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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 28, 2009Jack McDonaldRory McIlroyOLAZABAL, CHINA MICHAEL GIBBONS: Rory, Graeme thanks for joining us today. A great today, and it looked great on the telly; we were all watching. Give us your own perspective. RORY McILROY: Yeah, we had a three-shot lead going out and it's down to a one-shot lead but we are still very positive going into tomorrow. We were just talking about it on the way here. We seem to play the holes that we played well, we both played them well. That sometimes doesn't work in fourball too well. You just sort of dovetail a little bit. We played well and we probably left a couple of shots out there, but we are still in a great position going into tomorrow and that's the main thing. So still very positive. MICHAEL GIBBONS: And Graeme, it looks like it's going to be between the three teams tomorrow. GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, seems to be a big horse race obviously, one 26, two 25s and down to 19. So barring any disaster in the foursomes, I can't see any other teams but the top three winning. So you know, I think we are both playing really, really well. I think we are both going into tomorrow with a lot of confidence. We really just didn't get hot on the greens. Like Rory said, we kind of seemed to play the same holes as well and didn't ham-and-egg as well as we did Thursday, but we generally both put the ball in play today and we both played really well. So we are both looking forward to tomorrow. Q. First, what's ham-and-egg? RORY McILROY: It's an Americanism. GRAEME McDOWELL: Oohh, go easy, partner. I think Rory used the expression dovetail, ham-and-egg it, brother-in-law it -- RORY McILROY: Brother-in-lawing it? GRAEME McDOWELL: If someone's in trouble, the other guy plays well, basically. Q. The Swedes shot a 63 to win it last year, are you going out there with a particular target in mind? RORY McILROY: Not particularly. I think if we played similarly to the way we did on Friday, and just don't make any mistakes, I think that should be good enough. GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, it's probably tough to put a number on it. 63 was an exceptional score from the Swedes last year. I'm sure they are going to be going out there tomorrow feeling like they can go low. I think they went low yesterday. They shot 65 yesterday. We are just going to have to play our game, and if it means reacting to some scoring on the back nine, we'll do that. But we will create enough chances where like Rory said, if we can keep mistakes off the card, we probably played good enough to shoot 64, 65 yesterday, if we had not made a couple of stupid mistakes down the stretch. Q. Easy one for Graeme, and more difficult one for Rory. RORY McILROY: Thank you. Q. What's the dynamics on the team? Is there a team captain, senior partner, or do you assume that role or is it an equal partnership? GRAEME McDOWELL: I would say it's pretty much an equal partnership. You know, there's not really too many decisions to be made this week. Once we work out who is playing what in the foursomes, you know, I pretty much let Rory off the leash and give it a rip at the better ball, because that's pretty much the way he plays; give it a lash. Apart from that, picking the colours to wear each day, we are not really too bothered to be honest. No, Rory and I are great friends. Okay, there's ten years between us, but we treat each other like equals anyway. There's no official captain this week. Q. But if it came down to a key, strategic decision on the golf course, how would that be made? GRAEME McDOWELL: Well, I think we both try and stay out of each other's way. Rory is a fantastic player in his own right, himself and JP make their decisions on a weekly basis. Myself and Ken are the same. We make our own decisions, and you know, Rory calls me in if he needs me, and I call him in if I need him and that's kind much the way we work. Q. Your main sponsor has been at the eye of the storm in Dubai for the last year or so, and it's now reached fairly critical stage. Just wonder from your point of view, whether that has started to filter down to Rory McIlroy, the golfer, and if you've got any feelings on -- RORY McILROY: Jumeirah Resorts and Hotels are nothing to do with Dubai World and Nakheel. They are Dubai Holdings, which is a completely different company. So there's your answer. Q. Can you tell us regarding the 2016 Olympic Games, would you two like to participate? RORY McILROY: I'd love to. I'd love to participate, yeah. I think since golf's inclusion in the Olympics, it's probably part of a lot of people's goals. I'm definitely no exception. I would love to be there in 2016, and it would be great to have a chance to win a gold medal. GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I feel the same way, absolutely. It's a very, very special sporting event. It's the biggest sporting event on the planet, and it's very exciting to have golf involved. I think every boy's dream is to stand on the Olympic podium and have a gold medal put around their neck. I would certainly enjoy competing in the Olympics. Q. Tomorrow you will be playing with Team Italy, and they are two brothers and they play very well as partners, as well. Will that put a little bit of pressure on both of you? RORY McILROY: Not really. I think obviously Edoardo and Francesco are playing great this week. They are brothers, which to make things a little difficult on the golf course sometimes. But obviously they are getting on well this week. And they are playing well: Edoardo won last week in Japan, and Francesco has had a great year; every time I've played with him this year, I've been very, very impressed. They are going to be a tough team to beat, but I think Graeme and myself feel very confident that if we go out and play our games and play the way that we know we can, that we have a very, very good chance. Q. Regarding your decision of playing both tours next year, Ernie Els is one of the top players who played on both tours, and we haven't really seen anybody in the last few years play really well on both tours. Does that affect your decision? RORY McILROY: Not really. You know, I think it obviously is very -- well, a few people have found it quite difficult to play both tours, but it's a decision I made and that it's a decision that I'm standing by and it's what I want to do. I feel confident that it will make me become a better player, and ultimately, playing more in the States will give me a better chance to win a major in the future, because you know, three of the majors are played there. Q. There's a lot of talk about the PGA, the Olympics, the Ryder Cup, but it seems that it over shadows what you're really here for, which is to win the World Cup. What does it really mean to you guys to win the World Cup tomorrow? Would that be the highlight of your career, Graeme, of course, and Rory, you've got a great career ahead of you; at the moment, what would it mean to you, and of course in the future as this World Cup tries to get more status in the golf world? RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. I think if everything was to go to plan and we were to win tomorrow, it would definitely be the biggest highlight of my golfing career so far. You know, it's very special to win an event, but to win it with a partner and to win it with a friend would make it even more special. You know, it the World Cup of Golf. You're competing against world champions in a way. Anything with "world" in the title seems to be pretty important. It would be great if this tournament got back to the way it once was, 30 or 40 years ago, and with the best players in the world all playing. Yeah, it would mean a lot to me. It would mean an awful lot. GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I feel exactly the same way as Rory. This will certainly be the highlight of my career if we can go and get the job done tomorrow. I think this is a special event. It's disappointing that some of the countries don't embrace this tournament for what it is. I look back at the old Dunhill Cup the way it used to be. The three-man teams; I love team golf. I think it's just such a great form of the sport to be able to represent your country and kind of get that camaraderie going. You know, I wish that tournament was still around. But this is kind of obviously the replacement for that, and like I say, this tournament needs to do something to get itself recognised for what it is. It's the World Cup of Golf. It needs to be embraced by more of the countries and get them sending their best teams over. .I'd love to put my name on that trophy. I mean, you know, any trophy with Tiger on it is a pretty special trophy. RORY McILROY: Jack. Arnie. GRAEME McDOWELL: My resident historian here beside me. There are some great winners of this tournament, and I think it would be unbelievable to add our names on there tomorrow and certainly it would be the highlight of my career so far, also. Q. Have you heard any news regarding Tiger's car accident, and do you two go out at 2.30 in the morning? GRAEME McDOWELL: If you run out of milk, I suppose you've got to go get some. RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean -- Q. Have you heard about the car accident? GRAEME McDOWELL: We woke up and we saw it on the news this morning when we woke up. We both logged on to the Net in the morning to see what's happening in the world and we woke up to that one in the morning. So, who knows? Don't know. We don't know any more than you do. RORY McILROY: (Shrugging shoulders. ) Q. Going back to that Olympic question, would you qualify to play for GB or do either of you have any sort of secret forebears that maybe Jack Champion might use to get you into playing for Ireland? RORY McILROY: We are in a privileged position that we can play for either one that we like. If we don't make one team, we can play for the other. (Laughter) depends. It depends how it falls. Q. And if you had a preference? RORY McILROY: It's seven away. You know, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Q. What happened with Dubai World, you just mentioned has nothing to do with your sponsor. But it seems like Dubai has a lot to do with sponsoring the Tour, The European Tour. Does it make any part of your decision of picking up the U.S. Tour next year? RORY McILROY: No. I mean, obviously this news has come out after I made my decision, so my decision was based on where I wanted to play next year and tournaments that I wanted to play in, and that was it. I mean, if you look at The European Tour schedule next year, we still have a lot of strong events. You know, who knows, it's a tricky situation at the minute. But the way the Dubai World Championship worked out last week, I think everyone thought it was a great success. I would be very surprised if it didn't go ahead next year, and for the next four years after this one. But you know, we've just got to see what happens. Obviously due by is in a bit of a tight situation at the minute, but I'm sure they have got friends, Abu Dhabi and the like, that can help them out a little bit. Q. You've mentioned several times that you guys are really good friends, so tomorrow if you do win, will you celebrate together, and how? GRAEME McDOWELL: Unfortunately we are going to be sort of flying out in different directions in the world. I'm going to the States and Rory is heading to South Africa. RORY McILROY: In December. GRAEME McDOWELL: We'll catch up over Christmas, I'm sure, and have the official celebration back in Ireland I'm sure. But we might manage a couple of Diet Cokes before we fly out tomorrow night. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks for joining us. Good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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