Rory McIlroy Players Championship Press Conference: Live Updates

On being more open to fan-engagement experiences

“Yeah, so to me, like this is the problem with a members’ organization. Things are created for the members. Then once those things are created, you’ve got to go sell those things to fans, sponsors, media. 

“To me, that seems a little backwards. I think what needs to happen is you need to create things for the fans, for the sponsors, for the media, and then you have to go sell that to the players, tell them to get on board with that, because if they get on board and we’re all part of the business now, if the business does better, we do better. That seems pretty simple to me.”

On winning everything but that next Major in the past decade – does the pressure or frustration build up?

“It does, but then at the same time, I look at my record in the majors over the last couple of years, and I’ve definitely started to perform much more consistently in them.

“Look, I’m under no illusion that the clock is ticking and it has been 10 years since I’ve won one of them, and I’ve had chances, and those just haven’t went my way. I just need to keep putting myself in those positions, and sooner or later it’s going to happen.”

On being a past winner

“Yeah, fortunately, there’s not many places I go now where I’m not a past winner, so it’s nice.”

McIlroy’s Players Championship debut

It’s hard to believe, but McIlroy made his debut at The Players in 2009 – missing the cut. He failed to play the weekend in his first three appearances before chaining a hat-trick of consecutive top-10s together between 2012 and 2014.

In a previous Players Championship press conference, McIlroy shared the story of how his first experience of this tournament went from bad to worse even after he’d stopped playing.

That’s all from Rory this morning

The 2019 champ has made his exit. He’s off to prepare and hopefully set himself up for a strong week.

What can the fans look forward to?

SSG are going to invest in the on-site experience of the coming years. Having it being more of an event. A bit like Formula 1. Creating more events like that, not saying it’s going to be like the Phoenix Open every…