THE 154TH OPEN

July 19, 2026

Rory McIlroy

Mixed Zone

Q. Rory, can you just give us your reflections on today and the week?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I just sort of stuck in neutral for most of the week. Obviously shot a good one on Friday to get myself in for the weekend and back in it. Yeah, even par over the weekend is not going to get it done.

Yeah, I just felt like any time I got a little bit of momentum out there, I seemed to make a bogey. Yeah, just one of those weeks I couldn't get it going.

Q. That's the end of the major season. What most are you looking forward to for the rest of this year?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, look, this season feels very similar to last season. Obviously won the first major of the year, fell off a little bit after that, but still any time you win a major in a year, you have to be pleased about that.

Yeah, like I haven't really took the time to enjoy that or celebrate that. Poppy's got another four weeks off school until she goes back, sort of middle to end of August, so just going to enjoy the summer holidays with her and Erica. Yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to the most.

Then obviously I'll get back to playing and still in a decent position, I guess, in both title races. As long as I'm in the top 30 going into the TOUR Championship, and then I'm in a decent spot still in the Race to Dubai. So try to play hard until the end of the season and then try to win one or both of those.

Q. Back on home soil of course for the Irish Open. Will that be a highlight for you?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I've really enjoyed my stretches of golf in Europe and heading into -- like going back to India again, the Middle East, Australia, really enjoyed that part of the year last year, and looking forward to that again for sure.

Q. It's the end of major season, and obviously you have a Masters victory, so it's a good major season. Entering into this week, you probably had aspirations back on links, you know how to win in links. You know how to win in firm conditions or challenge in firm conditions. Can you put a finger on what it was this week that just didn't fire? Because you're driver looked like it was on fire.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, the driver was good. I feel like with a lot of the changes they made, the greens were raised up and a lot of the fall-offs and stuff, it didn't play like a traditional links course. I didn't feel like you could run the ball up to a lot of greens. There was a lot of stuff where you still had to fly the ball on.

I'm not saying that's the reason I didn't play well this week, just it wasn't -- it didn't feel like it was sort of your typical links test or certainly wasn't the links test that Birkdale presented in 2017.

Q. Just on the side of the greens, a lot of players are missing short putts, and a lot of players are also saying that the greens are at odds with the rest of the course. They're soft, and the rest of the course is really firm. Is that something that just poses an odd challenge out there?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I little bit. Yeah, you get these patches of the green that are very green, and then you get patches that are not. Yeah, it provides -- you know, they're inconsistent to hit into. You can get a dry spot, and it bounces on. You could get a spongy green spot, and it stays where it is.

You're sort of having to look at the colour of the green to see if it's going to be a fast putt or a slow putt just because of -- they've been hard to judge and hard to sort of get a handle on all week.

For me, I haven't watched a ton of the golf, but it seems like a lot of guys are struggling on the greens as well.

Q. Finally, a contrast with, I suppose, how the whole week has gone, your driver is kind of back, and you're wielding it with the confidence that we're known to see you've had with it over the years.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, for the most part. I think going back to a driver setup that I'm used to and comfortable with, a little heavier. I went into it at -- I think it was Memorial maybe. I started to use the heavier driver again. Then I think I led -- might have led the field in driving in Shinnecock. Certainly led it last week in Scotland, and I'm up there again this week. That's a huge positive going forward.

Especially accuracy-wise. The length is the length, and I'm always going to have that, but just getting the ball in play a little bit more with the driver was a struggle at the start of the year, and I figured that out. It's just trying to get the rest of the game to match up to it.

Q. Rory, will you play again before St. Jude?

RORY McILROY: No.

Q. Is it fair to say the PGA TOUR and the FedExCup doesn't get your juices flowing quite as match as it used to with the Grand Slam and all that? You've made it clear you want to play more and explore more around the world. Is that fair to say that you're not quite as fired up by it as you were?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, that's fair.

Q. You saw a lot of looks from the fans this week. What do you make of that?

RORY McILROY: It's amazing. I think there's a reason that The Open keeps coming back to the northwest. Obviously Royal Liverpool a couple years ago, here, and just announced Lytham again. The crowd show up, and they show up in their big numbers. Yeah, it's been an amazing atmosphere this week. I can only imagine what Tommy's feeling right now coming down the stretch.

Q. Just to follow up on that question, is there any reason why you're just not as enthused with the PGA TOUR at the moment?

RORY McILROY: Not really. I think it just sort of ebbs and flows. There's been years where I've given it maybe more of my attention and years that I haven't. Yeah, I guess I'm just at a stage that I have other things that I prioritise.

Again, the PGA TOUR is in a lot of flux at the minute with a lot of their schedule and structure and everything like that. So I think the change where it doesn't matter where you are in the top 30 going into the TOUR Championship, it's like I just need to be in the top 30 going in there to have a chance to win a FedExCup. So why would I care about the first two?

I sort of came to that decision last year, and I'm just sort of doing the same thing.

Q. Have you had it confirmed you'll be okay to play 14 and keep home tour status for next year?

RORY McILROY: No.

Q. You mentioned Tommy just before, obviously a few shots back. Would you be supporting him, and what would it mean for him to win?

RORY McILROY: We're very close with the Fleetwoods. Poppy and Frankie are inseparable. Clare and Erica are best friends. Tommy and I have obviously got an amazing relationship that goes back nearly 20 years. Yeah, he's an amazing golfer. He's just as good of a person as he is a golfer.

Yeah, there's a long way to go, but the McIlroys will definitely be cheering for Tommy.

Q. Would you like to see Bryson play the Irish Open? He's good friends with the President, who owns the course.

RORY McILROY: I mean, I think that would be great for the tournament, absolutely. Having someone like Bryson at the Irish Open, yeah, it would be great for the tournament.

Q. Do you think it should just be a standalone European Tour event? With the PGA TOUR expanding --

RORY McILROY: If it's going to stay -- I guess next year it might change because of the Ryder Cup in Adare, but if it's going to stay in that September date, I don't see how it becomes part of the PGA TOUR season when the PGA TOUR is going to be played from February to August.

Q. St Andrews next time, look forward to that?

RORY McILROY: Can't wait.