>> rose: welcome to the program. tonight a conversation with the number one golfer in the world, pga champion, rory mcllory. >> not so many have backed it up with another one and i didn't want, i didn't want the persona of being content with, i want to be content with the game of golf. i had to prove i had the hungry to do more and win more tournaments. i've got my second, you know, enjoying the moment but i want

to get my third. when i get my third i want to get my fourth. that's just the way i have to e:os roryt. i >> rose: rory mcllory for the hour, next.

captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: rory mcllory from northern ireland, the number one golfer in the world was introduced to the sport at the age of 2 by his father. it's often that way with champions. this also, it was love at first site. a year later he was being honed in the family living room. as a junior he traveled the world to compete and he almost always won. he turned professional at 19 and three years later became the number one player in the world. he was the second youngest player to reach the top spot

trailing only tiger woods. now at age 23, he has won two grand slam titles, the 2011 u.s. open and the 2012pga championship. he won them both by combined 16 strokes. i spoke with him on monday and here is that conversation. we begin with this. what did it mean to you to win the pga? >> you know i always said that the second one would mean just as much as the first. the first is obviously going to be very special. we're only going to get to do it once. it's the first one. the second one i felt was very important. and i didn't think that i would do it in such a fashion in the way that i did. >> this is the all time victory at pga champion history. a record of seven. yes. the new ruler of the game of

golf, rory mcllory. >> but it meant a lot. especially it's not like i've struggled for a long time but i went through a period of a few, a couple months i hadn't played my best golf. >> rose: not even making cuts. >> yes not even making cuts. that's five tournaments which for me it's not where i want to be, it's not the place that i want to be. i don't want to be struggling to make the weekend golf tournaments. so to come back and play the way i did for those four days at the pga, it was very satisfying. >> rose: what was the difference between not making those cuts and walking down the 18th knowing you had the tournaments by a stroke. >> attitude. mental attitude was the difference between struggling in tournaments and struggling to make it and winning the major by eight shots. going out with the attitude of let's go ahead and enjoy this. for me that's the reason i play at the golf club was i loved it.

as a kid i just wanted to play golf. i sort of needed to rekindle that spirit a little bit and not let golf get, not let golf get to me as much. i enjoyed it. >> rose: what did you think you had to prove? >> you know, i always feel like a lot of guys have won one major and not so many have backed it up with another one. i didn't want, i didn't want, i didn't want the persona of being content with being, i want to be content with wife done in the game of golf. i wanted to prove i had the hungry to do more and i want to win more tournaments. i got my second major now and enjoying the moment but i want to get my third. hopefully when i get my third i want to get my fourth. that's just the way i have to treat it. >> rose: how is life at the third to be at the masters. >> i love it.

i mean the next major, it's eight months away which is going to feel like forever. but i love to get my hands on that. it will be one step closer to a career grand slam. something that i've never even thought of until a couple weeks ago. >> rose: it's amazing the last one you win at the british open was a career grand slam. >> it would be. i think it would be a lot of pressure to plan my home major and have so many people behind me to try to get it done there. but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. i still have to try. as i've said i've won my second one and i would love to get my hands on the third. >> rose: when you lost the masters on the back nine, a lot of people worried about what did it do to you. did you worry? >> no, i didn't worry. i was upset, i was disappointed how i handled the situation. you know, being full ahead going with the final day and having a

great chance doing a first major. it wasn't a nice feeling. but i took a lot from it. if i hadn't had that in 2011, i don't know if i would have gone to win the u.s. open the way it is or to win the pga the way i did. >> rose: what did it teach you. >> it taught me i had to be myself. i had to feel comfortable in my own skin. i was trying to be someone that i wasn't out there on that final day. i was trying to be so focused, so perfect, you know. that's not how i play golf. i play golf with a smile on my face. i play golf and happy. i love being out there. when i watched it back in agusta, my body language wasn't the same or the way it usually is. my head was down. i felt like my shoulders were slumped. i was very, i usually am happy, i'm looking up, i'm looking around at the crowd. i felt that's what i needed to

do to play my best golf. >> rose: the masters, they had an invitation to two female members. that's a big thing. >> it's a great thing, it's a great thing for golf, it's a great thing for agusta. i think it's something they probably should have done a while ago. it's great to see and it's great to see that they're moving with the times. things move forward and they are adopting to that. and hopefully the two that have been offered membership take it up. >> rose: i'm sure they will. >> i'm sure they will. it will be great to see some female members at agusta. >> rose: i assume this is just the beginning of it too. they wanted to do it on their own time. >> yes, for sure. and i think people have to respect that as well. it's such a club full of such tradition and such history. i'm sure making a decision like that, from the outside would seem easy but from the inside, i'm sure it was a lot more

complicated. >> rose: when you were coming down the 18th at the pga, knowing you had it wrapped, you were ahead by seven or eight strokes, what were you thinking? you knew you thought it was there. >> i was trying to look form on the walk. i remember congressional, i knew what he was wearing. i knew he would be somewhere on the left side of the 18th so i knew where to look for him. at the pga i didn't have a clue where he was. i was looking for him and didn't see him. it was my final putt i saw him at the back of the green and i looked over to him and he gave me this smile and i couldn't stop smiling. i nearly broke down into tears then. for some reason, i don't know why but i just had to tell myself to hold it together for one last putt and i was able to do it. >> rose: when you grabbed it, or he grabbed you. >> yes. that's when i've never never

ever been that emotional whenever i've won a golf tournament but for some reason i cried. the first thing he said to me was why are crying, stop cryin. i don't know what it was. i was overwhelmed. i was feeling a whole lot of things but it was a great feeling. >> rose: your dad and mom made a lot of difference in you becoming a golfer. they sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed. >> yes, they did. they sacrificed an awful lot. >> rose: two and three jobs each. >> two and three jobs for each. one worked night shifts in a factory not far from our home. dad had two or three jobs always from when i can remember. when i got home from school it was my mom that was there and then i'd have dinner and then she'd have to go out to work and my dad would come home and he would make the breakfast in the mornings and he would go off to work and my mom would come home.

so so many sacrifices, gave up on family holidays to let me go and play golf all around the world. >> rose: did they always believe this was possible. >> i'm not so sure. i've spoken to them about it a lot since i turned pro and since i've become quite successful. they always just said to me that they never wanted to ask themselves what if. what if we had a son or what if we could have taken him there. so they never did. they didn't want to have those regrets or have those questions. they wanted to give me 100% to me and behind me. >> rose: almost by the time you were 2 years old your dad had given you a plastic club. >> yes. golf was in our family. i grew up five minutes away from our home golf course, the golf club and my grandfather, my dad's father was a good player.

my dad's a good gorvel. he had brothers who were players. it was in the mcllory family. there's there club champions in holywood, my grandfather and my dad and me. it's always been in my family. >> rose: your father caddied for you until you were what 17 or 18. >> he caddied in all of my tournaments growing up. sometimes that relationship can get a little stressed at times especially a father wanting his son to do so well. and the son wanting to do so well for his father and everything else. and sometimes the relationship got a little strained. so we decided when i was about 17, his caddying days were over. i would go, i would be responsible for myself. >> rose: but he said you would turn pro when you were four with michael. >> yes.

michael is still my coach. michael has always been a close friend of the family. he was the pro at holywood golf club when i was growing up. i've never ever felt the need to have anyone else. he's always been there for me. he knows my swing better than anyone else in this world. he does a great job for me. i think the thing is he's known me for such a long time and he doesn't just know me as a golfer but knows me as a person and i think that's very important. >> rose: what is it that separates those that have the thing of greatness and those who would be good but not great? >> i think there's a number of things. i think the passion for the game is probably the most important thing. being in love with what you do. people will tell you, i probably practiced harder when i was seven years old than i do now. i was at the golf course for 12 hours a day. >> rose: just love the game.

>> just love the game, just love hitting the ball around. i spent every spare second i had at the golf course. for me, i felt like that's what made the difference because i've grown up with it and you holding the golf club for me is as natural as holding a knife and fork. >> rose: somebody said you would sleep with a club in your hands. >> i did, i had to. i can't remember which summer it was but it was maybe when i was eight or nine years old i had to change my grip. my grip had got very strong. michael told me to go to bed and grip the club the way i was supposed to and fall asleep with it. basically i slept for a few nights just with my hands on the golf club and fell asleep. changing your grip in golf swing is an awkward thing to do. i felt that was a good idea. >> rose: this win has restored you to the number one

player in the world. some say you're the dominant player. some say we will be getting the rory era. what do you say as to where we are? >> i think golf is in a transition period at the moment. from the late 90's to maybe a couple years ago when tiger was the dominant player. and he might still be the dominant player in the years to come but there's been an awful lot of different major winners in golf and parity among the field. it's a transitional period. i feel like the gap between the 100th player in the world and the number one player in the world has gotten very very small. that's why you see the different guys winning majors. and i'm just very happy to be a part of that group that has won

these majors over the most couple years. but i would love to sit here and say that this is the beginning of a dominant era for myself but all i can do is keep practicing, keep working hard and if i keep winning golf tournaments then maybe that will be the case. >> rose: it's a combination of the physical and the mental. you've got to have a mental to do it. >> for sure. >> rose: you have to be where you are now. >> you have to be obsessed, you have to thrive on it. thrive on the thresh. it's almost an addiction. winning golf tournament, feeling the buzz being in contention at the golf tournament, winning major championships. it's an addiction that you want to have and you want to keep. >> rose: one thing you're doing is you talk to people who have been here before like jack nicklaus. what did he tell you, what's the conversation? >> jack has, i've gotten to know jack very well over the past couple years.

the big thing that he always said to me and the thing throughout his career was preparation. he felt like if he could prepare better than everything else, then he had a better chance to win these tournaments. and he's the most successful player of all time. 18 major wins and professional major wins not including the u.s. amateurs. and he finishes in the majors as well. he just shows how consistent he was and what a dominant player he was for so many years. the big thing that he says in all the time is preparation. preparation is the key to success and it definitely was for him. >> rose: is there a difference now in expectation for you and does that add to the pressure. >> i definitely feel like there was a difference in expectation after i won the u.s. open last year. the congressional. and more expectation for myself. being a major winner, i felt like every time i turned out to these big tournaments, these

majors, i needed to contend. i wasn't letting it happen. i wasn't going out and just playing golf and trying to shoot a good score. i was putting so much pressure on myself, too many expectation. it would take me a while to deal with that, to handle it in the right way. and i feel like i'm starting to do that now. i'm starting to get used to coming into these majors as the easiest to win. >> rose: do you come expecting to win. >> i don't think you expect to win. >> rose: because the competition so is fierce. >> yes. i think you have expectations of having a chance to win. the expectations is putting yourself in contention. you know, it would be very arrogant of me to turn up to these tournaments the and expect to win. i expect to play well. >> rose: tiger would say especially at his best that he

expected to win. >> yes. but mentally i'm a little different than tiger in that way. i expect to play well. i expect to play to my ability. if i play to my ability then i'll have a great chance winning golf tournaments. >> rose: someone said observing how you and tiger, they said that your playing free. when you're driving a ball, there's a freedom about the way you're hitting it now. whereas tiger's hitting it almost as if it's his last ball. he's playing more conservative. that's the basic difference as to where the two of you are now. >> i'm not sure if i'm in the position to answer that in tiger's case. but in my case, i mean i've always played very free. i've always, i've always committed 100% to the shot and i feel like if i do that, even if i don't make a good swing it will work out in the end because i feel like if you play

negatively, it's not the way to win. you go out there and you got to be aggressive. that's the way i've always played golf. that's how i have fun on the golf course, challenging myself. hitting shots into tight pin or hitting drivers on tight holes. that's where i get the enjoyment. >> rose: like bubba watson. >> maybe somewhere in the middle. >> rose: it has now come to the point where if you're playing your best golf and tiger's playing his best golf going into the weekend you will prevail. that's where it's come they say. >> yes. that's, mm-mm. when you have a chance going into the weekend in the makes and haven't played particularly well. but at least he's had chances going into the weekend. the only chance i had this year was at the pga. and luckily or you know fortunately or just because i played better, i was able to

finish it off. but you know he still has given himself chances going into the weekend. i think if he just plays it better on the weekend he's going to start to really challenge these majors. >> rose: you think he will be back. if you look at his recent record, he will be back and challenging and he will win more grand slams. >> i think so yes. i think the way he's playing up close, he's definitely going to have a lot more chances to win majors. i think the best in the fields might keep him from winning as many as he did before. he'll definitely have chances. whether he'll win or not that's up for the bid and up to him whether he plays well enough. but he's definitely going to give himself chances. >> rose: harrington says you will be the first golfer to win 18 grand slams and tie jack and maybe win more.

would you please stop saying that you say to your friends. >> exactly. as i said at the start of the interview. when i want at the congressional i want to get my second. now that i got my second i would love to get my third. when i get my third i would love to get my fourth. >> rose: that's the only way you can do it. >> i don't want to put a number on it. i don't want to put a number on it and not get that number at the end of my career and be disappointed. because if i set a number at ten and i get to nine and i'm disappointed with a nine major career it's stupid because a nine major career is one of the best in history. and i don't want to put a number to try and live up to because all i want to do is win the next one. >> rose: what's your game today, your driving. >> driving is pretty g it's one of the points in my game. i felt i definitely gained some distance in the past year in

driving the ball. >> rose: how many yards. >> most of the time in the fair way. >> rose: most of them in the fairway. at the pga you had a wide fairway. >> yes. >> rose: and a wet ground too. but you were driving some pretty good players by 40 or 50 yards. >> yes. i think i've picked up 10 or 15 yards this year. >> rose: how did you do it. >> going to the gym, getting stronger. i feel like i put a new driver in the bag a few weeks ago which is a bit of difference as well. >> rose: new clubs. >> yes, new clubs. lighter shocks gives me more club head speed. but i think the big difference is going to the gym and getting stronger. >> rose: how about your short game. >> my short game is probably the most interesting part of my game. i think you saw a couple weeks ago when i did get myself in trouble i was able to get it up and hold putts at the right times. i think i got eight out of eight

times in the last draw. it definitely, what was a weak part of my game is i've become one of the strong else. >> rose: in putting though is the thing for you. >> yes. putting i think was everyone saw how my putting, you know, completely that last day in agusta and in 2011. and the transformation from then until now has been huge. the work i've done has been tremendous. >> rose: you've given him credit. >> yes. he's made a lot of difference. it wasn't just the technique about just the mental change, routine. he's made a huge difference to me. he's freed everything up. made it so much more simple. i was thinking about it too much, getting caught up in technique, getting caught up. you said earlier that tiger might be swinging tight. i was putting tight. i wasn't letting it go. i wasn't letting it flow. and that's been the biggest

difference. and he's definitely helped me to do that. >> rose: some people have said one of the problems you had before was missing putts that were within six feet. that that had been the thing that sort of kept you from being better than you were. >> yes, for sure. and i realized that. and i realized especially after agusta that i had to do something different. i had to just get some fresh ideas. >> rose: people have talked about how fast you can turn. one of the fastest in the game. is that anatomical or is that simply having done it so long or is it something else? >> i think it's simply i've done it for so long. i've swung a golf club since i was two years old. and i trained, i never tried to turn my hips that far, i never tried to do this move with my hips that everyone talks about.

it's something that's completely natural. something i've had since the beginning, since i started to play. >> rose: so you never gone out and said if i want to get 50 more yards on my drive, i got to turn my hips faster. it was just there for you. >> it was just there. it occurred naturally for me. if i hit the ball a little harder, the thing with my hips would just happen. i would never think about it, i would just think about hitting the ball a little harder. the hips just turn a little bit faster. >> rose: there's also this thing called visualization. you see the course. >> yes, i see, i think visualization is something that is very important to me. i visualize the shot. i need to see the shot in my head before i hit it. see the putt, see the chip. i really need to see the flight, to see, you know. i would be very, i'm a very visual person. i have to see something to really -- if i'm working on my

swing i have to see it on video. because seeing it for me is what makes it, what makes it real. what makes it. >> rose: it is said that the best golfers can always see their swings in their mind's eye. they know exactly where to club it at every moment. true. >> i think so. for me definitely. >> rose: you can tweak it. >> you can tweak it and that's something i've worked with my coach michael with for a long time is sometimes i'll swing the club with my eyes closed just to get the feeling of where you want the club to be. so it's something i've done for a very long time. >> rose: anything you need to work on? >> everything. >> rose: everything. >> i have to keep working hard, trying to improve. there's no point in being complacent or being satisfied with what i've done in the game. i want to achieve a lot more in this game. i just have to keep working hard. if i can improve every aspect of my game 1% every year, i would be very very happy.

>> rose: the mental game that is so crucial, your father, for example, was not at the masters. but he was at the u.s. open. you had breakfast with him. he was at the pga. you had breakfast with him. >> yes. >> rose: it may not be your father's presence but something can add to how you go out that first to hit the ball. >> yes, for sure. >> rose: if you hit it well, it will affect the rest of the game that day. >> yes, definitely. i think just being comfortable. i've always said if i'm happy and i'm content off the course, then i need to play my best golf on the course. maybe having my dad around these big tournaments is a kind of influence helps in some way. i will say definitely it helps in some way. it's not just a coincidence i've won two majors while he's been there. it's great to have him around and great to have his, just his company. because he can say things to me that anyone would say.

but coming from him, it just means that little bit more. >> rose: you know he will tell you truth. >> exactly. >> rose: there's also this. when you were going through that lull that his mind is somewhere else. it's like winning tennis tournaments he may be watching because of the relationship with caroline. but you had said in a very possible bay by winning the pga they were wrong. is that some way part of your mental attitude i'm going to show them that meantly i'm as sharp as i can be and whatever social activities or relationships i have had nothing to do with how i'm playing the game. >> yes, definitely. i don't think i could have answered the criticism or the scrutiny in any better way. you know, i felt at that time during that low point if you want to call it that during the year, people were thinking of

excuses to make for me for a while. they came up with, you know, me traveling all around the world too much or spending too much time with caroline. i just myself and my team knew what it was. a slight swing change here or there, a little bit of a mental adjustment. not getting so frustrated or down on myself for playing badly. that's all i needed just that little change. it had nothing to do with where i was or what i was doing when i was away from the golf course. it was very much what i was doing on the golf course that was the problem. and you know, i think i answered that at the pga. >> rose: you could also argue having some balance in your life would make you better. >> oh, for sure. i'm a big believer in that. i'm a big believer that as i said before, if you're happy and content off the golf course it will allow you to play your best

on. and i'm very, i couldn't be happier with the position i'm in life with what i've got, everything i've ever wanted. i've got a great family, a great girlfriend, a great support team around me. as i said, i couldn't be happier. >> rose: when you go out to beth page to practice, i assume you're going to practice. >> yes. >> rose: what are you going to work on, what are you going to do. what's practice for you other than playing 18 holes. >> definitely i haven't played beth page since 2009 so i have to refamiliarize myself with the golf course, i will play it tomorrow and on wednesday also. and just get a feeling again, get a, sometimes certain shots, certain courses, i'll figure out what way i'm going to play it,

how i'm going to improve the course and i will work on that in the rings. i will again do visualization. visualize the first tee shot. i'll visualize that in my mind. sometimes i'll go all 18 holes playing the different shots i need to play. >> rose: tiger will be in your group at the beginning. >> yes. >> rose: you, tiger and someone else. >> johnson. >> rose: is it inspiring, challenging because he was such an inspiration to you when you were growing up. you knew every match he played, what he was like on the back nine for him when i was playing in the u.s. amateur and followed everything he did. >> for me just to play with tiger is a dream come true. ha ha. you know, i've actually struck up a really good relationship with him over the past couple years. to be able to play alongside your hero and then to compete

against him as well is not many people in life get to do that. i'm very fortunate that i'm living my dream. and i feel he brings out the best part of me with the challenge, the challenge that i really want to accept and i really want to do well because for me he's my idol, he's the best player i've ever seen. and if i can grow up against him and compete and come out on top sometimes, it would be great. >> rose: what's the difference in your game and his game? >> i'm a little freer. i don't have as many -- tiger's still going through changes so he has a lot of thoughts going through his head. it's where the club needs to be. and my, the thing with michael and myself, we have foundations for my swing when i was 16 years old. so anything i need to do with my swing is just a slight tweak or slight adjustment here or there.

and tiger needs to do his swing three or four times. >> rose: he rebuilt his swing too. >> yes, that's true, that's true. so i think that's, you know, i nearly play golf with less thoughts in my head. i think maybe the difference, i can't know for sure because i'm not inside tiger's head, i'm not sure what he's thinking. >> rose: do you talk about it when you're playing? >> no, not particularly. not particularly. but we have had good conversations about it in the locker room and over lunch and stuff. it's great to talk about the golf swing. and he's so knowledgeable, he knows everything. >> rose: do you know anybody who knows about a golf swing. >> no. he's no knowledgeable about the game, it's incredible. >> rose: he said a couple years ago you were going to be the best. he saw in you, in your swing to have the potential to be where you are today and said so.

he's also paid you an ultimate tribute he said you're an improve, you're a guy that's getting better. he seems to admire that most in people he seems to admire. >> as i said, if i can improve if i try to keep getting that little bit better. even if it's a gradual progression. i don't think there is a huge jump for me but just to keep trying to get a little bit better every year. that's what i want to do. >> rose: so many champions have come from outside the united states in terms of winning the last majors. what's going on in northern ireland? what's going on in europe. >> i think we've all inspired each other. i missed the cut at pebble beach and i had home and i was sitting in my living room at 3:00 in the

mork watching pebble. that inspired me. that made me believe i could win because i played so much. >> rose: you played with him so many times and if he can do it i can do it. >> because i've beaten him before. and i had that attitude to the next two majors i had a chance to win. i didn't quite win them but i finished third at the british open and i finished third at the pga. that really, at pebble really made me believe i could be a major champion too. and then the next year i go and i win the u.s. open and i think winning the u.s. open a little kid he's known since i was 12 years old he's probably thinking if that little boy can do it then so can i. so i think we all just inspired each other and i think it's been great for the game, great for the people back home. and the people in northern ireland have been nothing but supportive for all of us. >> rose: you have the national heroes.

>> yes, we are. >> rose: that means something. >> it does. it means an awful lot. >> rose: this is a country, so many people know so many people. they have been in some way affected by conflict which now seems to be resolved. >> yes, of course. and to see, to be able to bring people together because of the sport you play or because of the tournament that you're in is a great feeling. >> rose: what do you do when you're not playing golf? >> i try to -- >> rose: do you play tennis. >> i play a little bit. not too much because the last thing caroline wants is after being on court four hours a day going to hit with me. >> rose: you have struck up a friendship with roger federer. >> yes, i've gotten to know the players over the last couple years. roger, novak. >> rose: do champions have something? what's the common denominator? is it the will to win. >> i think it's the belief. people say they believe but actually it's not belief, it's

knowing. knowing that you are going to win. >> rose: so we talked about influences on your game. clearly you've been playing this game for a knowledge lo time and clearly you got the swing and the mental thing. clearly you've won andé,xgiven . clearly you leaed the lessons of mazer. caroline also has played a role in this. >> yes. she's been motivational and spending time with her over the past 14 months or whatever it is and seeing how hard she works, seeing her work ethics, golfers think they work hard and you spend time with these guys and it's incredible. i mean they're on the court for four hours a day plus an hour and-a-half gym session. it's impressive. day after day. no wonder you see the guys are tired at the age of 28 or 29. if i was working that hard, i don't think i would be able to

go past 30 either. she's been hugely motivational for me. >> rose: and especially working hard in fitness. >> yes, for sure. caroline is probably one of the fittest players on the tour. she takes her fitness very seriously. being around her and having that great influence is definitely good for me. >> rose: is the masters course hard for you, harder than say pebble beach or the ocean course. is there something about that course because of the greens being so fast and so -- >> agusta is different. agusta is definitely different. >> rose: in every way. >> it challenges you to play so many different shots. sometimes you can get to the golf course where if you're not comfortable hitting a certain shot you don't need to because you can get away with it but at agusta you can't. it challenges you in every

aspect of your game. the thing about agusta is you've got these big massive greens that are undulating and going every way and you have a tough par or you got a tough time getting it close to the hole. i feel like it's the ultimate test. >> rose: you must feel you already mastered that, that course because but for the back nine on the final day, you would be the holder of three. >> yes, for sure. i definitely feel like i can play agusta and i can play well. i was in the top three going into the weekend this year and had a bad weekend. and i knew how to play agusta. i do. i know how to play well i know how to shoot a loose score. i think for me the big thing is

agusta means, the masters means so much. it probably means more to me than any other major does. and i think that in itself brings some pressure. and i feel that's going to be the one that if i can get my arms on that green jacket then that's, because you see so many iconic figures in this game that have worn that jacket. it's probably the most iconic place that we have in golf. to win there would be, it would be the ultimate achievement. >> rose: it somehow has a mystique others do, the british open. >> yes, the masters. >> rose: the matters is it. >> the masters is it. >> rose: the course, the history, what else. >> the course, the tradition, the history just the images you

see. the fork -- folklore behind it is different from any place we play all year. >> rose: you look at the history of golf. who inspires you, who do you look at and say here's a story. >> i think all of them have got their unique great story. probably the best athlete to play the game, everybody talked about his swing and how athletic he was. even his swing today would be viewed as one of the best. and someone like ben hogan who worked unbelievably hard who had his own aura, his own mystique around himself. >> rose: the will to win. >> the will to win. he just, i think he created it around himself and people were scared of him in a way. and then you go on a few years

and you have arnold palmer and jack nicklaus and tom watson. they have their own unique stories. arnold was the love of the people and jack came up and challenged him. golf has so many of these great stories and i think that's what makes it just a wonderful game. >> rose: would you change anything about the game? >> i would change a few of the rules about the game, yes. i think some rules are very ... golf is, th etiquette of golf is played on honesty and integrity. what happened to peterson at the first hole a couple weeks ago. he wasn't trying to gain any advantage by moving on his back swing but the rules in golf say that by doing that he created a penalty. to me that's not right because he's not trying to gain an advantage. it's an honest mistake. it's something he didn't even know happened and he gets a two

shot penalty for it. i think that's very harsh. >> rose: it also can be luckily because you had a ball in a tree and couldn't find it. >> no. >> rose: what were you thinking? >> as i worked with this ball, you know, it's gone straight towards this tree. no one in the galley sees it. they don't know if it's on the right or left. i was very lucky because if i wasn't playing the final grips or the final grip, the tv cameras might not have seen it so i might have went back to the tee and instead of making a par made a double bogie. >> rose: change everything. >> it can change everything in the first two holes. making that par after i hit the ball in the tree, it was such a momentum. it gave me so much momentum to build on for the rest of the round. >> rose: anything about this game that you like being in trouble just to see if you can get out of trouble?

>> yes, definitely. not as much as bubba watson but i like the challenge. again if you're in the tree and trying to just see a shot or visualize a shot. like bubba's attempt at agusta. >> rose: could you have hit that shot or was it the shot of the left hander. >> i think it was the shot of a left hander. you could hook the ball instead of slice. if you were a left hander you could have hit it but you still have to execute the shot. >> rose: if he had to do it ten times could he execute it nine times. >> i think he could, yes. he's got that much talent. i think he could do something that like. he's got a hand. you can see him hit the ball. >> rose: what is it that you see that amazes you when bubba hits the ball. the hands. >> yes. >> rose: he uses more of his hips. >> yes. >> rose: he's almost like mac

mackenroe plays tennis. >> there's no shot -- that's because that's how he grew up playing the game. >> rose: at the course there's a lot of wind. you were driving right into the wind and your ball was almost floating on the wind, right. >> yes. >> rose: tell me how you saw that because a lot of people were doing everything they could to avoid it including not using their driver often. >> that friday was very windy. the scoring average was over 70 at shots. i came off the course shooting 75 thinking i had done very very well and a couple of guys shot under par under conditions. anything around 75, 74 that day was good.

i have gotten in a trouble in a wind before at the british open i got blown away and i made a couple of stupid comments last year in the open not liking to play in bad conditions. but it was a challenge i realized. i wanted to go out there and see what i could do in that wind. i played well. i salvaged. i was four over three in 13 holes and played the last five holes under par which was great. i think that was the most important day for me at the pga because that's the day that you could have shot yourself out of the tournament and i kept myself in the tournament so it was very important for me to do that. >> rose: are you thinking that when you're on the course. don't let myself go crazy here. >> yes, definitely. you're thinking if you can just keep it around a sensible score because you knew that everyone else was struggling there too. and there's no point in getting frustrated at the conditions or frustrated because you've had an

unlucky break here or there, the wind's taking your ball more than you thought it would. you have to knuckle down and fight and fight for 18 holes until you get to the end. >> rose: do you pay attention to what are the people doing. are you looking at the board all the time. >> not all the time. on the last day i didn't. the last day i glanced at it a couple times to see what was going o that early in the tourna many there's no point in looking because there's still so much golf left to play. >> rose: what does a caddy do for the number one player in world? >> i think the biggest thing for me, i worked with jp for quite a long time now. we trust each, i trust his decisions. and he trusts mine. if we disagree about something, a club or decision, you know, ultimately the decision comes down to me. he says if you're comfortable with that, you go with it 100%. we have a good understanding. a caddy's not just pulling the

right club or giving you wind direction or redirect the putt. it needs to be, you're spending six, seven hours a day with a caddy. you have to be competable, you have to like each other. you have to get on well and be friendly. you're spending more time with your caddy than you are with nearly anyone else. and sometimes the relationship can get a little strained or you hit the wrong club. but i think the most important thing in a caddy is that you have a good relationship with them and you trust them. >> rose: when you disagree about club selection do you go if you go with three and he wants you to go with a driver. >> sometimes. it really depends. it depends sometimes he'll say seven and i don't think i will be able to hit it far enough to get it there so i'll say six or,

but the thing i don't like is if he says i really think it's a seven iron and i really think it's an eight but i go with the seven and end up hitting a bad shot, i get very annoyed. but i don't mind. if i take the eight iron because it's my decision and i hit a bad shot i don't mind because it's on me. it's my call, you know. but if i go with the club that he decided and then i hit a bad shot, that's one of my pet things. >> rose: when tiger won the masters and went on that run in 2001, 2002, 2003, a remarkable run, probably nobody's ever seen anything like it in golf have they. >> i don't think so. i think he won six or nine or something. >> rose: everybody asked him -- asked you and asked him, half of the characterization with you always was about tiger and half of the conversation with tiger is about you.

they said to him, what can he do now, you, number one having won two majors the youngest ever to do that. and he said just do it. you know what that means. >> yes. >> rose: you just got to go out and do it. there's no magic formula to do it. >> no. definitely not. i think the thing is as well it's all well and good saying these things or people saying he's got the potential to win the career grand slam or to do this or to do that. it's all well and good but you have to actually go out and do it. you can't go through life people talking how good you can do. you have to go out and achieve these things. i obviously want to achieve them. i want to win more majors and win more golf tournaments and be the number one player in the world for a long time. but you know i realized that all that's said, that's all it is is just words but i have to go out

there and try and live up to these words because i want to live up to my own expectations but i've got to go out and do it. if i want to achieve something i've got to go out and do it and there's no set way. you go out and try your best. >> rose: what don't most of us, those that play golf, even those that don't who watch it on television not understand about the level that you play at? >> i think you have, a golf tourna many is quite a long time, seven days, 47 holes. the great ones are a able to keep it consistent throughout that. of course you're going to have players that can come and shoot a great run, a great 18 holes. but there's a lot of times you see someone shoot a great score but they're not able to follow it up with another one. that's what the great players do. whenever they keep playing well they keep playing well and they keep their foot to the pedal and

they keep going. i could stand next to a very talented guy on the range and we could hit the ball and it could look exactly the same but once you get into the competitive environment, that's when things change. >> rose: my pro said to me as i was just hitting balls a couple days ago, he said rory couldn't hit a seven iron better than that. >> rose: i said the problem is rory can hit a seven iron like that every time he goes out. >> that is the difference. that is the difference. anyone can hit a seven iron and hit it, you know. but it's been able to do it time after time. and being strong enough mentally the last seven to two holes, it's a long time. it's definitely more a marathon than a straint golf tournament. >> rose: there's something to be said starting early and knowing what you want to do and having joy in it. that's what happened to you. you became a champion because you wanted to be in the life of golf. >> yes, it was.

and that's why i picked up the club in the first place because i love the game. and i wanted to, i realized that i had a talent at the game. i just wanted to play golf. when i played more golf, i became better. >> rose: in the end it was you. >> it was me. >> rose: not your father or your mother or your pro, it was you. >> it was me the whole way. my dad will tell you, i was a nightmare child bringing them to the driving range every night. >> rose: every night. >> every night, yes. if he, he always tells the story on a sunday night, it will be his day off or his evening off from work because he had two or three jobs. he just want to sit there and relax one night a week just to relax and chill out. i would be the one dragging him to the driving him to the driving range in the snow. he always said to me rory just it's one night, just let me

relax and i would always say to him but don't you want me to get better. i would give him that line every time. i wanted to go to the driving range. >> rose: how do you pay back for all that. >> hopefully by what i'm doing. i'm winning tournaments and i'm playing well but hopefully the way i portray myself to everyone, i think my mom and dd are more proud of that than they are about my achievement on the golf course. >> rose: i think they've said that. >> i want them to be more proud because i try to do the right thing all the time and i think they brought me up that way. that's the thing that i would like them to remember most about me. >> rose: so he comes to the pga, he comes to the u.s. open. she's at home watching on television. when are you going to get her to come. >> well she said to me, why don't you win any time that i'm there. so i don't know, hopefully it

will happen very soon. my mom and dad love going to the masters so maybe next year both of them can be there to share. >> rose: thank you so much. >> thank you.