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TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BY COCA-COLA

September 23, 2015

Rory McIlroy

Atlanta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Rory McIlroy to the interview room. He's No. 11 in the FedExCup standings, coming into the TOUR Championship by Coca Cola. Rory, if you want to make a couple opening comments about coming into this week and then we'll have a few questions.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it's always nice to be back at East Lake. To be at the TOUR Championship. It's a nice way to cap off the PGA TOUR season. Probably not quite as high in the rankings as I would like coming in here.

I had a goal before starting Boston and Chicago to try and be in the top-5, but just the way I played in Boston and a little bit last week as well, I just didn't allow me to sort of make the push that I wanted. But I've been top-5 a couple of times coming in here and haven't quite got the job done. So maybe this time being outside, maybe get the job done a different way.

So, looking forward to this week. It's always been a golf course that I've liked, a golf course that I feel sets up well for me in terms of having to hit fairways, hit greens. So I feel like that's a strength of my game at the minute, so looking forward to getting started.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you. Questions, please?

Q. You know better than ever what it's like to sort of have a dominant period and be No. 1 and whatever else. How tough will it be for Jason to hold on, given that you and Jordan are right there as well and will have that rivalry for a very long time?
RORY MCILROY: Hopefully very tough.

(Laughter.)

Yeah, I think when you've got that goal in mind of trying to get to No. 1 and doing it for the first time and it's a real -- it's almost like a target. It's a bulls-eye. That's what you're striving towards.

It's always sweeter, I said to -- I didn't get a chance to see Jason afterwards last week, but I saw his manager and just said, just really enjoy it, because I remember when I was able to win the Honda to get to No. 1. It's a cool thing to do, knowing that you have to win to do it.

So, yeah, look, it's deservedly. He's got that title, he's the best player in the world right now. I don't think anyone can argue with that, with the way that he's played.

I think there's a lot of guys that are going to try and make it tough for him to stay there. I feel like I'm slowly getting back to where I want to be, especially ball striking wise.

I feel like I'm hitting the ball really well, just a matter of trying to put it all together, hole putts when I need to.

But, yeah, he's done really well and I'm just one of the guys that's going to try and make it tough for him to stay there.

Q. Eight weeks ago did you have a sense that he was the type of guy that could do this or was there this sense that this was possible from him?
RORY MCILROY: I think it's always been viewed that he's -- it's always been possible for him. He's had all the attributes, physically just really impressive, he's an impressive golfer. The way he hits it, the way he putts, the way his short game has always been -- I don't think his short game gets enough credit.

Obviously, he hits it long and he hits it high and that's all impressive, but I think that what's really stood out and hopefully to other people over the last few weeks, is how good he putts, how good he chips, how good his bunker play is. That's the stuff that is very impressive.

So, there was always a possibility that he could do it. I think it was just something had to click for him. He was always the guy that got himself into contention and could never quite close the deal. I think that he won Torrey Pines this year and then I think after Canada, just that's when just things became a little bit different for him.

Q. When you have a competitor who is putting up 61s, 63s, 64s, and you're trying to keep up, what part of your game does that put more emphasis on or stress on?
RORY MCILROY: I would say that for me anyway, the putting. Because, like you can hit 14 fairways and 18 greens in a round and still shoot even par. So it's all about at that point, especially the way the course was last week, guys were going to hit fairways and going to hit greens, because it was so soft.

So, once you did that, you needed to take advantage of the chances you were giving yourself. I didn't quite do that. So I think that's the -- but I always feel like this course is a bit different. You don't -- it's more of a -- you give yourself chances, it's inevitable you're going to miss fairways here, the fairways are pretty tight. You're going to miss greens. So there's a bit of -- you got to hit fairways and greens, but if you don't, then making par on a lot of holes out here isn't a bad thing.

Q. If you were asked to describe your season to date in one sentence or fewer, what would it be?
RORY MCILROY: 140 characters or less?

(Laughter.)

I don't know. Interesting. Disappointing. You know fulfilling. Well no, that's maybe a bit going a bit far.

But yeah, it hasn't been the season that I would have hoped for. Going without a Major, missing arguably the biggest tournament that we have, The Open Championship at St. Andrews, it only comes around once every five years, having to sit that one out, there's been a few disappointing moments.

There's been a few highs as well, but 2015 won't be a year that I necessarily look back on at the end of my career as one where it was a -- it was a bit of a learning curve, but not one with great success.

Q. Let's just assume Jason wins this week, since he seems to be winning everything else right now, who is your Player of the Year and why?
RORY MCILROY: Jordan. Two Majors. It trumps all else.

Q. That's more than one sentence maybe.
RORY MCILROY: Sorry.

(Laughter.)

Looks like everyone is trying to get that treatment you got there. I just feel like Majors trump anything else. Winning two Majors, going 54-under par in the four Major Championships this year, I mean, there's obviously a ballot at the end of the year, I know who I would be voting for. And that's no disrespect to Jason at all. He's been great. He's been the best player for the last three months, but it's -- I feel like you got to go on Majors and Jordan has been the best player in those tournaments this year.

Q. This talk of golf's new big three, you and Jason and Jordan, what's your take on that? What do you think the three of you bring to the game as a whole? And finally, if you're going to compare your guys' games to the old big three of Arnie, Jack and Gary, what -- any take on that, too?
RORY MCILROY: It might be a little early. We have won -- I guess we have won seven Majors between us. I guess our total TOUR wins probably come to like just over 20, I would probably say.

So it's probably a little too early to talk that way, but it's certainly looking like you could even add Rickie into that equation. He hasn't quite won a Major yet, but he's certainly trending towards that. It's a nice conversation to be a part of. It might be a little premature, but yeah, it's a nice comparison to have and comparisons to the big three back in the day. I'm not sure, I got asked this question a couple weeks ago, and I said that Jordan's sort of like the Jack, methodical and sort of does everything that way. And then I said I would be Gary, because I'm the smallest.

(Laughter.)

And then I guess that would leave Jason as Arnie. But who knows, we'll just have to let it all play out and see. There's bigger things to think about.

Q. You referenced the game, ball striking crisp, I think it was on this green last year that I watched you make 50 plus 10-footers in a row. Has there been a trend forward with the putter right now?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, a little bit. I did a bit of work yesterday and just sort of getting back to we were looking at some stats from last year and stuff and yeah, just getting back. Golf is like you go with one thought and you can go with that for a while and all of a sudden that doesn't quite work anymore and then you're trying to figure out another thought to go with and you go with that.

So we're just looking back and thinking about the stuff that's worked before and, yeah, I mean obviously, last year on the putting green here holing those whatever it was in a row, I got to the golf course every morning and I did that. It was just more of a repetitive thing. Just -- it was more of a routine rather than anything else, just do that every day.

So I've started to work a little bit more again. I tried to sort of figure out -- I felt like there was parts of the year where I was standing on the putting green and in the same place for too long just doing that over and over. Instead of going around the green, working on like green reading, working on things that you do on the course and just doing drills all the time. I feel like I was doing drills too much.

And then for the last sort of two months, I've got away from doing the drills and tried to do the other stuff. But I think I need to sort of find a balance of the two. So that's what I'm trying to figure out at the minute.

Q. Do you have a grand plan as to what you would do if you walked away with 11.48 million on Sunday?
RORY MCILROY: No. Luckily, that amount of money doesn't sort of mean much to me anymore. So, no. I mean it's not a -- it will go in the bank and if I want to buy something nice, I will. It's not really anything that -- I mean like it's nice to think that you could win 10 million dollars this week, but that's not what excites me.

It excites me to play well and to try and win. And the FedExCup is something that -- one of the only things that I haven't put on my golf CV and that would be more exciting to do that rather than walk away with a check.

Q. Along those same lines, you have shown up here in two different positions, inside the top-5 and now outside the top-5. Does that change your mentality at all knowing what you have to do this week as opposed to before?
RORY MCILROY: I think it would change the mentality if it was a different golf course. It's a golf course where you can't be overly aggressive. You start to try and be overly aggressive and it can catch you out very quickly.

So I think the mindset is just try and play the best you can and it's very rare that you see guys really separate themselves much on a golf course like this.

So I don't think there's any point in trying to be too aggressive or go out and try and fire at every pin or that. Just play it like a normal four-round tournament. And again, if I can do that, if I can play the way I have done the last few weeks and just hole a few more putts, then I know I'll be right there.

Q. The top three players in the world right now, yourself, Jordan, Jason, all have special relationships with their caddie. Is that a mere coincidence or has the role of the caddie evolved that it's more important even now than it used to be?
RORY MCILROY: Obviously, Jason and Colin go back a long way. They go back way before even J.P. and I started working together. Obviously, Jordan and Michael. But I think it has.

I think it's more caddies nowadays -- I think it's more of a -- it used to be you could go to any golf course, pick up a local caddie and it was more about course knowledge and stuff. But I think you have to -- it's a matchup of personalities in a way now. Because for the most part, I mean you could pick up my bag tomorrow and --

Q. No, I couldn't.
RORY MCILROY: Well, you could walk out a yardage. You could -- you could say it's 150 to the front, 25 on, 175. Like most of you in this room could do that. But that's not really -- all of you in this room could do that.

(Laughter.) -- but it's, that's not really what it's about. It's -- especially when you're under pressure, the caddie knowing your personality, knowing what you react to, what you don't. When to say something, when not to say something. All that sort of stuff is, I feel, has become a lot more important over the last few years.

Q. You said this year's been a bit of a learning curve in addition to the putting, what else have you learned that you'll apply to this week and to seasons going forward?
RORY MCILROY: Don't play football in the middle of the season.

(Smiles.)

I think -- I feel like there's some things, like with my putting, that as I was saying earlier that I've gotten away from. Again, it's a very difficult one to strike a balance between working on technique and fundamentals and then just going out and green reading and hitting putts and whatever.

So, but it's just been a difficult year. Humbling, if nothing else, feeling like -- I'll still take precautions if I ever go and do something like that again. I'll take precautions not to injure myself.

But when I look back on this year, it's been -- I feel like I've worked hard for the tournaments that meant the most to me. Obviously the Majors and that. I performed pretty well, but maybe going into those, I maybe put a little bit too much pressure on myself, expectations were higher than ever. And not that I was expecting to win, but there was just this expectation of and knowing what was at stake, what could happen, instead of just going out and playing and trying not to think about all that stuff.

So going into next year, not that I'll -- I'll still work as hard as ever in trying to get prepared and trying to get my shape in the best place possible to play those tournaments, but not work at it for the reason of, I can make history here, I could do something that very few, just because I want to play well and I want to win a tournament. I think I need to approach it a little bit more that way. So, relaxed probably isn't the right word, but just more not thinking as much of the consequences.

Q. Sunday will mark the end to a pretty incredible PGA TOUR season. Not including yourself, what's maybe that moment or memory that will stick out to you?
RORY MCILROY: I'm not sure. There's been a lot. I think if you look at it as an overall in a year, it has been a year of some of the younger guys really breaking through. Whether it's Jordan, Jason, Rickie at THE PLAYERS, even though he's won on TOUR before, that was a big win for him, just to sort of get a bit of a monkey off his back.

But if there was one thing that stood out to me more than anything else -- I mean it's hard, you got Jordan that was very close to breaking the record at Augusta in terms of scoring. Or did he? Did he? He did. Tied it.

Jason beating the record for lowest Major total at Whistling Straits. So it's been a great PGA TOUR season. It's been a great season and if this is the sign for things to come, then obviously golf is in a really good spot.

Q. I wanted to ask you when money stopped mattering to you. And I'm, and I guess what I mean by that, you obviously had some sponsorship endorsement support when you turned pro, but Dunhill Links or Hong Kong, some of those early days in 2007, was it cool to see what you made that week. When did it stop being cool?
RORY MCILROY: I remember I wanted this watch. I was sort of looking at this watch for a while and I remember it was the week after the Dunhill Links in 2007 and it was one of the bigger price funds on the European Tour and I -- at this stage, I still -- the money from European Tour was just going into my debit account, whatever bank I was using in Ireland. And I went to get money out of the ATM the week after and the check had obviously been put in and I wanted to check my balance and it was like whatever it was, 220,000 pounds and I was like -- I mean, I went straight to the store and bought this watch.

(Laughter.)

I mean I remember it. It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. But, obviously, at that stage I had just been a pro three or four weeks, I had never seen that amount of money before and to think that that was there and that, again, at that point I didn't have a clue about taxes or a clue about anything like that. I just saw this amount of money and I was like, yes, I'm going to get this watch.

So, back then it was obviously cool. I was 18 years old and most of my friends were just trying to scrape together what they could to go for a night out in university or whatever it was.

So, but when I -- I don't know when it stopped. Maybe, I mean, I could say January, 2013. For obvious reasons. But probably before that.

We're playing for over a million dollars every week. We're in such a fortunate position and I think everyone on TOUR realizes that. The majority of the guys that are out here know that their kids will be okay, their kids can go to college, their kids will probably be okay as well.

So to be able to setup the next couple of generations of your family for a nice life, it's very fortunate and very privileged that we're able to do that.

Q. Do you still have the watch?
RORY MCILROY: I'm not sure.

(Laughter.) A bit of an anticlimax to that story.

THE MODERATOR: Well, thank you for your time, Rory, best of luck this week.

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