GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 11, 2025

Rory McIlroy

The Renaissance Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Day two, 65, seemed like you got off to a really solid start and then became a little bit more difficult on the second nine. Give us your perspective?

RORY McILROY: Exactly right. I got off to a bit of a flyer. The conditions were so benign this morning, hardly any wind. And the wind started to pick up a little bit on the back nine for us but still very, very manageable. I started to struggle a little bit. Hit a couple of wayward drives but did well to scramble for pars. Yeah, and disappointing to drop one coming in there but overall it's a really good score and puts me right into the thick of things going into the weekend.

Q. You talk about the driver and sometimes you've seen players held back off the tee and you're getting the driver out more aggressive.

RORY McILROY: The first hole, our 10th, the two boys hit iron short of the tee to stay short of the bunker on the right. I feel like if I hit a good drive I can hit it past there and get a wedge in my hand especially to a front pin.

So it really depends on the hole and where the pin is, and if you feel like it's accessible with a mid-iron, then you can maybe lay back. But like a pin on the fist today, getting a wedge in your hand would be pretty nice.

The rough isn't too bad, and I feel like the more aggressive you can be, and honestly being aggressive off the tee on links golf courses and taking the bunkers out of play the if the rough isn't too bad has always been a pretty good strategy for me. So sticking with that for the week. Sometimes it gets you in trouble but most of the time it works out pretty well.

I felt like I drove it well early on and started to hit a couple loose ones coming in. Similar to yesterday in the left-to-right wind, I struggled a touch with it, but overall it was a little bit better which was good to see and gave myself plenty of chances, especially on the opening sort of nine holes and got off to a really good start. It was a bit of a struggle coming in but overall a good score.

Q. Talk about adjusting to slow greens, what do you do to get over that hump?

RORY McILROY: Even putting on the putting green here, you can get your speed in a little bit but just reps, getting out there in competitive play, reading putts and getting into your routine, I think that's why this is such a great week to play heading into The Open next week because the greens speeds next week are going to be similar to what they are this week, and having a week of not just playing on greens that are this speed but playing competitively.

Q. The would you rather have it a little bit harder this week?

RORY McILROY: Probably a club wind at the minute, which is really nice. I'd love the weather to be like this over the weekend. I think everyone would.

But I would imagine that the breeze is going to get up a little bit this afternoon and I can see the flags blowing a touch more now. It was certainly benign for us this morning the first nine holes. There was literally zero wind. There's a little breeze getting up but I expect that.