Media Center Interviews
April 7, 2024
Final Round Interview with Rory McIlroy
Q. Six-under 66, 3 under on the par 5s, how would you assess your day?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was good. It was very solid. The conditions were a little easier out there than the previous couple of days, so was able to take advantage of it. Second bogey-free round of the week, which is really pleasing compared to what it's been like the previous few starts.
Yeah, good to get a round like that under the belt heading into next week.
Q. You purposely battened up the schedule ahead of Augusta. What do you take away big picture from your start to 2024?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm in a better place than I was a few weeks ago. Through the Florida swing there was just a lot of volatility in my game, some good, some bad, quite a few big numbers, so just trying to tidy that up. For me, I'm always going to be able to hit good shots, it's just how bad the bad ones are, and this week the bad ones were still in play and no too bad, and I was able to scramble well enough when I did hit a few poor ones. Again, overall much more pleased with where my game is compared to two or three weeks ago.
Q. There's so many uncontrollables and unknowns in this game. What do you want to be in control of next week?
RORY McILROY: Myself (Laughs.) Control of myself, control of my emotions and my thoughts. If I can control those, it makes the physical control of everything a lot easier and a lot more simple. Yeah, just to me next week is all about discipline, about staying in control of yourself and in control of what you can control. If I can do that well, then the rest will follow.
Q. Finally, you talked about the physical game coming together. Where would you say you are mentally going into the Masters?
RORY McILROY: I'm in a better spot than I was a few weeks ago. Yeah, it was nice to see a round like this today, nice to play a golf tournament where -- I'm obviously going to finish quite a few shots behind Denny and Akshay, but still, I played pretty solid in some tough conditions and then whenever the course opened up for us a little bit today, I was able to take advantage of it. Feeling good.