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FRYS.COM OPEN

October 17, 2015

Rory McIlroy

Napa, California

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, did, yeah. Missed me by a couple inches.

Q. A little scary or nothing you could do at that point anyway?
RORY MCILROY: Would've put me out of my misery. Die a little bit. To be honest with you.

Q. Who did it?
RORY MCILROY: I think it was Grillo. Yeah, think so.

Q. Just a miscommunication?
RORY MCILROY: I don't know. I mean, they obviously thought the green was clear. We had all -- I think they didn't see Adam send his over the back of the green. I think that was the confusion.

Not his fault. You can't see much from back there.

Q. Things started well for you.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, couple birdies. Birdied two of the first three holes and then, yeah, made a couple -- it was tricky enough. Some of the pin positions were tricky, and then I got a little frustrated; got a little sloppier.

Yeah, it was another one of those days that nothing really -- not that nothing went for me, I just couldn't get anything going.

Q. Has the week felt kind of disjointed for your?
RORY MCILROY: I wouldn't say disjointed. I came here with the intention of trying to play well. I'm here. I might as well give it 100% and my best shot.

So, I yeah, it's a long way to come for one week and everything. I get that. I'm pretty much over the jet lag. Hasn't really affected me too much.

Yeah, I mean, I sort of right now I'm going to try and play a good round tomorrow, but one eye on this and one eye further down the road. I'm looking at the three tournaments I've got coming up, which are important to me because I want to try to win the Race to Dubai again.

Q. Was there a point after those three holes you thought you had kind of solved -- I know you spent a lot of time on the green last night. Hopeful at any point?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. Again, I don't think it's not a technical issue at all because I putt the ball really well on the putting green. Then I got out there and I hole a couple and maybe I'll miss one or two and it gets into my head.

It's more a mental thing and trying to trust myself a little bit more. Whether I need to talk to someone about that I'm not sure. Give it another go tomorrow. Hopefully I can see some improvement and go from there.

Q. I assume this has happened at some point in your career. How have you gotten out of it?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I've spoken to some people before. Spoken to Dave about the mental side of putting. Worked with Rotella back in 2010. There are different ways. Just trying to look and see.

But I like to try and figure things out for myself. I feel like I learn more about it that way instead of trying to be told something. I'm going to keep trying to figure it out and see if it improves.

Q. Would you have been in Wales today if you hadn't been here?
RORY MCILROY: Yes. Definitely. Definitely.

Q. Obviously that's a big sport for you. Have you taken at all to American college football?
RORY MCILROY: College football, not really. NFL, yes. College football, I'll watch a game and enjoy it, but I don't really root for any team because I don't have -- I never went to college here.

Just doesn't resonate with me like other sports.

Q. Were you recruited for college golf here?
RORY MCILROY: I was.

Q. Did you think about it much?
RORY MCILROY: About what?

Q. Coming to college to play college golf?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean, I signed a letter of intent to play for ETSU, did my SAT, did everything like that so I fully ready to come over and play college golf.

But at that point I knew that I really wanted to turn pro earlier than the four years he was going to be here.

I had no intension of graduating at all, so I thought it was just better to play that full time amateur golf in Ireland.

Then I got an opportunity. I turned pro after the Walker Cup. Got opportunities to try and earn my tour card and did it that way.

By the time I was probably just getting out of college I had just won my first major, so sort of it was a good decision in the end.

Q. Sorry, was that East Tennessee?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, East Tennessee State.

Q. Probably could have done better than that.
RORY MCILROY: I wasn't that good back then. (Laughter.)

Q. Put a new putter in the bag at East Lake, I want to say.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah.

Q. First switch since you went to Nike, right?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I tinkered around with a few Nike putters and then settled on one that I putted with for a good couple years maybe. Yeah, even more than that. Maybe two and a half years.

So it was just more I got stuck in a bit of a rut. If nothing else, change provided some sort of spark. Wasn't really anything. I mean, feels really good off the putter, but it was just more of a maybe mental thing to try and get something going.

Q. Is there an adjustment period when you make a switch in something like that?
RORY MCILROY: No, not really. As I said, I really like the way the ball rolls off that putter, so no real adjustment. They gave it to me to hit a few putts with periodically for the last six to eight months. I've always liked it when they've given it to me.

Yeah, I guess East Lake was one of the first weeks -- obviously have to submit everything to the equipment guys, and I think that was one the first weeks they did it and I could use it.

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