Rory McIlroy was a guest this Monday on Brad Faxon’s SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio show, “Just the Fax”, where the Ulsterman discussed his recent WGC win, Tiger Woods’ Zozo victory, whether he found extra motivation from Koepka’s recent comments and more.

*All quotes courtesy of SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio

Beginning with his recent victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions, McIlroy contrasted his final two drives on the 18th hole on Sunday, the first in regulation which almost found the hazard, and the second in the playoff which was hammered right down the middle of the fairway.

According to the 30-year-old, the difference between the two results came from “staying a little more patient from the top of the swing” which allowed him to stripe one down the center in the playoff and which McIlroy credited as a “big moment” due to him teeing off first and allowing him to put pressure on Xander Schauffele.

Host Faxon mentioned his surprise when after a congratulatory text message he sent to McIlroy was responded to instantly while McIlroy was in the scorer’s tent following his playoff win. The 4-time major champ explained how if he doesn’t respond as soon as possible then it’s unlikely he will end up acknowledging every message received after a win, of which he claims to receive “around 100-150 messages” after a victory.

On Tiger Woods’ recent win at the Zozo Championship, McIlroy expressed his surprise at how Woods was able to win the event after seeing his game up-close at the Japan Skins match the previous Monday and also heaped praise on the 15-time major champion’s victory.

“Not at all (on if he saw Woods’ Zozo victory coming). Look we were all a little tired, we had just gotten there, but I did not, I didn’t see it. I mean, look, he’s Tiger Woods and everything, and he does things that other people just can’t do, but from what I saw on the Monday, I didn’t think that his game looked sharp enough to contend.

Whatever he did, he got it together for a few days, and that was some performance. I mean to play that good on that golf course, that was a pretty tough golf course. So to have control of his ball like that and to shoot -19, and win pretty easily in the end was awfully impressive.”

McIlroy stated how he plans to take a couple of months off this off-season where he intends to work on his tennis game. When the conversation swung around to Koepka’s recent comments, the Ulsterman explained how he did take extra motivation following Koepka’s remarks that McIlroy wasn’t a rival since he hadn’t won a major since he had been on Tour.

“I don’t think I’d be a competitor if there wasn’t extra motivation there. Look, I’ve said things in the media before, whether I’ve said them in a way where they didn’t come off the way I wanted to or, you know, you say some things. So I can get where Brooks was coming from, absolutely.

But yeah, of course, it gives me motivation when someone says something like, you’re not a true competitor if you don’t feel a little bit of something after that. Look, I’m good with Brooks, and I just want to let my clubs do the talking. I’ve been able to do that, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”

Asked whether he had received a text from Koepka following his win in China, McIlroy laughed and said “No” before the conversation turned to the Official World Golf Ranking.

McIlroy admitted that he bases much of his schedule on where the most OWGR points are on offer and how he uses the points on offer as motivation for when he finds himself out of contention on the weekend of an event.

The 30-year-old rounded off the interview with Faxon by saying he plans to play the week before next year’s majors when possible since it takes him “a couple of rounds to get going”, and revealed that Tiger Woods should “100%” pick himself as a playing-captain at next month’s Presidents Cup, calling it a “no-brainer” decision.

Brad Faxon’s radio show “Just the Fax” airs each Monday at 4 PM ET on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio.