McIlroy: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be coming back as a Grand Slam Champion “

Rory McIlroy speaks to the media following his second round at The Open Championship.

Hi Rory. Rory, well played. Can you give us your thoughts on another battling day out there today? Yeah, another solid day. Um couple under, you know, improved a little bit on yesterday. Um hit it in play a little bit more off the tea. Um which was nice to to have some looks, you know, out of the fairway and into some of these greens. And yeah, it was a it it was a good day. I I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to to the lead, but um yeah, overall, you know, in a in a decent position heading into the weekend. Still very well placed. How much are you looking forward to what’s going to be a really exciting weekend here in front of these incredible crowds? Yeah, I’m I’m excited for the opportunity. Uh I didn’t have that opportunity six years ago, so you know, to play an extra two days in this atmosphere in front of these crowds, uh you know, I’m I’m I’m very excited for that. and I feel like my game’s um definitely good enough to make a run. Um so, you know, I’m yeah, as I said, I’m excited for the weekend. It looked like you were kind of getting really to grips with your long game towards the end of the first round and second round. Um it’s like the crowd are almost willing you to play well and you’re willing to stay in contention, but when will you start kind of flowing? I don’t know if you can ever flow on this like this golf course is very demanding. It’s quite, you know, visually intimidating off the tea. Um, I think you see like the bunched nature of the leaderboard. You know, it’s one of these places where you know the holes where you have to make par, you know the holes you have to make birdie and it’s, you know, you know, everyone sort of has to play the golf course the same way. So, you know, everything everything becomes pretty bunched. Yeah, you can, you know, if you have a, you know, one of those, you know, out of the blue days and you you can get it going, but for the most part, um, you know, you’re just trying to pick off your birdies on the on the easy holes and honestly like hold on, you know, with some of these really tough par fours. Roy, you said in 2019 that you felt like you let the fans down by not making the cut. What does it mean to you to be here in front of people who have followed you your whole career? Yeah. Um, I think I let myself down more than I let the fans down, but I definitely felt like, yeah, it was it was Yeah, I mean, I, you know, it was it was a hard pill to swallow, but at the same time, I left myself too much to do. Um, and then this time, yeah, like I I think I’ve I’ve just gotten I’ve I’ve gotten better. I I know what I need to do to get the best out of myself in an environment like that. Um, and you know, I’ve been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in in um little bits here and there. You know, I’m going to, you know, I’m going to need to to have um to have it all under control and have it sort of all firing over the weekend to make a run. But, um, yeah, it’s incredible to play in front of these fans. Um, you know, I was saying to Tim Barter there at the the Sky Cart. Um, you it was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be coming back um as a Grand Slam champion with the support of a nation behind me trying to win an open championship. So, um, count myself very grateful and very lucky that I’m in this position and, you know, I’m excited for the weekend. Thanks, Rory. Thank you. Was it the money shot?