Q. How would you describe your round today?
RORY MCILROY: I felt like I hit the ball pretty well. I just didn't take advantage of that good ball-striking. I played the first six holes well, a couple under, and then just got on the par train and couldn't get off it even though I was giving myself some chances. Felt like to at least hole one at the end and make another birdie.
Overall, again, feel like I didn't get the most out of my round, but at the same time, I'm definitely hitting the ball better than I did last week. Some positives. I'm a few shots further behind than I'd like going into the weekend, but pleased with the improvements that I've made from last week to this week.
Q. Were you maybe a little off on the greens or the speeds?
RORY MCILROY: More speed. I think since the rain sort of earlier in the week on Wednesday there, I've struggled with the speed a little bit. I feel like I'm hitting uphillers too hard and the downhillers too soft.
Yeah, that's been a thing because I feel like I read these greens well and I'm putting good strokes on them, just the speed is just a little off.
Q. I know your focus is on the TOUR Championship right now, but with the Ryder Cup coming up, I'm curious what the dialogue is like with the European team and how those conversations have been going with Luke?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it's been good. Luke is over in Europe right now, and he's at the Belfry and he's with a few of the guys there that maybe have a chance to get those last couple of spots on the team. I'd say he's focused more on that side of things right now.
There's a lot of us here that he doesn't really need to focus on or speak to right now, myself, Rosey, Bob, Tommy, Viktor, the guys that are pretty much on the team.
But the dialogue has been good. It's nice that it looks like the team is going to be pretty much the same. We have this group chat from Rome that's still going two years on.
But it's been good. Everyone is in good spirits, and obviously everyone is excited for what's to come in a few weeks at Bethpage.
Q. What have been the benefits so far of having Luke carry on and be a repeat captain?
RORY MCILROY: Just continuity. Most of us know what his communication style is. Most of us know what he's looking for in us.
Luke and I live on the same street in Florida; we see each other all the time, so we talk about it a lot. I know what he wants from me, and I try to do that as best as I can.
But I think just that continuity piece, and we all know what we're going to get whenever we turn up at Bethpage, which I think is reassuring for a lot of the players.
Q. For the six or seven teams you've been on, I want to go back to the first one, and you're still only two years on TOUR. When you guys started a group chat, how many numbers did you not have when it began, or how much does it change year to year?
RORY MCILROY: From --
Q. The European team, the group chat, are there numbers in there you don't recognize?
RORY MCILROY: Like just for this one past, from Rome, or from the very --
Q. I'd take either one. I was thinking Wales.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, geez, there's -- I don't know if people have changed their numbers since then. I would hope that they have. I've certainly changed mine a few times.
Yeah, I mean, obviously Monty was our captain back then. Pretty sure I don't have Colin Montgomerie's number right now. It's changed a lot.
I played on Ryder Cup teams with all those guys that were sort of the core of that European team for a decade or more, and that's who I started with, and now we've sort of created our own core group, and it's the next generation, and that's a cool thing.
There's a few guys there that I probably don't have their number anymore or they don't have mine.
Q. They're about to, though, for this team.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, everyone on this team, absolutely. Everyone on this team has my number. But some of the previous teams I've changed my number and not given it out to everyone.
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