, it's about the - it's more to do with what a certain win does for your status or what the points that you receive or where it puts you in history, for example. When I won my fourth major last year, it put me in a pretty cool list with the likes of Ernie Els or Raymond Floyd. You know, that's sort of what I look at with wins, is where does that put me against some of the other players that have played this game in the past.

Q. Do you even display your trophies anywhere in your house?

RORY McILROY: I do have a trophy room, but it's not - none of them would be very visible. You would have to tell someone where they were. I don't really like putting anything really on display.

Q. Where exactly are they?

RORY McILROY: They're like up in the, upstairs in like the back sort of corner. It's like above the office that I've used never. (Laughter.) But, yeah, it's sort of, you would have to go in, you would have to tell people where it is. It's in like a little nook, like a little loft-type thing.

Q. How did you celebrate your birthday on Monday?

RORY McILROY: I flew back from San Francisco. We were supposed to fly back on Sunday night, but we couldn't for a couple of different reasons. We got home Monday at around 5:30 p.m. and then we were supposed to go - there was a birthday dinner organized which we pushed back until last night. So we had the birthday dinner last night. But the night of my birthday we got home and everyone was really tired, so we just ordered in P.F. Chang's and watched TV. It was very boring.

Q. If it is tougher, how much tougher is it to win these days than it was just six years ago, and is this tournament as tough to win as any tournament?

RORY McILROY: For me personally is it tough to win?

Q. Yeah.

RORY McILROY: I believe it's easier for me to win now than it was six years ago because I'm a better player. Yeah, this golf course, this tournament's as tough as any. You're trying to beat the best players in the world. You're trying to, on a golf course that again doesn't really favor anyone. So you have to - any week that you win you have to play the best golf, but there's certain tournaments you go to and you could sort of count on two hands who really hasn't a chance to win that week, whether it be the conditions or the setup of the golf course or whatever, but here you could pick basically the entire field and feel like they have a decent chance to win. So it's as hard as any to win, for sure.

Q. Obviously, Rory, you showed your desire to win and your frustrations when you didn't play well early this year. Are you finding the longer you play that you want it more, that you desire to win more and you're more frustrated when you don't play well?

RORY McILROY: I don't think it's the frustration of not winning or the desire to win more. I feel like I've gotten to a certain stage where I know what I can do on a golf course, I know the shots that I can produce, and I know how well that I can play. Sometimes if I don't play like that or I don't hit the golf shots that I know that I can, I'll get frustrated with myself. But it's more to do with just being a competitor and being a golfer, and it's not really to do with the winning, it's more to do with I know that I can hit that shot but I didn't hit it there and why, and then I'll get frustrated.

Q. A few years from now, but were you happy to hear that the PGA is going back to the Ocean Course?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I obviously enjoyed my time there immensely. I think logistically it's a bit of a nightmare to get in and out and on and off the island. I don't think you guys are sort of probably not that happy to be going back. (Laughter.)

Q. Not really.

RORY McILROY: But I felt like, again, another Pete Dye golf course that I figured out pretty quickly, but I'm happy that it's going back. I had a great week there. I went for runs on the beach there and stayed in a house right on the beach, and it was nice. So hopefully in a few years' time it can be the same result.

MODERATOR: Rory, we appreciate your time and best of luck this week.

RORY McILROY: Thank you.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.