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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 16, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Orlando, Florida

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: It was okay. It was a little scrappier today than it was yesterday. A few more missed greens or felt like it anyway. But short game was good, putting was good, played the par-5s a little bit better, still not quite the way I wanted to, but I guess I would have been pleased if it was something in the 60s and shooting 70 is, it was okay.

Q. That run of three birdies was nice.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, especially after the two bogeys. So, yeah, the bogey on 1 and 2 and then to birdie 4, 5, 6 was nice. And that was better, I hit the ball, I hit the fourth into the par-5 and actually it was a really good up-and-down on 6. But, yeah, it's been good, it's been much better this week, I'm happy with that.

Q. Different day though, it was pretty tough this morning, it was 40, 45?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was cold, but not, not, I mean maybe the cold air was probably like a club of difference, so I hit 4-iron, 5-iron into 11, which is pretty, that's playing a long hole today, especially you don't really want to bring the water into play on the left.

Q. What did you hit yesterday?
RORY MCILROY: 4-iron, 5-iron.

Q. What can you take away from playing Match Play two weeks before the Masters?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, you're reacting to what's going on in front of you and hopefully you're in a position at Augusta where you need to do that as well. You can see there's enough leaderboards out there to know where you're at at all times, so if you're playing well in Match Play and you're reacting well to what's happening right there in front of you, there's no reason why you can't do that in a couple weeks after.

Q. So you see that as beneficial the timing of that?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean like you get three rounds, the last round that you play might not mean much, but it's still three good days to test your game and I like it. I've always liked the Match Play, I liked it in both formats. I've done well in both formats. I like Austin, I like the golf course, it's a good one, I feel like a good one to play.

Q. Are you feeling good health wise?
RORY MCILROY: Feeling great, yeah. Really good. Everything's good. Happy to be here. Happy to be playing.

Q. You're getting to the end of the stretch. Are you satisfied and happy that you've scheduled yourself the way you did? Did it turn out the way you hoped it would?
RORY MCILROY: I'll tell you after Augusta. Yeah, I think so. I definitely don't feel like I've got stale or in any way frustrated or feel like it's tedious playing all these weeks in a row or monotonous in any way. I like being out here, I like playing golf, I feel like over the last couple of months of 2017 into this year I sort of rediscovered my love for the game a little bit. I'm even enjoying playing casual rounds of golf more.

Q. Have you thrown a club this year?
RORY MCILROY: I haven't thrown one, I've bashed a couple.

Q. There's a lot of talk about your putting. But it seems you're a lot more comfortable. I'm not an expert on putting, but your posture looks better.
RORY MCILROY: I went to the longer putter, using a 34 and a quarter. Sort of let's me just be a little more comfortable with it. I'm not quite as sort of stiff and wooden and, so, yeah, just a couple little things and basically just went back to a length and a sort of feel that I have had success with.

Q. When is the last time you used that length of a putter?
RORY MCILROY: The first round of Riviera. Not that long ago.

Q. How do you feel about your position going into the weekend?
RORY MCILROY: I feel good, I'm six behind, Henrik's played great, I'm going to have to play very, very good golf on the weekend to catch him, but I'm in a better position this Friday than I was last Friday, so I'll take anything I can get.

Q. You talk about reacting to things ahead of you. Do you watch when it's a guy like Henrik ahead of you and you know he's playing well, do you react?
RORY MCILROY: Not on a Friday. It's hard, obviously you see what he's doing and it's great, I think I said to Rickie out there, I wish Henrik would slow down a little bit. But you can't -- it's not as if you're trying to birdie every hole he's birdieing.

Q. When he's on, does he ball strike it as anyone?
RORY MCILROY: Oh, he hits it good. It's nice. It's really real nice.

Q. He said it's his therapeutic mattress this week.
RORY MCILROY: Is that what it is? Yeah. I call BS on that.

Q. There are almost as many players over 40 who can, are capable of contending in the Masters this year as have won it at that age in the history of the event. Do you think we're just in a weird place in time? Is this special or what does it say?
RORY MCILROY: I think it's going to be the norm. I think if guys don't come out here too young you're going to see people be on TOUR for a long time. People know their bodies better, everyone travels with a physio, everyone travels with a trainer, that didn't happen 20 years ago. So, yeah, Jack winning the Masters at 46 was an anomaly, so, but you see Phil at 47 winning in Mexico.

Q. And like you said it wasn't even a surprise.
RORY MCILROY: No, not a surprise at all. So I think now days life in general I think 50 is the new 40. 60 is the new 50. I really think that -- but everyone is trying to live healthier lifestyles and live longer and that might not have been the case 25, 30 years ago, because there's just more knowledge out there now and people know what to do to preserve themselves.

Q. Who is the best old guy you ever played with?
RORY MCILROY: Sam Reeves. I played with Sam Reeves who is a member of Seminole and Cypress Point, played with him two Sundays ago, he's 87 years of age and he broke 80 at Seminole. So there you go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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