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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 27, 2017

James Hahn

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Q. 6-under, no cameras out there, you teed off so early. Nobody even saw you shoot 66.
JAMES HAHN: Yeah, that's a little unfortunate, but I saw it and it was really good. Made a lot of birdies out there. It was fun.

Q. Conditions were soft this morning, and they have been soft all week compared to last year?
JAMES HAHN: Yeah, I played in the Pro-Am yesterday at two o'clock and the greens were starting to get firm. Coming out this morning, greens were soft, so I knew after the first hole that we could kind of fire at flags and not be worried about balls going over the green. Took advantage of the first couple holes.

Q. Every week you have a new swing thought, every week you're going on YouTube, whose swing are you trying to channel this week?
JAMES HAHN: Actually on Tuesday, I just woke up, and I've been hitting this draw, nice beautiful draw all season. I woke up Tuesday and just wanted to hit a fade. So I've actually been YouTubing Charl Schwartzel's swing, very beautiful.

Q. Played good earlier this year and you said you were doing Trevor Immelman's swing. So it's a South African theme?
JAMES HAHN: Yeah, this one's a little different. Charl is playing over in Germany this week. I saw him on TV this morning, and I was like, that's a sign. I kept rolling with it and hit a fade all day today, maybe one draw on the whole course, and turned all right.

Q. Will that make all four rounds?
JAMES HAHN: No, absolutely not. I don't even know if it will last till tomorrow. It just depends on who they show on TV, and we'll see how Charl does today and we'll figure it out.

Q. What are the holes out here that you have to take advantage of, the par 5s?
JAMES HAHN: Definitely the par 5s. The back nine, the three par 5s, you have to go get them. I feel like the par 3s, if you play them even this week, you're doing all right. I think I played them 1-under today. You know, the par 5s will get you the momentum that you need to take advantage of the par 4s.

Q. Do you feel like you're ready to win again?
JAMES HAHN: Absolutely.

Q. Seven birdies, one bogey on the card, 66. Solid round out there. Your thoughts on how you played?
JAMES HAHN: Solid. I made a little swing adjustment early in the week and went from hitting a nice draw to a fade. I felt like the course suited a fade, a person who fades the ball off the tee. Really had no expectations out there. I had no idea how I was going to play or where I was going to miss it but turned out all right.

Q. A lot of guys make hay on the back nine with the par 5s. You shoot 31 on the front side. That was a strong finish for you.
JAMES HAHN: It was a great finish. I was playing with Charley, and he shot 4-under on the front nine, I believe. But he took advantage of the par 5s.

We had a little bit of rain on 16 and 17. So wasn't able to get there in two on 16. And then on 17, hit in the left bunker and didn't get up-and-down.

Definitely had a couple good opportunities on those holes. But there's 18 holes; you don't need to birdie all the par 5s to shoot 6-under.

Q. Your thoughts on the setup and what the guys in the afternoon will be facing?
JAMES HAHN: The course is set up pretty easy today. Not just saying that because I shot 6-under, but I felt like there were a lot of front pin locations. Even the back pin locations were gettable. I feel like if you hit your drive in the middle of the fairway, you're having an 8- or 9-iron in and you don't have to worry about the spin. It's not spinning back so much. I feel like 8-under is a possibility out there. I feel like I left a couple out there, one bogey, and a couple birdie putts on the front nine.

All in all, there's going to be a lot of low scores today.

Q. When you can put together an opening round like that, how does that suit the rest of the week?
JAMES HAHN: It suits me very well. I like getting off to a good start. I feel comfortable with the lead. I've made a lot of birdies out there. Most importantly, made a little swing change earlier in the week and I'm hitting the ball pretty good, a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. So that's kind of a good combination on this course.

Q. Take us through that swing change. What exactly were you working on?
JAMES HAHN: I've been hitting this draw all season, and decided to just hit a fade. I was kind of getting bored with the draw and missing them left.

I just felt like this course suits a person who fades it off the tee and just decided, one day, I woke up, hey, I'm going to start cutting it.

Q. You decided to wear white pants and white shoes, you got through that and you put together a solid round. How was the course playing out there with that rain?
JAMES HAHN: It was definitely soft. We had a lot of rain last night, a lot of rain this morning. Even during our round, I felt like the greens got a little softer and fairways a little softer. But the course is definitely gettable. You're hitting a lot of 8- and 9-irons into greens. You don't have to worry about them spinning back. So I feel like there's going to be a lot of good scores out there.

Q. Your round, how did you feel about it?
JAMES HAHN: I felt really good about it. One bogey, any time you make one bogey on the golf course, I feel like I'm picking up a couple strokes. Made a lot of good swings out there off the tee, hit a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of opportunities. But I felt like the birdie putts that I had were all five to six feet, maybe seven feet. Didn't make any long putts. But I just hit them close.

I felt like I didn't have to worry about the balls bouncing a lot on the greens and the ball spinning back. Just had perfect numbers all day and ended up making a lot of birdies.

Q. You touched on this already but the weather is playing a factor with softer greens. How much did the rain affect things this morning, and what do you expect for tomorrow, which should be drier?
JAMES HAHN: Well, as far as my round, I felt like the greens are already soft to begin with. Fairways are in perfect condition. You don't have to worry about getting mud on your ball but during our round, the rain came down, probably about four holes. It just happened to be on our front nine, which is the back nine of the golf course, and wasn't able to get to 16 or 18 in two.

18 I hit in the left bunker and didn't get up-and-down. But 16, it just felt like, you know, it cost you maybe ten, 15 yards off the tee. So now you're hitting hybrid from the rough instead of 5-iron from the fairway.

Definitely a little unfortunate but I made up for it on the back nine.

Q. Is there a stretch of holes that you find more challenging than others, like the valley, for example, 15, that you would be happy to get out with par?
JAMES HAHN: On this golf course, the way it's playing today, not really. I felt like every hole is a birdie hole. I feel like the par 3s are really good. But you know, if you hit a good drive off the tee, you're going to have maybe 7- or 8-iron, maybe even 9-iron coming into greens, and any time you have short irons into the greens, on any golf course, you're going to make a lot of birdies.

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