THE MODERATOR: Rory McIlroy joins us here at the 108th PGA Championship. We'll go ahead and jump right into questions.
Q. Obviously 67 was pretty good out here today. Being five back certainly is within the reach, but yet you have 29 guys you got to jump over. What's the more difficult of the two, do you think?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, well, I think any, if you can get it going -- it's hard, it's been hard to make birdies out there because obviously, one, the wind the last couple days, but also where they have put these hole locations, I feel like they have really tried to protect the course the first couple of days. So it seems like they have used up a lot of the really hard ones.
So depending upon a little bit calmer conditions and maybe a couple more favorable hole locations, I think guys that have, that are just here for the weekend feel -- I think everyone's got to feel like they have got a chance. Yes, there's -- it's bunched, but you get on a run with wedges on that front nine and you shoot 4-, 5-under and all of a sudden you're right in the thick of things.
At five back I do feel like I'm right in the tournament, and that's really what I wanted to do today was to just get myself back in it, and I feel like I've done that.
Q. You characterized your round yesterday with a --
RORY McILROY: Shit.
Q. Yes. What would you characterize it today as?
RORY McILROY: Not as shit. (Laughing).
Q. Not many people this week have gone bogey-free, hardly anyone. Is it a question of really staying patient out there and just waiting for the few chances that do come your way?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it is. I think this afternoon I had a better understanding of how the course was playing, and just watching a little bit of the coverage early on today, I probably went out there yesterday being a little too aggressive thinking that guys were going to go lower than they were. Because I certainly didn't, in the practice rounds, I certainly didn't see it playing as difficult as it has played.
So I think knowing that the field isn't going to get away from you, you can be a little bit more patient, especially this afternoon.
Q. Talking of patience, seemed quite slow out there. Had you a little sit-down on the 10th. You seemed to wait an awful long time for some of those shots, some of those tee shots. Was it painful at times?
RORY McILROY: It was, it was slow. I think there were a couple of groups ahead of us -- did Sahith maybe lose a ball on 10? We were on the 8th green when they were having a look for the ball, so I think that's what definitely delayed us in the middle of that round.
But it seemed like once we got through that little bottleneck -- and there is a few bottlenecks on this course anyway, with the 8th green, the 10th green beside each other, you've got like 16 green and 9 tee and 17 tee right there. So there's a few little parts of the course that you can sort of get jammed on.
But it's fine. It seems like that's the first two days of major championship golf are always going to be like that. You get that afternoon tee time on Friday at Augusta, and it's one of the slowest rounds of the year. You don't mind being out there because it's Augusta, but at the same time it is very, very slow. But it will, obviously over the weekend it will speed up. Hopefully we can play in two balls and things will flow a bit better.
Q. Scottie said when he finished this is the hardest set of pin locations that he's seen since he's been out on TOUR, including the U.S. Opens. Are you okay with the way the setup was the last two days with those hole locations?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, um, I was -- the only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it's a sign of not a great setup, I think when it's as bunched as it is, because it hasn't really enabled anyone to separate themselves. It's like, you know, it's easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies, and not that it's hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey's the worst score you're going to shoot on any one hole.
There's not a lot of hazards. There's not, you know -- yeah, I think the setup is fine, like the golf course is good, the pins were tough, and the wind was what it was as well. But I just think, yeah, I've always felt like really good setups, it starts to spread the field a bit, and not great setups sort of bring everyone together. I feel like that's what's happened the last two days.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports