Q. Rory, how would you characterize your round out there today?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was good. It was a grind, obviously. I think everyone found it a grind out there. Yeah, you know, I wasn't expecting it to be as difficult as it was. The greens were firming up yesterday in the practice round, but that felt like Saturday at the U.S. Open out there rather than Thursday at a PGA TOUR event.
Yeah, happy to get in at even par. I said last week after the tournament, if you need someone to shoot between like even par and 2-under, I'm your man, so I'm loving these conditions. It's sort of weird; the way my game feels at the minute, it's just as easy for me to shoot even par here as it was last week in Boston, for whatever reason that is. But yeah, keep it in play, hit the greens, two putts, move on. It's more comfortable for me at the minute.
Q. Do you like the fact that there can be a setup like it was last week where 30-under par wins and then this week where pars are great?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, so I think the two best setups this year have been the Memorial and here by far. They've been the two best setups of the entire year. You could maybe throw Harding Park in there, as well. But this is proper golf. This is you've really got to think about stuff, you've got to land it on your numbers, you've got to put it in play. Those sort of five-, six-footers for pars to sort of keep the momentum going is huge. It's nice to play a round of golf like that again.
Q. Do you think maybe because of the tough conditions you have to focus and concentrate a little bit more, took your thoughts away from what's not going on out on the golf course?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. I think the harder it is the more you have to focus. Yeah, that's probably a part of it. That's probably a part of it. My concentration today was much better because it needed to be. I was happy with how I played out there.
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