WORKDAY CHARITY OPEN

July 8, 2020

Jon Rahm

Q. I know this is an unusual time in society right now, but how would you describe the disappointment for you in regards to not being able to defend the Europeans' holding of the Ryder Cup?

JON RAHM: I'm not that disappointed, right, because I've said it right away, when the quarantine and the whole outbreak started, if you can't play the Ryder Cup with fans, I don't want to play. It's not the Ryder Cup, it's something else. So I believe the Ryder Cup being as big of an event as it is, being one of the biggest sporting events in the world, being such a big influence in the community of golf and hopefully making golf reach to different people and getting new players in the game, because I am a product of the Ryder Cup, so it's important that it's done the way that it's supposed to be done. I think the venue deserves it, and both the European Tour and the PGA deserve to have the Ryder Cup run the way it's supposed to be, and the fans deserve it. It's not for us. I don't play for Jon Rahm, I play for Europe and the European fans and we try and put on the best show as possible. I think that it was the right choice, and hopefully next week we can play the Ryder Cup the way it's supposed to be played.

Q. Many players also have said they don't want to play the Ryder Cup without fans. How impactful was that to the PGA of America and the European Tour?

JON RAHM: You mean postponing it?

Q. How impactful were the players' voices in making this decision in your opinion?

JON RAHM: Well, I think when you get Rory McIlroy, Brooks and some of the greatest players on the teams and the world saying that they don't want to play, it's like, well, maybe we need to think about it, right. I think if anything we would make people second-guess, is it the smart thing to do. And I believe even though all of us saying we wanted to play, they would have still probably not done it, just because it wouldn't be the same thing. And I think it's a testament to the Ryder Cup that all of us agree and we're on the same page, right. It shows. It wouldn't be the same thing. I think that way European Tour and PGA are going to keep that in mind and know how much the fans mean to us, and hopefully fit more people reach and every time. The Ryder Cup in Paris was the only one I've played, but what I've heard from other people, it's probably one of the biggest crowds and best atmospheres they've seen. Hopefully this only makes the Ryder Cup grow as a tournament and hopefully the atmosphere can get better and better every year.

Q. I don't want to be presumptuous that our society will be better next Weir, but hopefully we will be playing the Ryder Cup. Will this extra year of anticipation in your opinion make it even sweeter?

JON RAHM: God, I don't know. It's such awful reasons, the reason why we're having to postpone it, so it's hard to get excited this early. I feel like I'm one of those players who -- you need to earn your spot, so you need to play good golf throughout the whole year to play the Ryder Cup, so I focus on that rather than on the end goal itself. How about you ask me in about 11 months or so when we're closer to playing it and I can tell you that, because I don't know, but I think for the fans possibly it will be, especially for the people in Wisconsin. It's going to be that much sweeter in that sense.

As a European, well, we get to keep the Ryder Cup one more year, so there's not much complaining in that part, but we obviously all want to compete for it. Hopefully it makes it more exciting and it makes it a little more special Ryder Cup.

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