Rory Mcllroy is a Northern Irish professional golfer who has been the world’s number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for more than a hundred weeks straight. In the first PGA TOUR of 2025, he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am finishing with a score of -21, beating Shane Lorry by two strokes. He was caught in a candid conversation after winning the tournament, where he spoke about his victory, his strategies while playing the game, and about his flourishing career as a professional golfer. 

MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Rory McIlroy into the interview room, our 2025 champion at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Rory, 27 victories on the PGA TOUR, and I know walking down the 18th at Pebble Beach will be a moment you remember for a long time. If we can get some comments on your victory.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, as much as I’ve hit a couple good tee shots down the 18th this week, I was excited to have a little bit of a cushion there so I didn’t have to hit driver again. Yeah, I think, look, coming to the last hole at Pebble with a three-shot lead and being able to enjoy it somewhat was really cool. It’s been a great week for a lot of different reasons, hole-in-one, playing Cypress for the first time, obviously getting a win. Yeah, it’s been — yeah, it’s been a really cool week. Obviously couldn’t wish for a better start for my PGA TOUR season. I’ve been on a nice run of form since last fall. I’ve played some really good golf and continued that into this year. Yeah, just obviously, as I said, just a great way to start the year.

MODERATOR: Third time Rory has won in his season debut on the Tour since 2021.

Q. Two questions. Congratulations, first of all. The significance of winning at Pebble, you certainly hear it with the major champs here, Nicklaus and Watson and Tiger, that the pedigree of that. What does that mean to you? Why is that important to you?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, look, I — there’s some venues in our game that just mean a little bit more than others and that’s probably to do with the history and the people that have — that have won on those courses and what those people have meant to the game of golf.

I’ve had a few close calls at St. Andrews, which is another one of those important venues in our game. Augusta National being another one, too. So to be able to get a win on one of those iconic venues is awesome.

It’s a very different test this week than what you would typically expect at a U.S. Open, so got to take it with a little bit of a pinch of salt. I finally feel that my game can travel to any sort of golf course in any conditions, in any setup really. I feel like I’m a very well rounded golfer and I can adapt to whatever I need to adapt to. I was able to show that this weekend, especially yesterday with those conditions.

Q. If I could ask a related question, I think you’re the first golfer in 20 years to reach 27 Tour wins since Phil. What does that mean to you? How — as you get into your mid 30s, how much do you think about history and sort of the significance of your career in the context of all-time greats?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, no, getting to that number is really cool. I think for me it’s even more meaningful that I don’t really play a full, full schedule on the PGA TOUR either. I spend my time between here and the DP World Tour. Yeah, I think I’m up over 40 or 40 worldwide wins, which is a pretty cool number. Yeah, absolutely, 27 is a cool number on the PGA TOUR. Hopefully I keep adding to that and break a 30 barrier at some point this year and keep going from there.

Q. You talked a lot about the bogey-free rounds and the desire to shoot more of those. How do you actually go about it when changes to your swing, course management, how do you shoot more bogey-free rounds?

RORY McILROY: I think there’s two parts to it, I think it’s strategy — sorry, I’m going to move this. Hate when my trophies get in the way. It’s strategy and picking more conservative targets at times, and maybe picking more conservative clubs off tees.

Then I think the big thing is obviously short game as well. I’ve alluded to it this week a little bit. My short game last year was a little up and down. I would have a good week, then I’d have a bad week. There wasn’t a ton of consistency in it. Those are — the up-and-down on 1 for example today, it’s a big up-and-down just to get things going. The up-and-down on 4, same sort of thing.

So yeah, it’s two parts. It’s the strategy, and I think every time that — I’m a big admirer of Scottie’s for a lot of different reasons, but every time I play with him and I watch how he plays and how disciplined he is, it’s a really cool thing to watch. And I’ve alluded to it this week, but honestly, just trying to take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.

Q. How much have you reflected on Scottie and how does that compare to how much you look at other players’ game and what impact does that reflection of Scottie have on how you go about the game now?

RORY McILROY: I think when one of your peers has the year like he had last year, and honestly the year like he had in ’23 as well, you start to take notice at what is he doing and what has — what has made him or helped him separate himself from the rest of the fields. To me, that’s those are the two big things that he does better than anyone else. It takes a certain mindset to do that, too. He’s not — you know, there’s impulses that I have on the golf course that it looks like Scottie doesn’t have and I have to — I have to rein those in and I have to try to be a little more disciplined about it and that’s what I’m trying to do.

Q. Really curious about this being an iconic place, there’s been lots of moments over the years of the wait on 18, and you had to wait maybe a good time playing behind Tom Kim. What is that moment like when you’ve got time on your hands and the trophy in hand, the scenery and everything?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it’s a double-edged sword because you can — I hit 5-iron off the tee and I started to think to myself, could I hit a 5-iron in the water? Should I have hit 6, should I hit 7?

But it is, it was nice to have the time to stand there and just honestly look at one of the most beautiful holes in golf and enjoy it, enjoy that stroll up 18 and not feel like there was too much pressure.

Honestly, like halfway up 18 I was just rooting for Shane to make 4 so he would finish second on his own. Yeah, it was cool to be able to have that and to share that with Harry as well. There’s a lot of people — I’m the one that gets to come up here and do this, but there’s a lot of people behind me and it’s nice to be able to share it with them, too.

Q. Secondly, everyone’s going to talk about the drive on 14. Nice to see you finally convert.

 RORY McILROY: Thanks, Doug.

Q. But is there another shot during the round that kind of told you that I’ve pretty good in control there?

RORY McILROY: A few of the iron shots. The 6-iron out of the fairway bunker at 10, the 7-iron off the tee on 12, those were two shots that — and even the little wedge I hit into 7, that was a tricky shot. That was a big one for me to make 2 there. Yeah, those — the wedge, the 6-iron and the 7-iron were big.

Q. Rory, we heard Xander even after his wins last summer talking about climbing his mountain towards the peak of Scottie Scheffler’s reign right now. You’ve obviously taken a leaf out of his book from a strategy perspective, but how motivating is it to want to unseat Scottie as world No. 1 right now for you?

RORY McILROY: You know, it’s not about that. If it so happens that I get close to that, then that would be cool, but this is just really about trying to get the best out of myself. That’s really it. I know if I can play to my capabilities and do what I did out there today a little bit more, the world rankings or the wins or whatever will really take care of themselves.

Scottie is and has been the best player in our game for the last couple years. I feel like I’ve been close but just not quite there. But that’s motivating, that’s motivating to try to get the best out of myself and yeah, try to become the best player in the world again.

Q. What does getting the most out of yourself mean to you?

RORY McILROY: Just doing the right things, doing the right things every day, being consistent, being disciplined, getting enough sleep, eating the right diet, doing the right amount of practice, recovering, making time for other interests in my life that can get me away from golf a little bit, too. You know, I think just all of that combined.

Purely from a golf perspective, just doing the little things right each and every day, then that adds up to some cool stuff.

Q. Rory, you said a couple minutes ago that you’re finally a complete golfer. I’m wondering when did you arrive at that and what were the missing pieces?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, maybe I should have rephrased that. Maybe not finally a complete — I don’t know if any of us should describe ourselves as complete because that means there’s nowhere left to go, there’s no improvement left and that’s certainly not the case.

I just think more that my game can travel, I can win on different venues, different tests, firm courses, soft courses, windy, calm, rain, long golf courses, short golf courses. I just, anything that I feel is thrown my way in the game I feel like I’m prepared to handle it, that’s what I meant.

Q. Is that something that you’ve discovered in the last few years?

RORY McILROY: I think so. Yeah, I think it is. I think — and I think it comes with age, it comes with experience, it comes with a little bit of maturity. Yeah, I feel like over the past few years I’ve been able to not get frustrated as easily at things that I can’t control, whether it be the golf course or the conditions or things like that.

Q. Rory, what’s the biggest challenge of getting back to your best on a consistent basis that you feel like if I get over this hump, or is it mental, physical, all of the above?

RORY McILROY: I think it’s a combination of everything. I think for me it’s always the mental side of it. That probably is the biggest barrier between me being good and being great.

You know, for the most part over the course of my career I’ve had the physical attributes and hit the ball long and been able to do things that maybe some other guys aren’t able to do, but it’s sometimes been my mind or my thought processes held me back a little bit.

Again, just going back to what Alan was saying, I think I’m much better equipped now to handle whatever is thrown my way.

Q. Rory, on your interview on the green you mentioned that you said to Harry coming off 18, start as you mean to go on. I’m wondering if you can expand on that and what that means to you and Harry.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, exactly what I said. This is the start of the season and I got a win pretty early and pretty convincingly and that’s what I want to continue to do.

Q. There were some frustrating losses last year. Being separated from them a little bit by time now, what have you reflected on those and what makes you optimistic for this year?

RORY McILROY: I mean, look, the one that I’ll come back to is the U.S. Open because it’s the one that hurt the most. Again, thinking of strategy and maybe those impulses that I talked about, hitting the right shot at the right time or being in a different place mentally, calming yourself down, using breathing exercises, whatever it is, I think the one thing that I did today really well is I didn’t get too flustered and it may — it certainly feels a little more boring to me. It might look a little bit more boring on the golf course, but it’s definitely more effective. That’s something that I’m consciously trying to do a little bit better of a job at.

Today was a good test and I was able to come through it pretty well.

Q. If you didn’t have those impulses earlier in your career, would you be the same player?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, that’s the thing, it’s — I think if I didn’t have the same impulses, people maybe wouldn’t like to watch me play as much, if that makes sense. I do feel that connection to the crowd of, you know, hitting certain shots or doing certain things that people get — I get enjoyment out of them too, but people watching get enjoyment out of it also.

But I also understand that that maybe isn’t the best way to consistently win golf tournaments. At this point in my career that’s what I want to do, I want to consistently win golf tournaments. Ten years ago with a three-shot lead on the 18th hole here would I hit 5-iron off the tee? Probably not. Just understanding the scenario and what I needed to do, it was a different case today.

Q. Any other temptations today?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, there was a couple. Driver on 4 maybe to get it up there, driver on 11. I laid back both times. Driver on 15 as well to get it up there, but with the front pin I thought I would maybe get it too close. I definitely made some more conservative choices off the tee.

Q. Lastly from me, things you want to accomplish before you’re done and dusted in this game, some are obvious tournaments but do you think more in terms of specific events or do you think numbers at all?

RORY McILROY: No, I’ve always felt like I’ll play for as long as I want to play and as hard as I want to play and whatever the numbers add up to, they’ll add up to. But to me, there’s specific things and specific tournaments that I would love to have on my CV when it’s all said and done.

MODERATOR: Rory, congratulations.

RORY McILROY: Thank you. Thanks, everyone.