I'm very positive and optimistic going back to Augusta because the last few years I've improved my performance there, last year, I played the golf course pretty much the way I wanted to. Had a good weekend. Played the par-fives very well ... it worked out pretty well.

Rory McIlroy

Categorized in : Sports

To start the day tied for the lead, and to play like that, it gives me a lot of confidence, i wanted to be aggressive from the start, I was, four-under through five holes and that really established I was in control of this tournament.

I didn't quite do it, a couple of loose shots down the stretch but I was chasing it, trying to make birdies, and sometimes you're going to make mistakes when you do that.

Guys, can you turn your phones down. by Rory McIlroy

Guys, can you turn your phones down.

It's awesome. I'm really grateful, i really felt the love out there. Celebrate another decade of my life and I get to do it on one of my favorite golf courses in the world, it's pretty cool.

I've never done that for a PGA before and I've done pretty well at them, so just treating it like any other event, i would assume Bethpage is going to feel like a normal PGA Tour set-up. You're not really going to have to do anything different.

I just need to put up a better fight than I did, i didn't have mu... by Rory McIlroy

I just need to put up a better fight than I did, i didn't have much of a game that day.

Sawgrass and I didn't have the greatest relationship starting off, it's a massive win on a course( where) I've had mixed results. I had to show a lot of character out there. Any time I looked at the leaderboard I was pleasantly surprised I hadn't fallen two or three shots behind.

I'm just really proud of myself the way I played the last few hol... by Rory McIlroy

I'm just really proud of myself the way I played the last few holes.

I just need to keep seeing red numbers, i don't need a win. I'm not putting Rory McIlroy under pressure. Winning is a byproduct of doing all the things that I'm doing well.

It was just a perfect yardage to go ahead and be aggressive with. by Rory McIlroy

It was just a perfect yardage to go ahead and be aggressive with.

My Sundays haven't been what I would have liked but I'm putting myself in that position, good golf is good golf.

I can only control me, and I've played well. I've done what I wan... by Rory McIlroy

I can only control me, and I've played well. I've done what I wanted to do and needed to do.

Some weeks a guy just plays better than Dustin Johnson and that's exactly what happened this week, he was very impressive all-round this week and deserved to win.

It's fun, i'm glad you don't have to do it every week but while we're here might as well make the most of it.

Only shooting one-under yesterday on the south course, I knew I needed to go out and shoot something at least in the mid 60s to just make the cut, let alone get back in the golf tournament, so it was nice to eagle the first hole we played and it's always a bonus when you can hole a wedge shot as well. All in all a good round of golf and at least have a shot going into the weekend.

I'm committed to the journey of getting to a point where that's not a conversation anymore, so have just got to keep putting Rory McIlroy in those positions, i'm obviously playing good enough golf to get Rory McIlroy there( in contention).

Yes, you're going to miss some events you might want to play, it'... by Rory McIlroy

Yes, you're going to miss some events you might want to play, it's all about pacing yourself.

I think as you get older, it's natural instinct to become a little more careful, you take way more risks when you're a teenager... I just need to get back to playing the game like I was a teenager. Not be careful, not try to be too perfect. Not try to control things that you can't control. Just go out and play your game.

They have probably a couple of guys, but one in particular that they try to emulate who's back out here playing, and he's become a friend of theirs, a lot of these guys have gotten to know Tiger and being able to say, 'OK, this is what he does, we mightn't be able to achieve everything that he has, but we can at least try'.

I sort of learned to play the course a little bit better and reined myself in on some tee shots, and that's what's brought me a little bit of success here, once I started to be a little more conservative, I started to sort of top-10 it and give myself half a chance.