Quotes of the Week: McIlroy critiques USGA, PGA Tour

“I never counted him out. When somebody said, ‘How is your [major] record, Jack?’ I said, ‘If Tiger comes back and plays I still think he’s got a shot at breaking my record.” – on whether or not he believes Tiger Woods can still reach 19 major wins

“Time flies when you’re having fun or sometimes when you’re not having fun, too. I don’t think Tiger’s had a lot of fun the last 10 years. I would hate to have been through what he’s been through, because he’s been through a lot. But I think that he is a tough competitor, he’s a hard worker, and he’s still driven.” – on Woods’ physical and personal struggles

“He’s been away from the game and while he was away all these young kids have come along and learned how to play and learned how to win. And had the experience of winning and believe they can play. He doesn’t have the fear factor that he had when he was playing, because those kids, look, oh, here comes Tiger, and they all folded up their tents and went home. Well they don’t fold up their tents anymore because they have all learned how to win and learned how to play.” – discussing how the game has changed in Woods’ absence

“Sitting two weeks after the PGA Championship and two weeks before the U.S. Open, I can’t imagine anybody who really is serious about wanting to win the U.S. Open not being here. “The Memorial tournament sits in a great spot.” – on his tournament’s place in the revamped PGA Tour schedule

“Of course I want to play. I want to play as a player, I haven’t played in a while. I have a lot of work to do between now and then to be a part of the team as a player. … I know that the players and the [vice] captains wear different outfits as part of the Ryder Cup and I would really like to screw that up.” – on wanting to fill a dual role as a player and vice captain at the Ryder Cup

“Well, I was at 11 under par and I had wasted a bunch of shots the last two days, and I was 4 over par in the first round. So you do the math.” – when asked if he thinks his game is good enough to win (that was a yes)

“They’ve made some pretty significant changes since the last time that I had seen it. I believe there’s over 500 trees that are gone since last time I played it. They added 500 yards to it. So it’s quite significant.” – on his recent visit to Shinnecock Hills ahead of the U.S. Open

“See, I think the USGA thinks that we’re better than we actually are, if that makes sense. I think they overthink it. I don’t want to single out Mike Davis here, I think it’s a collective thought process. They sort of, I don’t think it should be as much of an exact science to set up a golf course as it is. I mean, get the fairways sort of firm, grow the rough, put the pins in some tough locations but fair, and go let us play. … I think they have to take previous results out of their head and just say, ‘OK, let’s set up this golf course as best we can and just let the guys go play.’”” – on the USGA’s annual course setup at the U.S. Open, which he called “very reactionary”

“[It] sort of backfired a little bit. … I mean I don’t mind playing with the top guys in the first two days, but the objective is to get those top guys in contention on Sunday. So we’ll see if it works out or not over the next few weeks. But I get why they’re doing it, and I get why it creates a bit of a buzz at the start of the week. But I would rather see Rickie and Phil and Tiger play on a Sunday rather than on a Thursday and two of them going home. … There’s just so much buzz and hype around the group on a Thursday or Friday when there doesn’t really need to be. And that could affect some players.” – on the Tour’s decision to create and promote marquee groupings, particularly at The Players

“I’m already nervous. I feel like every time I walk by one of those guys, they are going to look at me like, `Why the heck are you here? What are you doing here?’ Hopefully, they are really nice. … “It will be cool. Hopefully, a lot of people come out and follow and cheer for me, because I’ll need a little extra support that week.” – on accepting a sponsor’s exemption to play the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship

“I ended up staying up late enough to where I waited to refresh it and saw it. And it was pretty cool. Seeing every other golfer in the world behind my name was a pretty fun thing.” – on staying up late and taking a screenshot of his name atop the Official World Golf Ranking