Rory McIlroy on Bryson DeChambeau: I'm not particularly fond of him
Rory McIlroy was asked about the two-shot penalty given to Bryson DeChambeau after Round 2 and DeChambeau's response at Royal Birkdale late Friday. McIlroy called the reaction "performative" and that the two-shot penalty was justified.
Video Transcript
Hi, Rory.
How would you rate round three?
A little bit similar to the last Well, maybe not Thursday, but yesterday, where I feel like I left a few out there.
Played okay for the most part.
Was a little scrappy in areas.
Yeah, I feel like I could have probably shot 67 or 66 and got myself You know, I think if I'm three back of Foxy going into tomorrow, I feel like I have, you know, a legi- a legitimate chance.
But, you know, I'm, I'm three back of that, so probably feel like I'm a little too far behind.
So you think winning this tournament's not possible from where you are?
Look, never say never.
There's, you know I think that was the fourth 62 of the week, so- Third or fourth, I don't Yeah, whatever.
Been a few of them.
So if I go out tomorrow and get the double digits, you never know.
But, yeah, you know, I, I certainly am not going out tomorrow thinking, like, I've got a, a great chance to win.
The way that the greens and yourself, your relationship with the greens is this week, the first round was, you know, you just couldn't see the ball going in the hole it seemed.
Did, did that kind of have an effect on the way the other two rounds have gone?
Not really.
I felt like I putted better yesterday, and then I putted okay today.
I've just really struggled with the speed.
They're still, they're very green and very, like I feel like you look at the rest of the course and it's so baked out and it's so brown, and then you get to the greens and they're so green and lush.
And like, you have a lot of these putts that are uphill but then up and over, just like a lot of the holes are cut on the back of slopes.
And I feel like I'm either gonna leave it two feet short or hit it five feet by.
It's sort of, it's a Feel like my speed's just never quite been right for the entire week, and when your speed's not right it's, it's obviously hard to, to hole putts.
You've seen 62 shot here.
Obviously it's been a, a very low scoring week.
You've had moments in your round.
You had the chip in on nine today.
You drove the ninth green the first two days when it looked like your round was going to ignite.
Could that happen tomorrow?
Is there a feeling within you that that's in, in you tomorrow?
Yeah, I feel like I, I can.
It's just a matter of, of, of doing it.
But yeah, it's a, it's, it's difficult.
Where they've cut some of these pins today, I'm even thinking, like after 9, 10, 11, 12, like even where 14 is, where 15 is, like they're, they're very hard pins to access.
And then if you keep leaving yourself 25, 30 feet, it's just, it's, it's really hard to, to hole those putts.
Rory, can I ask your opinion on the Bryson rules incident last night?
A few different players have been in with different interpretations of it.
What did you see?
So I was watching it live.
I was up in the players lounge watching it with a few other players and, as soon as he made the step into the ball, we all sort of looked each oth- each other and we're like, "That didn't seem right."
and then when I heard that he was, you know, he was called in by the rules officials, I think we all It was pretty obvious for, for why.
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I think there's no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing, so you know.
And again, it's like whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don't think it matters.
Hopefully it was careless.
But I think the two shot penalty was, was justified for sure.
What did, what did you think of the scenes after?
Obviously you guys were delayed getting your tee times as well because of it all going on.
Late night for everyone.
Yeah.
Yeah, I, like I, you know, I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson.
I'm not particularly fond of him.
I think a lot of it's performative.
I think a lot of it's for attention.
And yeah, you know, to, to hold the tournament hostage like that and have all of us volunteers, players, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn't feel like it was a great look.
Do you, do you, do you think he knew what he was doing?
Look, he's gonna say, like Again, I don't, I'm not in his mind.
I'm not in his it- it, but it didn't look good.
Rory, is something like that, you think that happens out here more than we know and it just isn't viewed or seen, or- Yeah, it's hard, right?
Look, he's, he's, every shot is, is on camera.
There's a lot of guys that play this week and their shots aren't on camera.
So you can say that that's unfair or whatever, or it might happen more than it does.
But I just, it's, it's obviously impossible to police everyone, and that's why it is a, you know, for the most part a self-policing game.
But I think when there is, obvious evidence like there was last night, then obviously that's a different story.
All right, last question.
We'll wrap it up.
Um- Ryan, Ryan Fox's round today, you mentioned some of the hole locations.
Can you just put into perspective what he did?
Xander was very complimentary.
He played with him.
How- Yeah, it's- How difficult the pins were yeah, and Xander had a good round today as well.
I think he shot 66.
Yeah, you have to I, I think the first thing is you have to be in the fairway to then be able to put, impart enough spin on the ball to access the, the pins.
But then you have to hit the ball with the right trajectory, whether it's hitting it high into some holes or maybe hitting wedge shots that sort of skip up the green for you.
I think, I think with the approach shots this week you've definitely had to show a lot of variety in your, in your game and in your approach shots.
And Foxy flights the ball as well as anyone out here.
And yeah, I mean, 62, like he got, you know, it was, the wind wasn't up and, you know, the conditions were quite benign this morning.
But it was still, it was still a hell of a round and, you know, he's got himself in the lead on his own, which is, you know, we'll see where it stands at the end of the day.
But, really impressive.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rory.
Thank you.
Thanks, Rory.
Thanks.
