“I Blanked Tiger Woods!” | Rory McIlroy Press Conference | The 152nd Open at Royal Troon

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okay uh good afternoon everyone uh welcome to this afternoon’s press conference with the four-time major Champion Rory maay Rory um how are preparations going this week and how much are you looking forward to the challenge ahead yeah um yeah I feel like preparations have have been going well I feel like preparations probably started last week at uh uh the Renaissance and just getting myself um familiar again with you know Link’s conditions Link’s turf uh green speeds um you know obviously you know we play our majority of our golf in the states and green surfaces that are quite different to to hear so um just trying to get I guess re acclimated to to that um not that you know obviously grew up play playing a lot of lyx golf but you know when you only come back to play you know once or twice a year it just takes you a little time to to adapt um but yeah it’s been going well got my first look at the golf course this morning early um and yeah it’s a you know it’s it’s basically a a taal of two n on this course you feel like you have to make your score on the way out and then you you have to sort of hang on coming in so um but yeah look looking forward to the week um you know coures in in great shape and obviously we’ve got a um amazing field as as these major championships produced now it’s the only time you know four times a year that we get everyone back together so um yeah looking forward to the week great stuff Rory well we’ll take questions from the floor if you raise your hand we’ll start with Mark hey Rory um we had tiger in a little while ago and he was mentioning after kind of the Dust settled for you after the US Open that he shot you text just kind of wanted what that meant to you uh to hear that from him and uh so um full disclosure I changed my number two days after the US Open so I didn’t get it until he told me about it today so I was like oh thanks very much um so I I blank Tiger Woods which was probably not a great thing but um Tiger’s been nothing but incredible to me over the course of my career um in the good moments and in the bad you know he sent me an incredible message after St Andrews in 2022 um and he’s you know I I met tiger when I was 15 years old and um you know I’ve I’ve built up a great relationship with him um his whole family you know he you know he really enjoys spending time with my mom and dad as well so um yeah it means a lot means a lot that that he reached out and it actually you know it means a lot that he waited a few days to reach out um wish he had hadn’t waited that long as I probably would have got it but um you know I caught up with him earlier and um you know it’s always nice when you know your hero and the guy that you had on your bedroom wall um is reaching out and and um offering words of encouragement if I could just on a quick follow um obviously you had last week under your belt to play but you know where is your head space at you know a month or so removed from pineer where you sit now yeah it’s good um game’s in really good shape um you know had a nice reset after Pinehurst that that was needed uh and felt like I you know shook off a little bit of the rust last week and played played okay felt like I probably could have given myself more of a chance to win the tournament but um thought it was a solid week and and um you know again it’s like one on preparing for this week but another eye on trying to you know get into contention as well but um overall I’ve been in the UK and I for a couple of weeks and it’s it’s felt nice to get back over here and and get back into the swing of things okay Don is that do you have to change your phone number a lot is that something you do a lot um I actually haven’t done it in a while um so I I thought it was time yeah yeah that was a totally separate thought um tiger also was saying that you know the you said you felt uncomfortable on 16 and 18 He said you feel that basically every time you’re trying to win a tournament were you surprised at that feeling and and how will you deal with it I guess differently moving forward than you did a couple weeks ago yeah um no not surprised I think you know last few holes of a major championship with a with a great chance to win you know if you’re not feeling it then it probably doesn’t mean as much to you as it should um so no it wasn’t it wasn’t a surprise it was just more a disappointment that I didn’t handle those uneasy feelings as as good as I could have um and I’ve alluded to this you know I was I was probably more aware than I should have been of what was happening behind me um and and sort of got out of my got out of my own little head space a little too much and um you know that was you know a big part of the reason why I didn’t you know I didn’t close it out coming down the stretch okay next question microphone number three I right just quick one um may ask why you change your number from time to time are we safe to assume you weren’t cut off for not paying your bill uh no no I can I can pay the bills um there’s a lot of money floating around in golf at the minute um I honestly um I from the time I left Pinehurst to the time I walked through my front door on Sunday night I probably got about 10 or 15 text messages from media members um and I was like it’s probably time to to to get a new number okay so create a bit of space that’s fair enough do you ever get as well overwhelmed by when you you have lots of Goodwill messages but sometimes it gets a bit too much if you’re feeling particularly down after a tournament everybody’s expressing their sympathy sometimes it can get a bit almost make you feel a bit worse no I mean I I um I’d much rather people Reach Out In fairness and and I think that’s um it’s a lovely thing and and hopefully a nice reflection on on how people feel about me or or what they think about me so um know I’ll never I’ll never shun uh messages of support or encouragement you know it’s it’s a lovely thing okay Jeff uh Rory you mentioned a couple things in your introductory comments uh slow greens is there anything you do mechanically that you change or with your club and then also uh the forecast is for the wind actually to possibly be the complete opposite uh the first couple days from the south do you have memories of how this golf course have you played it that way or um have you thought about that yet about Royal TR yeah so um definitely was cognizant of of that um today and the practice R it was you know it was very very calm starting off but I would say once we reached probably like the the seventh hole it started to blow um like North Northwest you know like straight down on the on the on the front side and then it was really straight back in coming in maybe a little tiny bit off the left if anything um and it looks the forecast looks like it’s going to be basically straight off the right going out and straight off the left coming in so um quite a few more Crosswinds um which you know presents its own challenges in a way so yeah I think we’re all you know you would like to play the golf course in the conditions that you’re going to you’re going to play in the tournament but sometimes that’s you know Mother Nature just doesn’t let that happen um but it won’t be too to similar to what it was in 2016 you know it was sort of d off the right usually on the way out and then and off the left coming in so maybe just a little more um a few more Crosswinds than than there usually is um and then the slower grains I don’t like to Tinker too much with the putter um you know I had you know fax was out there walking with me this morning and so it was look Donald and I I just I asked look I I I really try to focus on the strike more than anything else here and just put a good role on it and um because any any putt here that’s misstruck just doesn’t get to the hole um so I sort of I picked L Brin a bit and he always said he liked to focus on the tempo of a stroke and really if anything um make it a little shorter and a little brisker um on on greens like this so so that’s something that you know the strike and maybe just think a little bit more of about the tempo of the stroke two good things this week okay then Tom uh Rory if and and hopefully when you win another major how much of a of a relief will it be to you uh to to stop the endless kind of psychoanalysis of what’s going on inside your brain and people asking you questions like this one when you’re going to win another M um it doesn’t bother me um you know I know that I’m in a good spot and like I you know if I think about 2015 through 2020 um that fiveyear stretch I I seldom had a a realistic chance to win a major championship in that 5year period so I’d much rather have these close calls it means that I’m that I’m getting closer um but yeah absolutely I’d love to be able to you know play the golf and and get one over the line but as soon as I do that people are going to say well when are you going to win you’re sixth so it’ll it’s never ending okay Brian hi Rory um Bob last week um quite phenomenal end to the week you told us 12 months ago he was going to have many opportunities what did you make of the way that ended up on on Sunday and secondly you spoke last week about not being able to take a holiday you can’t remember the last time you took a holiday how much do you crave for the day when you can get up with a family you go down to the coffee shop have breakfast without being Rory mooy the the global Superstar yeah um so on Bob yeah I mean absolutely phenomenal what he did last week um especially after the you know what happened last year and and coming so close um love to know who put a sprinkler head there on 16 but it it worked out in his favor um um but I mean you know Bob is so proud to be Scottish and he’s he’s so you know he he wanted to win that National open more than anything else um and to to have that chance even last year and to produce the golf and then to to hold that pot at the last and I mean it was just it was it was a perfect ending to the tournament and um yeah really happy for Bob you know he’s he’s really I think after the rider cup he’s really come into his own and um you know obviously the Canadian open was a uh was a huge win for him uh and then winning the Scottish open is is obviously even bigger so um really happy for him and you know puts him in a in a good spot heading into this week uh and then it’s not as if I like I I regularly go out with um my family and have coffee and have breakfast and yeah I get stopped sometimes and whatever but I’d much rather have it that way um because if I wasn’t getting stopped and wasn’t on TV all the time I wouldn’t be very good at my job so um you know it’s it’s nice to get recognized and nice to you know again going back to you know having people wish you well um but yeah there’s times where you you create a little bit of anonymity and and you know want to get out of the public eye but I understand that in the position that I’m in um if I’m going to reap the rewards of the position I’m in then you know there’s other things you have to deal with as well and I completely understand that okay Bob Roy you mentioned earlier that you know you grew up playing Lynx golf was it harder to adjust to you know the style that’s played more around the world or is it harder to go back the other way um for me personally it’s it’s probably a little harder to go back the other way because my natural game is to hit it in the air and to um play more of a game that’s suited to you know big American sort of Parkland golf courses um but I’ve gotten much better over the years at adapting and and hitting the shots that are required on on links courses and in you know plus conditions um you know and I’ve I’ve sort of prided myself on that my my record in the Open Championship over the last few years has been has been very very good um but yeah it still it still takes a little while when you’ve you you play you know 11 months of your golf every year uh in very different conditions you know that’s why I thought it was so important for me to get back and play the Scottish open last week just to ref familiarize myself with um the turf the types of shots needed to around the greens um even the wind like you I feel like in in warmer conditions in America like a wind that’s a similar strength doesn’t affect the ball as much as it just feels like a real heavy wind here um especially when you play a cide link so just getting you know ref familiarized with all that I think is is important how old do you think you were when you had that Revelation that that style of golf in North America was was going to be really good for you probably early on um I always I always like trying to hit it far and hit it high and you know I didn’t necessarily grow up on a lyx course Hollywood is a Parkland sort of golf course so um I had to I had to learn how to you know hit it high and and but but I think you know once I was a teenager and I started to travel around Europe and to South Africa and Australia and some of these other amateur events I soon realized that um you know hitting it long and hitting it high was a um was a big advantage in in the game okay joy in front hey Rory uh they said there are five stages of grief and uh going back to finest uh when did you think you added another one the the six stage which is changing your phone number but when did you think wasn’t not a grief but okay when did you think that you finally came to the acceptance uh stage and how was that process for you I would say um maybe like three or four days after went from being you know very disappointed and dejected to trying to focus on the positives um to then wanting to learn from the from the negatives and then getting to the point where you become enthusiastic and motivated to go again so probably took you know four yeah 3 four five days but um it’s funny how your mindset can go from you know I don’t want to see a golf course for a month to four days later being like can’t wait to to get another shot at it so um you when that disappointment turns to motivation that’s when it’s time to to go again yeah three or four days so we’ll take the final three questions in the room starting with microphone number four hi RI um you mentioned earlier that you met taret for the first time and you were 15 um do you ever sort of like sit home and think like that how surreal it is that 15-year-old lad has now become like fairly close mates with Tiger Woods and you now like a like Brian said like a global Superstar yeah um yeah I I get reminded of it or I remind myself of it every day like it’s I like and I I always say this and it sounds cliche but you know I I don’t take it for granted that I can wake up every day and try to live out my childhood dream um and one of my childhood dreams was to meet Tiger Woods but not only that but to you know to compete against him and and to you know befriend him and become close to him um yeah I not in my wildest dreams that I that I think that I’d end up in the position that I’m in but um very very grateful for it and yeah I I still have to remind myself a lot that you know this this is my life okay next question in the front hi R uh I said the Scottish that you went to Manhattan after for a few days and you were talking about just walking the Highline a little bit your Earp pods in what’s a day of meditative thinking like and what does it do for you uh yeah it’s not it’s um liberating in some way um yeah and I think as well just to get out to um to not be on a screen to look around um to yeah I think try trying to find the um the joy in the small things of life I think is really important um and and I think that’s a going there especially um is a good reset just in terms of seeing everyone living their lives and the hustle and the bustle and you know honestly no one give a if I missed the putt at Pinehurst it’s a it’s a nice perspective to um to keep um but yeah just to go and get lost in a in a big city like that and just um be one of the herd sort of going going about your day it’s um you know for me anyway it’s it’s a nice feeling okay the final question at the back left uh Rory you’ve hit this shot off the tea a few times this season this like ultra low drive you know like Apex is at 30 30t 35t I’m just wondering if that’s a skill you’ve always had if you’ve had to develop it over the years how often you practice it I mean where does that shot come from yeah um it’s definitely something that that’s that I’ve developed more over the years uh and honestly it’s only a shot I’ve been able to hit since I’ve become a little stronger um it really it’s it’s about trying to keep my right side um high on the way into the golf ball so um you know if I te like I’ve talked about my sort of low tea and my high tea you know I tea it down low which helps me keep on top of it and keep that right side high if I Tee It Up a little higher I can get it some right side Bend going and um when you time it well it it can be awesome but when you don’t time it so well it can create some issues so it’s a really nice go-to shot for me if I don’t feel 100% comfortable on a t-shot or if a t-shot doesn’t fit my eye um to be able to te it low um and hit that shot like 12 at Pinehurst was a was a was an example you know it’s a wide Fairway but I got up there and I just didn’t you know just didn’t see anything so to just get the ball on the deck and get it running um especially on Fairways like that conditions like this um it’s something that it’s a it’s a shot that I’ve went to more and more over the last couple of years since I’ve been able to you know practice it and develop it and um you know it’s been a it’s been a nice go to when um when I’m struggling to see a certain shot just take take it low and and sort of squeeze one out there and you know it’s still go gets out there quite a long way which is which is nice okay we’ll bring things to close there Rory thanks for your time and very best of luck this thank you