Rory McIlroy Press Conference | 2025 PGA Championship Pre-Tournament

Watch Rory McIlroy’s pre-tournament press conference ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

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Contested each May, the PGA Championship is the second major championship in golf’s annual rotation and perennially features the strongest field in the men’s game based on the Official World Golf Rankings. Known for dramatic finishes and notable champions, the Wanamaker Trophy—which has been awarded to the winner since 1916—is inscribed with names such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. 
 
The 2025 PGA Championship is set to take place between 8-11 May at Quail Hollow Club. The reigning champion is Xander Schauffele. 

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Good morning. Two-time PJ champion Rory Mroy joins us now at the 107th PJ Championship. Rory, welcome to your 17th PGA Championship. It’s been a memorable year for you so far to say the least. How are you feeling heading into this week at a place where you’ve had quite a bit of success? Yeah. Um, always nice to come back to Quail Hollow, uh, for obvious reasons. Um, you know, I’ve great uh obviously great memories from this place. Um, you know, first first win on the PGA Tour 15 years ago. Um, you know, winning last year. I probably played, you know, my best golf year last year here. Um, especially at the weekend. Uh, so yeah, you know, look, it’s been a it’s been an amazing 2025. Um, you know, there’s been a lot of great golf played and um, but there’s still still a lot of golf left to play this year. So, you know, I’m I’m excited for for the journey ahead. Um, you know, looking forward to this week. Hopefully the weather clears up a little bit and the the course can can dry out a bit, but um, yeah, ex excited to uh to tee it up in another PJ Championship and and give myself another opportunity. That’s great. Thanks, Roy. We’ll open up for questions starting on mic 13 and then over to nine. Hi Rory. Um Xander Schoff said recently that the prospect of you playing in majors without the burden of chasing the grand slam was scary. Um do you see yourself as scary or how would you describe your prospects going forward? Um I’m I’m just this I’m the same person. I no I look I I turn up and try to have the the same attitude and the same approach to to each and every tournament and try to get the best out of myself and um some weeks that results in wins and some weeks it doesn’t and um you know as long as I approach every week that way um you all I can do is go out there and try to play the golf that I know that I’m capable of and you know as I said some weeks someone just plays better than you and and other weeks, you know, it’s your time. So, um, you know, I’ve played over 400 events in my career. I’ve played a lot of major championships and um, like I know how these things go and you you just got to go out there and and and play. Um, you one of the things that I talk about with Rotell all the time is you just keep playing until you run out of holes. Um, and hopefully by the time you run out of holes, whoever decided that 72 holes was the end of a golf tournament, hopefully your score is better than everyone else’s or 73 holes at the Masters, obviously. Or 73. Yeah. Up to Shane. Rory over here. Um, quick hypothetical for you. When you’re looking at the four parts of the game, driving, approach, putting around the green, if you were forced to trade one of those elements of your game for anybody currently playing, which would you choose, which part of the game, and who would you replace it with? I wouldn’t trade. If you were forced to, but I’m not. If I asked you what part of a game you admired in somebody else, what other player, like who who’s somebody you admire putting, for instance? I’m focused on my game. All right, mic three and then mic two, please. Rory, you you said at Augusta that you were going to be playing with house money? Can you describe what it’s like to how you feel now that you are playing with house money? And has um the pressure of the grand slam been replaced by any other form of pressure? Look, I’ve achieved everything that I’ve wanted. I’ve I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the game. Um, I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I’ve done that. So, um, everything beyond this forever for however long I decide to play the game, uh, competitively is is a bonus. Bob, Rory, what is what does the wet conditions mean for the course, for the tournament, and and does it favor you? There was always that sort of notion that this was good for you. Do you do you still believe that? You know, I yes and no. Uh look, I think early in my career that these these conditions favored me more. Um I believe that they favored me more, but I believe that Pinehurst last year favored me. I believe that that firm conditions favor me. I I I believe that that any conditions that we play in um you know I have the abilities and I have the the skill set to to excel. We’ll go next to Mike 16 followed by by Mike nine and then six. H Rory, how are things back row here? Now that you’ve done the grand slam, do you have another northstar achieve or ambition, one grand target which is motivating your career from here? Uh, not necessarily. Um, I think everyone saw how hard having a north star is and being able to get over the line. Um, you know, as I said at the start of this press conference, if I can just try to get the best out of myself each and every week, I know what my abilities are. I know the golf that I can play, you know, and if I, you know, if I keep turning up and and just trying to do that each and every week, um, especially in these four big ones a year, you know, I I know that I’ll have my chances. Um, you know, I’ve always said I’m never going to put a number on it. You know, I’ve I’ve talked about trying to become the best European ever, the best international player ever, whatever that is. Um but again that’s not you know the numbers tell one story but it’s not mightn’t be the full story. So um you I I don’t want to you know I feel like I sort of burden myself with the career grand slam stuff and you know I I you know I I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy what I’ve achieved and I want to enjoy, you know, the last decade or whatever of my career and I I don’t want to burden myself by numbers or statistics or I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can. Nine. Eight. Rory over here. Uh, how when you know a course as well as this one, how does your preparation change for the weekend? Is it is it a little different coming back here for a major as compared to coming back here for a Wells Fargo in your mind? Um I you know I thought it was going to feel different uh just because it was a major championship and I got out on the golf course yesterday and you know it felt no different than last year at the Wells Fargo. The roughs maybe a little juicier. Um but you know fairways are still as you know there’s still the same cut lines and same visuals and so it doesn’t it doesn’t feel that much different. Um I like I think everyone’s preparation has been somewhat hindered this week because of the weather. Uh, I decided to fly home from Philadelphia on Sunday night. I spent a day in Jupiter. I got a couple hours practice at home um at the Bears Club before I came up here on Monday evening. So, you know, I’ve, you know, I feel like I’ve prepared the best way that I could. I played the front nine yesterday. I’ll play the back nine today. Um, yeah, and I, you know, it’s not as if I don’t know this place. So, I think it’s a matter of um you know, just making sure that every part of the game feels in a good spot. And yeah, because we all know this golf course so well, it’s not as if you’re going to glean anything new from a strategy perspective. It’s just a matter of, you know, stepping up and and hitting the golf shots um you know, when the when the gun goes on Thursday. Is the strategy the same and how you attack the golf course or does that change as well? No, I think it’s the same. Uh especially with how soft it is. I think you have to be super aggressive off the tea and then you just have to pick your spots going into the greens. Gabby, um Rory over here, um looking back to 2010 here, I know it was 15 years ago. What do you remember from that week and how important was that win really for you at the beginning of your career here? Yeah, I um I wasn’t even supposed to play uh this tournament in 2010. And I I missed the cut at the masters. Um and I went I was struggling with a bad back. I went and got an MRI scan um when I went home and it showed some um like edema and stress around um L4 L5. And the doctor told me like it’s probably better if you rest for a few weeks and and not play. Um, and I the weekend before I played a round of golf at Royal Port Rush and I played really really well and I I was sort of, you know, I I felt like my back was feeling a little bit better and I I came over here excited. I came over here excited to play. I didn’t play so good in the first round. Um, and I was, you know, I was my first it was sort of like my rookie year as a member on the PJ tour. So I, you know, had the the opposite tea time. So, I was playing in the afternoon, but off the 10th TE on Friday and uh I needed to play the last three holes in two under par just to make the cut. Uh and I eagled seven, hit a four iron into sort of I don’t know 15 feet, held that and then I two putted from about 60 feet on nine to make the cut. Um and then I I played with Scott McCarron on Saturday morning. I went out and shot 66 and it got pretty tough in the afternoon and got me into the top 10. Uh so I was I was excited about that. Um and I remember on the Saturday night uh there was a big boxing fight on it was like Manny Pacquiao and somewhere it might have been Floyd Mayweather. Um and we went to the Del Frisco uh there in South Park and we watched it at like midnight or whatever it was, you know, Vegas was 900 p.m. Um I remember getting to bed at like 2 am uh woke up the next day playing with Anthony Kim. Uh, and I went out and, you know, played one of the rounds of my life and and won my first PJ tour event. Um, I yeah, I I remember uh, you know, I I got off to a pretty decent start. Uh, and then I birdied 11 and that’s when I thought, okay. And it was the first time ever where, you know, I’d got myself a I’ I’d been playing pretty well that year, but not, you know, not as well as this. And um I set myself a target score. I think I birdied 11 to get whatever it was in the tournament. And uh I said, “Okay, if I can get to like 13 under par, um I I might be able to win this.” And I think I got to 13 under par 15th wall. Um so then it was just a matter of trying to you know do what I needed to do and um yeah it was just it was an amazing day and it feels like such a long time ago but at the same time I can remember that you know I think those those important things the the first whether it’s your first win or your first major whatever it is like those things stay with you. Um, and I think part of the reason that I’ve played so well here since is, you know, I had that such that that positive moment and those positive memories. And every time I come here, you know, I I I just have I just those good feelings get rekindled. So, it’s um it’s been a good place for me. Take two right here with Mark and Alex. Hey, Rory. Um, I’m assuming that your reaction on 18 at Augusta was a bit of an out-of- body experience. I’m wondering uh when as you’ve gone and look back on it what your emotion is when you look at that and and just your recollection. Yeah, I um yes I I try I’ve tried not to watch it a lot because I want to remember the feelings and I want to you know I I’ve talked about this before. I think when I rewatch a lot of things back I then just remember the vis visuals of the TV rather than what I was feeling and what I was seeing through my own eyes. So, I haven’t tried to watch it back too much. Um, but anytime I have, I I well up. I still feel like I want to cry. Um, so, but yeah, it was a yeah, it was an involuntary just, you know, I I’ve never I’ve never felt a release like that before and I might never feel a release like that again. You know, that could be a once in a-lifetime thing and um it was a it was a very cool moment. Bor, you talked about the different venues where you’ve played well. You feel like you’re a good rain player then a good, you know, hard and fast player. Can you talk about how you got to this evolving mental attitude to be able to do that? And how much has Retella in the short period of time you spent with him helped you kind of get through some of that? Yeah. Um, I t I think I talked about this at the at the Masters press conference, but I had statistically I had my best season in 2019. I won the players. I won, you know, I won the FedEx Cup by, you know, I had a I had a good season, but um I felt like my uh my my performances in the majors were disappointing. And I made a I wrote in my journal or my notebook um that I wanted to try to change that. And I wanted to become I wanted to try to tailor my game around the four biggest tests of the year. And I wanted to I wanted to be known as someone that excelled at the hardest venues. So I said about okay, what do I need to do? What you know, what aspects of my game do I need to get better at? Um and I think a lot of it had to do with mentality and embracing the the toughness of a US Open test, for example. you know, so I I missed the cut at the US Open 2016, 2017, 2018. Um, and if you look at my results since then, I haven’t finished outside the top 10 the US Open. And that was a real effort. I wanted to I wanted to be known as a player that could excel in in in those toughest um in those toughest environments. And um even though I haven’t won a US Open since then, my performances have been a lot lot better. Uh, and it was just it was really about trying to re retool my game in some ways. Um, trying to master some shots that I hadn’t quite mastered and probably haven’t still mastered, but I’ve got better at them. And then just, you know, yeah, the attitude thing is a big thing. You know, working with Rotella pretty consistently since 2021. Um, you know, I’ve sort of went on, you know, we’ve we’ve worked on and off for for quite a while, but but really consistently since 21’s made a made a big difference. Up to Mike 17, please. Hi, Rory. Um, Bryson said after the final round at the Masters that you barely spoke to him because you were so locked in. Just wondered um your perspective on that and if you’ve had chance to speak to him since that that Sunday. I don’t know what he was expecting. Like I mean, we’re trying to win the Masters. I’m not going to try to be his best mate out there. Um, yeah, look, we look we everyone approaches the game different ways. Um, and yeah, like I I I was focused on myself and what I needed to do. Um, and that’s really all that it was. Um, you know, it wasn’t anything against him or against it. Just I needed I felt that’s what I needed to do to to try to get the best out of myself that day. Got time for three more. We’ll wrap it up with Mike 7 20 and then here on three. Rory, when you’re playing practice rounds in wet and soft conditions, what is then the difficulty of having to make an oncourse adjustment as the greens will eventually firm up come the weekend? Yeah. Um I tried to hit a lot of downhill putts yesterday just to try to feel like what the speed of the greens might be like towards the uh the tournament days. Uh but yeah, it’s um it’s a little different. You know, that the chip shots are reacting a touch differently. Um you know, the the sand is firm, so you’re probably getting a little more spin out of the bunkers. Yeah, it’s probably not a um a true representation of of what we’re going to face this week in the tournament days. It looks like it’s going to dry up, especially at the weekend. So, um I think that it’s just about getting a more familiar with or refamiliarize yourself with the greens. We sort of all know where the pin locations are going to be, too. So, certain hole locations and, you know, hitting chip shots or putts from where you think the ball’s going to finish. It’s just it’s it’s more of that. But, yeah, you know, these three days haven’t been, you know, probably won’t be a true reflection of of what we’re going to face uh during the tournament. Uh yeah, Rory. Um just wondering what’s it like to achieve the dream of a lifetime? Was it different than you maybe expected it would be? And is one dream of a lifetime enough for any man? Um uh yeah, it’s it’s everything I thought it would be. Um, I think the the um the outpouring of of support and congratulatory messages has been absolutely amazing. Uh, and yeah, look, everyone needs to have goals and dreams and I’ve been able to, you know, do something that I dreamed of for a long time. I’m still going to set myself goals. I’m still going to try to achieve certain things, but um I sit here knowing that that very well could be the highlight of my career. Um so that’s a that’s a very cool thing. Um I want to still create a lot of other highlights and and high points. Um but I’m not sure if if any other win will will live up to to what happened a few weeks ago. Doug, as a as a winner of all four, u if you think back to Kiwa and even Valhalla, what what’s it like when they hand you that Womaker trophy and you go to lift something that feels like it’s got two bowling balls in it? Um, yeah, it’s nice for the pictures because your biceps are usually flexed, so it makes you look a bit stronger than you are. Um, but it’s it’s very it’s very cool. Um it’s a ve it’s a it’s a very cool trophy. Um and you know you’ve beat you know one of the strongest fields if not the strongest field uh of the year. Um and yeah I you know it’s a it’s a huge championship on our game with a lot of history. Um did you know it was that heavy? I yeah I mean it looks heavy. It’s big. I mean, I didn’t I didn’t know how heavy it was, but um it’s a you know, it’s pretty pretty meaty. Did you Did you lose the top one year? I feel like you did. Ted Bishop lost it, I think. Ted lost. Yeah. Yeah. Ted was the one that dropped it. I caught it. So, thank you. Thanks for your time, Rory. We appreciate it. Thank you.