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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 3, 2017

James Hahn

Dublin, Ohio

Q. You guys are really good at what you do, but is it still pretty surreal to make ten birdies in a round?
JAMES HAHN: Yeah. I've done it before, but to do it on a course like this is a little surreal. I started off with an early bogey in my round and kind of calmed things down little bit. Anytime you make bogey, you go out and say, All right, I'm going to free it up. But once you made two, you go for the turkey. Three in a row. Four in a row is pretty cool. I had a two-putt birdie on my fifth birdie in a row, so those are always fun. I had a chance for six in a row, kind of lipped out -- didn't lip out, but it was an inch from going in on 8. And did it again on the back nine.

So those are fun. It keeps the round going, as long as you don't have a couple of bogeys in the middle of the strip, which unfortunately I closed it out with two birdies out of the last three.

Q. What was the feeling like on 16 when you got there?
JAMES HAHN: Well, golf is -- I guess any sport is very mental. Walking from 15 to 16, a little kid just kind of gave me a high five and said, "You're going to break the course record today."

I said, "Are you serious?" The first time we talked about it the whole day.

And I get there on hole 16, thought I hit a pretty good shot but the wind blew it to the right in the bunker. Hit a good putt, I don't know how that doesn't go in on 16.

17, two good shots. The wind pushed my ball to the right, misjudged the chip shot and made another bogey.

Those are the ones, it just happened to be a coincidence. But you never know what would happen if the little kid didn't call me out. It's almost like a baseball pitcher and guys saying, Hey, you're pitching a perfect game, did you know that? It's like, No.

He looked like 8, 9, 10 years old. Probably 12 years old. But it's all fun. We're here to entertain.

Q. What was the course setup like today?
JAMES HAHN: From what I can remember, it just all happened so fast, there were a lot of pin locations that were front. They were tucked, four off the right, three off the left. But you had a backstop. And if you had anything, a pitching wedge or below, you could bring it off the back slope. As long as you judge your spin correctly, you can hit it up there really close.

Fortunately, the front nine, it seemed like four out five birdies, I had birdie putts of two feet to four feet. I think my longest putt that I made was on the par-3, that was about 19 feet. But everything else was a little three- or four-foot tap-in. Those are always fun.

The back nine, same thing. I was hitting a lot of good wedge shots in there. Laid up for the par-5s. Went for the par 5 on the back nine, got up and down for birdie.

They're all in bowls, which if you short side yourself you're going to have a hard time getting up and down. But if you play smart and give yourself the right yardage, a chance of holing a few from the fairway.

Q. (No microphone.)
JAMES HAHN: Greens are getting firmer. The wind is blowing a little bit. It's swirling. There were a couple of times they're changing anywhere up to 90 degrees. It's going to play tough out there, especially 16, 17 and 18. The greens are firming up. Just to give yourself an opportunity for birdie will be a challenge coming down the stretch. But overall the greens are still soft enough to where you can spin back wedges. If you put yourself in the fairways, you can make a lot of birdies.

Q. Do you think you can do it two days in a row?
JAMES HAHN: Dufner did it. I haven't been this disappointed in a 7-under in a long time. So I'll dust it off, have a milkshake in the clubhouse. I'm playing well, so that's a positive for me, and we'll see what Dufner finishes off with the end of the day and see if I have a chance for this.

Q. (No microphone.)
JAMES HAHN: Yeah, I was 9-under -- it's just one of those things where you want to make as many birdies as you can out there.

And 16, I played it a little conservative. It's a tough pin location, especially with the wind swirling the way it is. So I played it smart. And then the wind pushed it in the bunker. I had a tough up and down. And hit a really good putt and unfortunately didn't go in. I lipped out the one on 16 and 18. So had those gone in, it would have been a little different. But overall the course is gettable, it really is.

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