PGA Tour professional Rory McIlroy addresses the media following his final round 76 at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational in which he failed yet again to capture a victory but earns his 5th consecutive top 5 finish in 2020.
PGA Tour: Rory McIlroy earns fifth consecutive top five finish with final round 76 at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Q. Just some comments on the day and the conditions of the course over the weekend.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean, obviously, tough weekend. I guess for me today two bad, two loose shots sort of cost me. The third shot on 6 and then the tee shot on 9. I made two doubles there. Obviously, played the rest of the holes in even par and if I hadn’t have done that I would have had a good chance. But, yeah, it was tough. Look, I stood up here yesterday saying that the key tomorrow was to keep the big numbers off your card and I made two of those today and that’s what cost me.
Q. Last year sort of similar situation. Afterwards you said, Hey, the great thing about golf is you get back on the horse and play again the next week and obviously that’s what happened, the next week you won?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it’s very, there’s a lot of similarities between the start of this year and the start of last year. A lot of chances not converting, but knowing that the game’s pretty much there. So just keep knocking on the door and go up to Ponte Vedra tomorrow and work on a few things. And, yeah, get back at it again.
Q. Knowing what happened last year, being in a similar situation, does it almost make it easier or is it still very aggravating to you?
RORY MCILROY: I mean, it’s aggravating but at the same time like I just have to keep telling myself the game’s there. It’s not as if I’m walking off the course and — I didn’t have my best stuff again over the weekend, but neither did anyone in these really tough conditions. The two, I guess the two doubles that I made today sort of, I don’t know, it’s, I think if I am going to keep getting myself into contention like I am, I just need to sort of stop making those big numbers. And if I can do that, hopefully the course next week’s a little more benign, a few more chances, and sort of play the style of golf that I want to play. I was very defensive out there and that’s sort of what you had to do this week and hopefully next week we get a chance to be a little more aggressive.
Q. Seems like people expect you to win every week because you’re No. 1 in the world. Can you talk about the expectations of that and how hard it is to win out here?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean, I expect myself — I mean, I’m doing what I expect myself to do every week, which is giving myself a chance. I give myself a chance most weeks and the more weeks than not it’s not going to happen. That’s just the way golf is. I mean, I think my win percentage on TOUR is like 10 percent and I think that’s pretty high for anyone not being Tiger Woods. So, yeah, it’s one of those things. Like, I’ve had chances and I wish I had converted one of them over the last few weeks, but I’m still in good form. I’m playing some good golf. And hopefully if I just keep putting myself in those positions, it’s only a matter of time.
Q. How do the conditions compare today versus yesterday? Better? Worse?
RORY MCILROY: Similar. A different wind direction. I didn’t expect the wind to be up as much as it was. It was just as windy today as it was yesterday. The greens are firm, fairways are firm. So, yeah, I mean just a really tough weekend.
Q. What do you most need to improve upon before Augusta?
RORY MCILROY: Before Augusta? Driving it well. I mean, maybe just my mid-range putting, that’s sort of between 12 and 20 feet. I’m holing out — I missed a couple this week — but I’m holing out pretty well for the most part, but just giving myself a lot of chances between that sort of 12- and 20-foot range and not converting that many of them. So that’s pretty much it.
Q. You’re allowed to say nothing.
RORY MCILROY: No, no, there’s not nothing, there’s always something.
Q. Did you think the bunker shot at 6 was okay when you hit it?
RORY MCILROY: I did, yeah. Actually, it was okay, I played it the way I wanted to. It came out a little hot, but I thought, I thought it was still going to hang on to the back edge. Obviously just trickled over into the hazard, so…
Q. It’s a thin margin.
RORY MCILROY: It is, yeah. That’s the thing out here, it’s just very, very fine lines.
Orlando, Florida
March 8, 2020
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