GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 12, 2025

Rory McIlroy

The Renaissance Club

Quick Quotes (2)

Q. 1-under for the day, not a whole hot happening, but the back nine, something seems to spark up when you hit the back nine. How did you get it going again today on the second nine?

RORY McILROY: I hit two great shots into the 10th hole that sort of got me going. Didn't convert the eagle putt, but after that, I hit a lot of good tee shots, a lot of good iron shots. Held a couple of putts. Today with the way the conditions were, it was more of a ball-striking round.

You couldn't rely on getting it up-and-down and putting. It was definitely more of a fairways and greens type of day and I feel like I did that really well.

Q. You hit so many good shots on that back nine. What are the shots that kept it going all the way to the finish today in the third round?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think the bunker shot on 15, I got a little fortunate there, hitting the pin. The birdie on 16 was huge out of nowhere.

And then, look, I gave myself two great chances at the last two holes. I hit two good putts. They just burned the edge. But yeah, I would say 15 and 16 were two big holes. One to keep momentum and one to pick up that shot.

Q. So much success in this tournament. How are you feeling good championship Sunday now in front of these Scottish fans?

RORY McILROY: I'm excited. I'm excited to get out there. The atmosphere has been great all week. Obviously the weather helps that. Tee times are pushed up a little bit, so hopefully get the business done early-ish and I can watch make sure the last two or three sets of the Wimbledon final.

Q. From where you were at 15 on Thursday, you must be delighted to see where you are now on the leaderboard?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, that ended up being a really big bogey putt on 15 on Thursday. Yeah, I knew when you haven't played competitively for a couple weeks, you're always going to start off a little slowly.

But then once I made those three birdies in a row to finish on Thursday night, it felt like, okay, I'm in the golf tournament and I can build on that momentum, and that's what I've done over the last couple days.

Q. And this course has changed so much in the last seven years. Have you seen it develop, and can you work out exactly how it has changed and has it helped your game, as well?

RORY McILROY: I think the best it's ever played is this year because of how firm it is. It's a real fiery links test that you have to, or at least you have the option to play the ball on the ground if you want to.

Yeah, but it has, this golf course has evolved a lot over the time we've been coming here and it's certainly grown on me, not just because of the results but I think it plays more and more like a links course every year we come back.

Q. In terms of the tee times being pushed up a little bit tomorrow, expecting some intense fog in the morning.

RORY McILROY: It looked like it was rolling in heavy sort of at mid day there today. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully we're able to get all 18 in with no interruptions. Like I said, sit down and watch a bit of the Wimbledon final.

Q. If you were 80 percent on Thursday in terms of Portrush, where are you now?

RORY McILROY: I'm pretty much there. One of the things I was wanting to work on was my sort of ball flight in that left-to-right wind. I don't know if it's luck or whatever but you know, the wind on the range now is straight off the left. It has been for the last day and a half.

It's been nice to hit some balls in that wind direction and get a feel for that. I feel like I controlled my ball flight well today in the little bit of wind that was out there and my green is pretty good on the greens. My lag putting has been good. All the things you need to do well on links golf to succeed.

Q. How has the driver felt?

RORY McILROY: I feel good with the driver. For me with the driver, as long as the misses aren't big, I'm happy. And I haven't had a lot of big misses with the driver. When the course gets firm and bouncy, I hit my best drive on 15, it didn't hit the fairway; it was in the first cut. Sometimes the stats can be a little bit misleading.

Q. Does it feel like you're having fun out there again?

RORY McILROY: I don't know if I ever have fun playing golfer but I sometimes enjoy, it yeah. I think when you're playing the way you want to play and the ball is coming out of the whip dough that you're looking, that's certainly more enjoyable than if it's not. Look, it's fun to be back here and play in front of so many kids out there and to have that support and that enthusiasm.

Q. When did you last play Portrush?

RORY McILROY: Friday the whatever of July 2019.

Q. Has it changed a little bit?

RORY McILROY: Harry was there last week. They added a little bit of length to a couple of holes, 4 and 7, and they changed the 7th green but everything else is the same.

Q. Mentioned motivation and you mentioned feeling like you're enjoying your golf at the moment. Do you feel like everything is coming together at the perfect time for the end of the year?

RORY McILROY: I think I'm pretty close to being back to the level I was at going into the Masters. I think I've had a little bit of a lull, which I feel is understandable. So I'm just getting back to the level that I know that I can play at.

Q. What do you make of of the fans chatting your name?

RORY McILROY: They have been amazing.