Rory McIlroy Brought The Good Stuff to His Wednesday PGA Championship Presser

Rory McIlroy has been one of the best quotes in golf for years, and he brought his A-game to the media center on Wednesday. He sat down with the scribes at Quail Hollow prior to this week’s PGA Championship and covered an array of topics.

From not talking to Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday at the Masters to how he tries not to watch his Career Grand Slam winning putt, he gave us some great nuggets.

Let’s dive in.

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Sunday of Silence at Augusta

When Bryson DeChambeau said that Rory didn’t talk to him during the final round of the year’s first major, I called it a nothing-burger. The Northern Irishman was trying to accomplish something only five men before him had done, and he’s supposed to be all happy and conversational?

Yeah, right.

McIlroy was a bit confused about it, too.

“I don't know what he was expecting,” he said. “We're trying to win the Masters. I'm not going to try to be his best mate out there. Look, everyone approaches the game different ways. Yeah, like I was focused on myself and what I needed to do. That's really all that it was. It wasn't anything against him or against—it's just I felt that's what I needed to do to try to get the best out of myself that day.”

Reliving His Winning Moment

When that final putt dropped during the playoff against Justin Rose, it looked like all that built up pressure and expectations left Rory’s body all at once. It was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever seen in sports, let alone golf.

But he does his best not to watch it too much. Here’s why:

“I've tried not to watch it a lot because I want to remember the feelings and I want to—I've talked about this before, but I think when I rewatch a lot of things back, I then just remember of the visuals of the TV rather than what I was feeling and what I was seeing through my own eyes, so I haven't tried to watch it back too much,” he said.

“But anytime I have, I well up. I still feel like I want to cry. Yeah, it was an involuntary—I've never felt a release like that before, and I might never feel a release like that again. That could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and it was a very cool moment.”

His Game Over Everyone’s

What part of someone’s game would you steal? That’s become one of the most popular hypotheticals to ask pro golfers.

Someone asked Rory on Wednesday and his answer was pretty damn good.

“I wouldn't trade.”

When asked if was forced, who would he choose, he said, “But I’m not,” which drew a big laugh. He’s just focused on his own game, and it’s tough not to love that mindset from a guy chasing his sixth major win.

The Golf Course is the Same

I’ve written it several times already this week, but I’m not a huge fan of staging a major championship at Quail Hollow. It’s a fine golf course and good enough for a regular TOUR stop, but a major? No, thank you.

As for if it’ll play any different compared to when we see it at the Truist Championship, Rory doesn’t think so.

“I thought it was going to feel different just because it was a major championship, and I got out on the golf course yesterday, and it felt no different than last year at the Wells Fargo,” he said. “The rough is maybe a little juicier. But fairways are still the same cut lines and same visuals. It doesn't feel that much different.”

Sick. That sure gets the juices flowing to watch some major golf this weekend!

As we get closer to kickoff, it’s starting to feel more and more like we’ll get Bryson vs. Rory III come Sunday. The golf course, conditions, current form. It’s all lining up for these two guys.

Let’s have a week, folks.