Q. You told us yesterday that the round you shot --
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think pretty similar again. Played very solid. Didn't make a ton of mistakes. I had a couple of nice up-and-downs when I needed to. It was nice to birdie two of the last three and get away with a par on 17, as well. Overall, happy with how I've finished the day, and you know, ready for the weekend.
Q. Great birdie at the par 5, and then you hit this approach at 6. How did it look from your end?
RORY McILROY: This was nice. Just needed to take a little bit off the sand wedge, sawed off follow through. That was nice. I was in between a little sand wedge and a lob-wedge and just thought if I hit the lob-wedge, it could just hit back because the greens are pretty soft. It was nice to see a wedge shot like that.
Q. You've made some subtle changes to your swing. That was a nice swing on 18.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, they are feeling a bit better. Yeah, that was a really nice swing. It's hard, you're trying to make subtle changes weeks at golf tournaments, which probably isn't the right time to do it, but I've just played so much this year I haven't had a chance to get a stretch where I can spend two or three weeks at home and really dig into it.
I just made a decision after THE TOUR Championship that I needed to change a few things. Started just a little bit before The Irish Open and I've just tried to continue that. Hopefully if I do some practise, it will bed in, but it will be nice to get some time here in a couple months where I can do some harder work on it and come out in 2025 feeling a lot more comfortable.
Q. How do you feel about your position in the championship?
RORY McILROY: I feel good. If I look at the leaderboard, obviously the guys up there at the top have played very well over first couple of days. Maybe not a ton of experience in that position. And then Matteo is playing well again.
But there seems to be a lot of the big guns are sort of around 7, 8-under par. Ed yeah, right in the Mitch. Feel good about where I'm at and hopefully just continue to feel good about the game for the next two days.
Q. Good playing. How do you sum up the first couple of days at the BMW?
RORY McILROY: It's been good. I think it's been solid. I think 9-under is probably a fair reflection of how I've played over the first couple days. You know, when I've missed some greens, my short game has been pretty good and I got up-and-down. A couple key saves on 14 and 17 coming in, and then birdies at 16 and 18 were nice, as well.
So yeah, overall, pretty pleased with where I'm at on the leaderboard. There's a couple of scrappy things in there that I'm industrial trying to sort of iron out of the game but overall, pretty happy with where I'm at.
Q. After such a close call last week, how important was it to come out this weekend and play well and put opponent a good show out there?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think it's really important, but also, it's nice. I wouldn't have liked the week off to just wallow in self-pity and whatever else I would have been doing if I had not played. To come back out and get straight back on the golf course and play a couple of solid rounds and give myself another chance at a really big tournament that means a lot to me, I thought it was important to do that and thankfully I have.
Q. Big tournaments last week, this week, massive crowds wishing you well. Just explain the emotions and feelings you go through having so many people wishing you so much luck?
RORY McILROY: It's amazing. Obviously last week, I don't know if there's anything that will compare to that scene on 18 on Sunday last week.
But I mean, the crowds out here for the first two days, it's incredible. It's a proper golf tournament. It's the way it's supposed to feel. And it's a pleasure to play in front of them in that atmosphere, and looking forward to it for another two days.
Q. Really nice way to finish. It's been an eventful couple of days in a few ways but how do you reflect on where you are right now?
RORY McILROY: I'm happy with where I'm at. I could have been a little better but also I think it could have been a little worse, as well. Yeah, I mean, four behind going into the weekend, not too many people between me and the lead. It's a good position to be in.
So you know, a couple of things I want to still try to work on over the next couple days but I'm happy to be where I'm at, and feel like I gave myself another good chance to win this tournament.
Q. It feels incredible that it's now ten years since you lifted the trophy here. Do you still have really clear memories of that week, and how do you reflect on the decade that's past?
RORY McILROY: Going into that Sunday, I think I was seven behind. So I had no real ambition of winning the golf tournament. I didn't think it was going to be a possibility. But I remember Thomas Björn and Luke Donald both got off to pretty slow starts, and I had gotten off to a good one and all of the sudden found myself with a chance to win the tournament and actually played a really good back nine to get the job done.
Yeah, it's ten years ago but the memories are still pretty vivid. It's been a great ten years. I feel like I've achieved most things I've wanted to do in the game in those ten years. Been part of unbelievable Ryder Cup teams and had some great individual success.
I'm certainly not done yet and want to keep going.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports