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HNA OPEN DE FRANCE

June 28, 2018

Jon Rahm

Paris, France

Q. Give us your thoughts on a round of 1-under par.
JON RAHM: Well, right now, I believe it's the lowest round in the afternoon, which always leaves you something to be proud of. To be honest, I felt realistically, I only missed one shot and that was the second shot on 15.

Besides that, it was a pretty flawless round, about as good as I can play. It was a great round. It's really tough out there. It's really firm and then only going to get more difficult.

Q. Is it as tiring mentally as it is physically, because you can't afford any lapse in concentration?
JON RAHM: It's more mental than physical and your body is only going to be as strong as your mind. Is once you start getting tired of, you know, high-level stress on every tee shot, especially coming down the stretch, with water hazards, hitting fairways absolutely key, you need to hit good shots. It's mentally wearing.

On Thursday, it's not going to be a problem. Come Sunday afternoon, it might be a problem but it's way too much fun playing courses like this in these conditions. I've been having a lot of fun. As long as you're enjoying it, it might be easier to deal with it.

Q. How much are you looking forward to tomorrow, playing on fresh greens and less breeze in the morning forecast?
JON RAHM: The hardest putt today was to wind in my case. Some of The Open greens 11 the holes, it's hard to putt, especially the short putts. Looking forward to tomorrow hopefully there's not as much wind. You're always going to have a little breeze out here, just under ten miles an hour, and you know, hoping to keep the good play going for another round.

Q. You start your round this year the same as last year with a 70, but somehow it probably felt at least a couple shots better today?
JON RAHM: Well, had I played this way last year, it would have been a much slower round, I can guarantee that. I just didn't make many mistakes out there. To be honest, the only fair mistake I made was the second shot on 15, hitting it in the water.

It was just an 8-iron in. I might have -- it was just more of not the right mental process through the shot. You know, besides that, it was such a good round of golf. I hit such quality shots, and was patient during the day, and the last three holes, after missing the shot, even hit a great wedge shot to four feet, missed the putt, hit the green on 16 and hit the drive on 17 and good shots on 18.

It's hard, when it gets windy, those holes are hard and after a double, it's even harder to keep patience. So part of the way I handled it and to shoot under par in the afternoon, man, it was a heck of a score.

Q. Do you attribute the scoring today just down to the conditions?
JON RAHM: Compared to last year? Well, first of all it's a lot firmer which means that the fairways are going to be a lot harder to hit. Last year, as long as you landed it within the cut lines, you were going to be in good position, and same thing with the greens. You can miss the fairway and go right at the pin and stop it, you can't do that now. If you miss the fairway you're pretty much giving away any opportunity to hit the pin or anything on the green.

It's a lot harder, so the conditions, and the wind made it harder. I know some of these few bunkers on 18, those bunkers were nowhere near in play, at least off the tee shot and I did notice a couple of those fairways were a lot narrower which makes it hard to hit.

Q. The guys that finished this morning are having lunch with a smile, watching what might happen this afternoon. Are you hope are for the reverse tomorrow?
JON RAHM: Certainly hope so and if any chance the wind is high tomorrow, we've played with the wind so they are going to have to adjust more than we did.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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