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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 27, 2009Graeme McDowellRory McIlroyOLAZABAL, CHINA MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks again for joining us. Start us off again with your assessment of your 68 today, still leading. RORY McILROY: Yeah, still leading, which is great. We started out the day with a three-shot lead and we still have a three-shot lead. So it was a good day. You know, this format is -- foursomes is a little trickier than the fourball. You have to -- if you hit it in trouble, you're relying your partner to sort of get you out, where you're taking responsibility for your own actions a bit more whenever you're playing in the four-ball. I think we probably would have taken 68 on the first tee. We had a go today to get a bit lower than that but we played very solidly. Apart from the couple of mistakes on the back nine, we could have got a really good score in there. But I think in the end we showed really good character to come back with two birdies on 16 and 17 after the double on 15. So it was a good day. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Back to fourballs tomorrow, will that allow you to be more aggressive again? GRAEME McDOWELL: Like Rory said, the foursomes format today, it's probably one of the toughest formats to play golf, I mean, Ryder Cup, Seve Trophy, out of all of the formats, foursomes is probably the most difficult because you have just that little bit of extra pressure. When you're hitting a putt, you don't want to blow it four or five feet by because your partner has to knock it in. It's just that extra bit of added pressure. You're never wanting to kind of hit it into trouble. It's definitely a tough format. So obviously looking forward to getting back to the better-balls tomorrow. I think we are both playing really, really well, so back to yesterday's kind of strategy, two balls in play, play aggressively, give ourselves plenty of chances and apart from maybe two shots today, we played really, really well again. So you know, certainly nothing to be concerned about. We are very happy with the way we played. Q. After yesterday's press conference, you did mention you hoped Colin was watching. Do you think a performance like yesterday was spectacular, but today's hard-fought performance, does that increase your stock personally, and as a team, possibly for Celtic Manor? RORY McILROY: As I said I think we showed tremendous character after the double bogey on 15 to come back with those two birdies. We didn't let a couple of mistakes, we didn't let it get us down on the golf course. We talked about body language there on 16 after walking off the tee box saying, look, let's walk positively up this fairway and try and get a couple back, and that's what we did. Yeah, I mean, everyone knows, I'd love to play with G-Mac in The Ryder Cup. There would be nothing better. But yeah, I mean, I think we would make a great team, and it's not up to me to decide whether, but we've still got a long way to go. We still have to make the team. I think we do team up very well and I think that showed today. It wasn't the easiest of 68s by any means, but we sort of grinded it out and we put together a good score. Q. The bogey on 11, the pitch didn't look very good from where I was watching. Can you tell us what happened? I didn't see fully what happened there. RORY McILROY: That was probably our first -- my, first mistake of the day. I hit a bad tee shot there right into the trees but it's actually a red hazard. So we got to drop it, I think it crossed on the other side because of the equidistance, we were able to drop it back near the fairway. G-Mac dropped it in a very good lie. GRAEME McDOWELL: It was definitely an F in a drop school drop; a horrible lie, and I just tried to chase one down the right-hand side and left it a bit out right on the cart path, actually, and left Rory with a pretty tough pitch. But we had 20 feet probably for par there and I missed it. So it's a tricky tee shot. It's one of the less-inviting tee shots on the golf course. But it's just this guy, he doesn't miss many fairways. I let him off for that one (laughing). Q. When you make a birdie or an eagle, you have a celebration on the course. Is that something that you practise and you already had in mind? RORY McILROY: We've done it a couple of times in the Seve Trophy actually. No, it's something a little different. The basketball players do it over in the States. It's quite fun. You've got to celebrate after you hit good shots, I suppose. GRAEME McDOWELL: Just says something about the attitude we are trying to have on the golf course. We are trying to have a good time, and playing golf with this guy is a lot of fun and I certainly enjoy it. I think it's an attitude we will be trying to maintain over the weekend. Q. 15, a complete reversal from yesterday. Just your take on what happened. RORY McILROY: Well, we played that hole level par. It's not been too bad. Yeah, I didn't hit the best tee shot but I got away with it. It just finished up short of the right-hand bunker, and gave Graeme a little bit of an in-between yardage. Did he have a good club for it. It's just the lie, it was a little downhill. It was in the semi-rough. It was lying okay, but it was still a pretty tricky shot. There were a couple of cameras going off and stuff, which didn't help. You know, it was just one of those things, and you know, I hit a pretty bad putt coming back, as well. So I think we are both to blame a little bit for it. But as I said, we bounced back incredibly well and made those two birdies, and all of the damage was restored. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Guys, well done. End of FastScripts |
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