Interview Archives

Among the players, Rory McIlroy is considered one of the loudspeakers on the PGA Tour. The Northern Irishman forms an opinion on many topics and tries to classify current events. At the press conference before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy explains why he thinks it’s important to express his opinion and what he thinks of the current discussion surrounding PIP and Phil Mickelson. Read the complete interview here:

Q: Rory, you’re going to be making your eighth start here. What is it like to be back, especially as a past champion?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it’s always good to be back at Bay Hill. I didn’t play this event for the first few years of my career and finally came here in 2015, and I don’t think I’ve missed a tournament since.

We all know what Arnold Palmer means to the PGA TOUR and to the game of golf in general. So it’s always nice to be here and try to sort of remember his legacy and remember what he meant to everyone. He was probably the catalyst with maybe a few other guys of why we’re here today and why the game of professional golf is at such a high level.

So nice to be here, nice to pay our respects. Looking forward to another good week.

Q: And as you stated, you haven’t missed a tournament since you started, have five consecutive top tens here. What about this course and this tournament really clicks with your game?

It’s one of these courses that I don’t feel like I have to do anything special to compete. I can play within myself. You take care of the par-5s here. You play conservatively the rest of the way, especially how the golf course here has been set up the past few years. You play for your pars, and then you try to pick off birdies on the par-5s and some of the easier holes. If you just keep doing that day after day, you’re going to find yourself around the top of the leaderboard.

Yeah, it’s been a course that’s fit my eye from the first time I played here, and just one of those courses that I enjoy coming back to and feel like I can contend at.

Q: Rory, congratulations on finishing third, I think, on the PIP.

Thanks (laughter).

Q: Do you understand exactly why you ended up third, and were there any surprises on the list for you when you saw the top ten?

Not really. I mean, you look at the ten guys that are on there, and they’re the ten guys that have been at the top of the game or have been around the top of the game for a long time. Obviously, everyone’s seen the five metrics that go into it and how everyone ranked in those metrics. I feel like it’s a pretty self-explanatory system. That’s how the numbers sort of rolled out.

Yeah, it’s certainly not something that I’m checking up on every week to see where I’m at, but I think it went the way most of us expected it to go.

Q: Also, as you ramp up for this big stretch of golf tournaments, what are you kind of waiting to see in your game. What is it you’re kind of looking for as you do the run-up?

Just consistency. I mean, I felt like the three tournaments that I’ve played this year, I’ve played pretty well. I had a pretty solid week at Riviera without doing anything really special. I had a good weekend.

I think just more of the same. I’ve driven the ball pretty well. I’ve seen a bit of improvement in iron play. My short game’s been really good. If anything, just getting the consistency to a point where I feel like I can play like that day in and day out.

But the game feels good, so just sort of trying to keep doing what I’m doing.

Q: Rory, given your stature and success in the game, it gives you a voice. Do you feel though that, even if you weren’t a world renowned golfer, you would still speak out about injustices you see? And why are you that way?

Look, I’ll only voice my opinion on things that I believe I’m educated in and believe that I have a right to talk about. So there’s certainly things that I won’t get into just because I’m not completely educated on that topic and feel like giving an opinion probably isn’t the right thing to do.

But when it comes to golf and PGA TOUR stuff, I feel like I’m pretty educated on that stuff. And I guess with that voice comes responsibility to try to do the right thing. That’s all I try to do. I try to make comments or speak about things to do the right thing, and that’s the reason I’m maybe a little more outspoken than other guys in our game.

Again, it doesn’t go much further than the game of golf because I feel comfortable talking about that, but when you sort of delve into other things, I don’t think it’s my place to get into that.

Q: Speaking of education, I thought I read something about you once that you wanted to drop out of school in like the fifth grade?

I did drop out of school in — well, not the fifth grade (laughter). I dropped out of school pretty early, yeah.

Q: What does that say about you, if anything, that you’ve got this appetite for knowledge, for learning, for reading, and hated school?

Learnt my lesson. I didn’t have — I just had no — I had no academic ambitions when I was a youngster. I don’t know, I think I got to a point in golf where I was pretty — all I wanted to do when I was young was play golf. Didn’t care about school. Didn’t want to go. Wanted to just go practice, play golf. And now all I do most every day is go practice and play golf.

So I have other things I want to do and hobbies. I think as you get older, you get interested in more things and maybe just become a little more curious. I’ve sort of become that way. But, again, I’m the first one to say I don’t know — I know a little about a lot, but I’m not as smart on a lot of things as I am maybe on golf and things in and around this world.

Q: One more golf question. Finchem probably back in ’10 had talked about this idea of somewhat of a world tour schedule and also how difficult it would be to put together. They’ve been trying for a long time. Do you get a sense that, given the dynamics of golf right now, that it could be getting closer to that and that it would still be just as difficult to implement?

So I certainly think there’s been steps taken that have got us closer to that point. Obviously, this strategic alliance between DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR buying a stake in European Tour Productions, Jay having a seat on the board in Europe, they’re certainly working much closer together, which is a great thing. I think it needs to be that way.

The game of professional golf, everyone needs to be trying to pull in the same direction instead of pulling against each other. I think we’re getting closer to that spot. I think it would be easy for — it’s not as simple as this, but the guys at the PGA TOUR could just literally walk down the street to the guys in the ATP and just have a chat about what they do.

It’s two very, very different structures and different schedules, but I think there is a path where one day there could be — it might still be two Tours running side by side parallel to each other, but basically for — it would be a global tour, a global schedule.

Q: Would it be important for Europe’s identity?

I think so. I think there’s quite a long history and tradition and heritage there. You go back to — yeah, the formation of the European Tour wasn’t that long after the PGA TOUR. I think European Tour was in the ’70s, and PGA TOUR was in the late ’60s. So there’s history there that you would like to keep.

Q: Are you surprised that so many golfers and sponsors have separated themselves, distanced themselves from Phil, who’s one of the legends of the game, or do you think his comments were so volatile that that was necessary? And how unfortunate is the whole situation?

It is unfortunate. I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf. It’s unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there and were — not used against him, but this whole situation is unfortunate.

Look, Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back. He’s done such a wonderful job for the game of golf, and he’s represented the game of golf very, very well for the entirety of his career.

Look, we all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.

Q: I know you to be a student of the world and what’s going on and you’ve traveled all over the world. The world is such a tender place right now. What do you do to sort of put that aside so you can focus on your day job?

I try to look at the news once a day and sort of leave it at that. You sort of try to keep up to date with current events and everything that’s happening. I guess I have to understand that sitting in my position right here in Orlando, Florida, there’s not much that I can say or do that’s going to help the situation. So I can just focus on what’s most important to me, which is my family and my golf, and live my life.

THE MODERATOR: That’s all the time we have for questions. Rory, we thank you for taking the time to talk with us, and we wish you the best of luck this week.

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Webb Simpson to the podium here at the 120th U.S. Open at Winged Foot golf course. Webb is the 2012 U.S. Open champion. Webb was a member of the 2007 Walker Cup team and is making his 10th career U.S. Open start. He’s currently the 6th ranked player in the world. Webb, what are your first impressions of the golf course?

WEBB SIMPSON: It’s in phenomenal shape, it’s firm, I know there hasn’t been a whole lot of rain up here lately. It’s just hard. It’s really hard. I know they have cut the rough the last few days, but I played in the U.S. Amateur here in 2004, I remember thinking this is a really hard golf course, but it’s very fair. My caddie, Paul Tesori, caddied here in 2006 for Vijay and had the same thoughts. And so this is a, to me, a classic U.S. Open setup where it’s brutally hard all day, but there’s no tricks to it, you got to drive it in the fairway. And I’m sure the guys are saying the same stuff that if you’re not in the fairway it’s hard to score and I do think this will be a higher winning score U.S. Open than we have seen in a while.

THE MODERATOR: Great. Questions.

Q. One of the things guys have kind of talked about this week that seems odd to me is kind of laying up on a par-3. Have you ever done that and would you consider doing it?

WEBB SIMPSON: I’ve never done it, but it’s definitely, it’s definitely a hole where you cannot, you really don’t want to go long and a lot of times we’re going to have yardages where we’re in between clubs and we’re always going to hit the shorter club just to be short. So I hit a shot today, I couldn’t quite get my 3-iron hybrid there, but I still didn’t want to hit a 5-wood long, so I hit it and I was five yards short of the green perfect. I’m not going to purposefully lay up, but I will purposefully try to hit it short of the hole to the front pins. If I miss the green short, that’s fine. I think if you make two pars and two bogeys there, you’re with the field or beating the field.

Q. Were you one of those guys who embraces the harder it is the better you like it or is there a limit and where does this potentially rank on the scale of difficulty places you’ve played?

WEBB SIMPSON: So I like for it to get as hard as it can get without them losing the golf course. I think a couple, we have seen a couple U.S. Opens where it might have gotten away from them and when something, when a golf course gets away from you, you’re bringing in luck. We don’t mind it to be really hard, we just don’t like for luck to play a huge part. This is the epitome of a golf course where it’s just hard, it kind of in your face all day, especially that finish, where the best golfer will win this week. I think there have been setups in the past where you could argue that the a great golfer with a good amount of luck won that week, but you’re not going to have that here at Winged Foot. It’s going to be whoever wins on Sunday is the best golfer here for the week.

Q. Is there anything you find similar to Olympic here that might be an advantage to you?

WEBB SIMPSON: I mean Olympic is similar in the sense that it’s a classic, old-style golf course, doglegs, you have to shape some tee shots to hold the fairways. And again, Olympic was kind of brutally hard, not a lot of scoring holes. Out here there’s only a few holes where you’re going to have shorter shots in, you got to take advantage of those holes. So, yeah, there’s some similarities for sure and we’re going to have, looks like, great weather, so the golf course is going to get firm, a little bit more firm each day. I mean, I’m getting 40 yards of roll right now on some holes. But that’s good, it’s a long golf course. I don’t think that’s bad. And they’re penalizing us when we hit a bad tee shot.

Q. Brandel Chamblee this morning on Golf Channel was pointing out that despite the recent dominance of Dustin Johnson, Rahm, even Justin Thomas, that you are the best combination of length and accuracy off the tee, plus you’re a better putter and you’ve won this championship before. So how do you feel your chances stack up in this event this year and with your understanding of the patience it takes to win at a place like this?

WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, I mean I’m coming in confident, I’ve been playing good golf for awhile, I have always loved this tournament. My first one was 2011 at Congressional, I grew up watching Payne Stewart make the putt in ’99 at No. 2, I was a standard bearer that week as a 13 year old. So I’ve always loved the challenge and kind of the thoughts behind a U.S. Open. I love the idea of patience matters here. Some weeks you can get impatient and that’s okay, but this week you have to stay patient. Every golfer is going to make tons of bogeys this week. So it’s kind of the marathon mentality of kind of who can kind of hang on and play the 72 holes as well as they can. So, yeah, I like my chances. And I’ve been driving it well, I’m certainly not near as long as some of those guys you mentioned, but length on a week like this doesn’t matter as much. It always helps but it doesn’t matter as much.

Q. You’re also No. 1 in bogey avoidance on the tour and given the carnage that has happened here the past couple of times that it’s been here, how important do you feel that will be, just eliminating those kind of mistakes to keep yourself relevant every day?

WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, I mean that’s huge. Somebody told me yesterday that I think Geoff Ogilvy in 2006 hit less than half of the greens in regulation and it just shows how good his wedge game was, his pitching. And so that’s been a major focus for us the last few days, because I’m going to miss fairways and I’m not going to be able to advance it that far, I know that. So how well can I control layups, I mean laying up most weeks out of the rough is pretty easy, you just hack it down there but this week it actually takes skill. And again, there’s a huge emphasis on hitting good pitch shots, controlling them. And what I love about this golf course is the greens are crazy and they’re undulating, but there’s plenty of pins where slopes around the pin can really help you. So if you know what you’re doing, these pitch shots and wedge shots, you actually have a little help. So it really does test every part of your game.

Q. How do you compare the Webb Simpson who won in 2012 to the one who is teeing it up this week?

WEBB SIMPSON: I think I’ve just, years of experience, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve endured a lot, had ups and downs. So I think then everything, I was kind of wide eyed and didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully I was able to get the W. But I really, I just love the moments of getting into contention and trying to win. Whereas, I think then I was extremely nervous, not really knowing how to handle myself. So now I really, I look forward to that, that’s where I hope to be on Sunday afternoon, and I think all around through the bag my game has gotten better and more solid and, yeah, just feel good. I’m getting older, I got my gray hairs, but I feel young inside.

Q. How do you feel about playing without fans? Do you thrive on that energy or is it more calming perhaps or does it, is it advantageous for the younger players perhaps, the more inexperienced players?

WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah, I think guys that haven’t played many major championships it’s going to help because any major we’re going to have 10, 12 deep on most every hole and the grandstands will be filled up. So I think for those guys it helps. For me, I love the crowd. There’s more going on, but it, actually, I think the more going on, the more that’s out there, the better focused we are. It’s like when I get paired with Tiger or Phil, I’ve always loved it because with how many people are out there and how many moving parts and the golf carts and the cameras, you really got to zero in on what you’re doing and it actually helps. So the PGA was obviously our only major without fans and I didn’t play late so I didn’t really experience kind of the lack of roars when Collin made eagle or somebody makes a long birdie putt, but those things, we miss those things and especially in New York where the fans are historically, they’re just loud and they love golf, so we’ll miss them this week.

Q. Do you have a favorite New York moment in terms of fans? I mean, it’s different up here and having an Open without them is going to be different, but do you have a moment that you remember that sort of got to the essence of what it’s like?

WEBB SIMPSON: No, I mean when I think of the fans in New York I just think of the volume, the noise is louder than anywhere. Boston tries to compete a little bit, but here it’s just louder. I think people aren’t afraid to kind of speak their mind when you hit a bad shot and that’s part of it. We know that going in. And we appreciate that people care enough to come watch us and it’s a bummer, it’s a bummer for all these states and towns, but I think especially here hosting a major.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports