Rory McIlroy Saturday Flash Interview 2024 the Memorial Tournament · Round 3
Q. How would you assess the day?
RORY McILROY: Just sort of trying to hang in there, just sort of like the last couple of days as well. The course is obviously playing really tough. The scores suggest that. It's very hard to shoot -- it's hard to get it going, hard to shoot anything in the 60s, really. There's a couple of 68s out there, which were really good scores. But, yeah, I just tried to hang in there and battle and tried to keep it around par, which I sort of did.
Q. What was the main thing? Was it the greens being firm? The wind?
RORY McILROY: The wind again, greens are getting a little firmer, some tough hole locations. Yeah, just basically all of it. It's a very tough golf course.
Q. Obviously you were on a call yesterday. Can you just assess the tenor of the discussions and what your thoughts are coming out of 'em?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, very productive, very constructive, very collaborative. I think those are probably three words I would use to describe it. Yeah, it was really good. Definitely things are heading in the right direction. A lot of progress was made. I can't really say much more than that, but it was really positive.
Q. Did you say anything?
RORY McILROY: I did, yeah.
Q. You mentioned you might just be quiet.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, the mute button was turned off a couple of times to chime in.
Q. How long were you on that call?
RORY McILROY: So the meeting with PIF was three hours. But then the prep call before that was an hour and a half, so probably, like, four and a half hours.
Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was great.
Q. Would you say that going in you were more -- you were surprised with the progress coming out?
RORY McILROY: I would say -- maybe not surprised, but maybe more encouraged. I think a lot of progress had sort of been made. But, yeah, definitely encouraged, yeah.
Q. Those three calls a week that you had mentioned the other day, do you think that really actually puts everything together and sets everything up for what happened?
RORY McILROY: In terms of the deal, like the financials and the legals and all that, I think more that was -- those three calls a week were more to do with, like, their investment committee and SSG, so that was more -- that's what those calls were.
But I think last night was more, you know, talking about the future of the game and the vision and that was where I thought there was a lot of progress that was made.
Q. Have you learned anything that you didn't know before? Let me rephrase that. Has anything been presented to you that you hadn't heard before?
RORY McILROY: I know a lot more about the Department of Justice. (Laughing). I know a lot more about certain rights and investment deals, but apart from that --
Q. How about the vision of the game?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I think a lot of the things that we've all sort of been kicking around for the last two or three years were similar stuff.
Q. Are you getting a sense for -- more for what the PIF would like? When we talked to, like, Webb and Peter before, they seemed, when they went to that meeting in the Bahamas, that they were really kind of a little surprised and maybe even unsure what they were even after.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, you've got to understand, they're a sovereign wealth fund. They invest in companies and in different things and they want a return on their investment. That's what they want. It doesn't seem like they're getting that at the minute within golf, and this -- you know, hopefully if things progress and we get to a certain point, then hopefully they see a future where that can happen, they can start to get some returns on their money.
Q. Can I ask your opinion on a couple things?
RORY McILROY: Sure.
Q. Why do you think ratings are down? Your opinion.
RORY McILROY: I think it's a recreational game. I think more people are playing the game. I think people would rather play the game than sit and watch us play. I think rounds of golf are up. I think golf in general is thriving. I think there's never been a bigger disconnect between recreational golf and professional golf, and I think that's a big part of the reason.
Q. Secondly, you're a guy who typically plays before a major, so I don't know that this would affect you one way or the other, but are you okay with this tournament here or do you think it's better served where it was?
RORY McILROY: For me personally, I love to play the week before majors. I think it really helps me. Jack didn't like to play the weeks before majors, so I can certainly understand where he's coming from. I think, regardless, you're going to get a great field, you're going to get the same field that you would get two weeks before, a week before, and I think it's just personal preference. I think this stretch of golf where it goes Signature Event, major championship, Signature Event, I think that needs to maybe change because...