THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2013

Rory McIlroy

Q. Any better today?
RORY MCILROY: A little better. I needed to get off to a fast start to have any chance of being here for the weekend. I was 5-over through seven holes, so that didn't really happen. But after that I just decided to try and -- I guess practice a little bit for the next few weeks coming up. And I decided that I was going to hit driver every hole that I could, because that's going to be a big factor the next few weeks, and I actually drove the ball pretty well, and ended up playing the last 11 holes under par. That was encouraging, but obviously I'm disappointed to be going home for the weekend. It's the first time I've missed a cut at the Open, so it's obviously quite disappointing.

Q. What frame of mind do you leave The Open Championship in? Obviously there's a big disappointment in yesterday.
RORY MCILROY: Disappointed, but I guess I have a clearer picture of what I need to work on and what I need to do to put things right. Sometimes this game can feel further away than it actually is. And obviously at the end of yesterday it couldn't have felt much further away. And today you played the last 11 holes like that, you see some positive signs. And you try and sort of take anything you can from that.

Q. Can you fix it before the defense of the US PGA?
RORY MCILROY: We'll see. I've got a nice run of events coming up, six events in the next eight weeks. I'm looking forward to playing golf and playing tournaments and getting into a run of events.

Q. Playing more regular golf, do you think that will be a big help for you?
RORY MCILROY: I think so. I think playing a bit more golf will definitely help. Because it's more of a scoring issue, even if I -- I don't want to say I wasn't sharp coming in here, but a couple of weeks off, you get on that first tee again on Thursday, and it feels a little different, obviously, to when you've been practicing for two weeks. So I'm looking forward to the next round of events coming up. It should be good to get some more competitive play and see how that goes.

Q. What are the positive signs? You've gone down a different road the last two weeks, do you think it's the right road?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean I took myself away and just hit balls and tried to figure out what was maybe not quite right technically. And I think I just need to sort of forget about that and just go and play golf. And go and try to score and shoot scores and be on the golf course. I think that's something that is very important for these next few weeks.

Q. The crowd out there today, do you feel they were willing you to play well?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was a bit like a sympathy out there. (Laughter). But it was nice, obviously they were willing me to play well. It's disappointing to obviously not be here for the weekend, it's good to play in front of these crowds.

Q. The links experience here, it was always going to be difficult. Bridgestone last year you turned it around, the whole season, from the next tournament on. Is that a course you're going to enjoy?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I'm going to look forward to it, four really good competitive rounds there. I'm looking forward to that and it's a great prep for the PGA. I'm really looking forward to Akron. It's a place I've done well before. It's a place I feel I can win. So going there, really excited to just play four rounds of golf. There's no cut (laughter). But then, obviously, play and practice, it's a great place to practice, as well. Great facilities and obviously you couldn't ask for better preparation for the defense of the PGA the week later.

Q. You talked yesterday that you hit the ball well yesterday, was it pretty much a carryover into today, as well?
RORY MCILROY: I hit it okay. A couple of missed shots here and there. But it wasn't my best ball-striking round. But it was okay. On other days I could have hit it like that and shot something a lot better, just because the scoring aspect of my game isn't where it needs to be.

Q. How much of that comes into play, though, that if you're not playing well, your disappointment, does that start to build after a while? As you said, you took out some clubs you normally wouldn't have played.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, exactly. But I still wanted to get something out of it, those last ten holes. I wanted to at least say, okay, I'm going to work towards building up for the next tournament and hit driver, because driver is going to be very important around Akron. And I hit some good drives out there. And by the looks of it I should have probably hit driver everywhere this week. It might have done me better.

Q. You know what you're able to do because you've done it before, won Majors. Can you talk about the disappointment you have in yourself or is that overstating the case?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean -- yeah, I can't really be disappointed in myself because I don't feel like I've done anything wrong in terms of like underprepare or not taking it -- I've done everything I could; it just didn't work out for me.

Q. A lot of that is the grind. If you're playing at your best, how hard it is out here, right?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, exactly.

Q. Does that tell a lot about what this week was?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it's going out there this afternoon, it's bouncy, it's firm. It was very tricky. I don't think anyone in the last 20 groups has shot under par, it just shows you how tough it was.

Q. Could G-Mac or Darren do it?
RORY MCILROY: I know G-Mac finished on 4 and Darren finished on 1. Yeah, they're close enough to the lead, so they can -- obviously Clarkie has had that Claret Jug before, and it would be good to see him win it this weekend.

Q. You haven't lost your sense of humor, on 17?
RORY MCILROY: That was a very big putt for me (laughter) but, yeah.

Q. Keep it in perspective?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, exactly, have to.

Q. If somebody were to ask you the No. 1 reason why you haven't won this deep into the season what would you say?
RORY MCILROY: I don't know if I can single out one thing. I think it's been a combination of things, to be honest. I think schedule hasn't been quite right. Swing hasn't been quite right. And a combination of those has led to, I guess, sloppy play, just because of not sharp enough. Because whenever you're swinging it well and you're confident, you can take a couple of weeks off, go to the next event and play and you're okay. But, yeah, I think when I am struggling with my game. I think it's better to play my way out of, and that's something I haven't really done this year.