THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

July 17, 2020

Jon Rahm

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you characterize your round today?

JON RAHM: Pretty solid. Man, the first I would say 12 holes, I played such good golf, not many mistakes. Only missed one green, I believe, and that was the 17th, and it was just misjudged on the wind. Really, really comfortable.

The key today was making a few par putts. A couple, three-, four-, five-, six-footers for par that kept the round going. Making those pars on 3 and 4 and then making birdie on 5 was a big difference, so I'm happy about that and happy to close out with a birdie after making a mistake on 8. Overall really solid. Feel really comfortable.

Hopefully I can tidy up my iron game a little bit. I made a couple mistakes, and luckily my short game bailed me out. Maybe just be a little smarter in a couple spots.

Q. You mentioned yesterday in the wind your goal is to commit to whatever shot you and Adam decided on. What was your mental focus today with less wind?

JON RAHM: Well, you've always got to commit, but with less wind and less variables, it's a little bit easier to just pick a shot and hit it and just go with stock shots and visualize. Last week was more just visualize the trajectory and hope you execute. Today was a little bit more straightforward. At the end of the day the same thing. And played pretty similar, and obviously that shows a couple strokes better.

Q. You and Tony obviously playing very well here; you played well on the Wednesday charity match did you see this coming from you guys?

JON RAHM: Well, we both played good in the charity match, but obviously when you're playing four-ball, all the pins were in the center, I was just going at it, and yeah, combined we had a good score, but you didn't see all the misses we didn't have when we took over, right. I think if anything we just had so much fun. It was a positive vibe that we had on the golf course, and then playing with each other again, I think we just fed off of that.

Q. Your round on Sunday statistically tee to green was the best statistically that you've had in terms of strokes gained tee to green in your career, and now you're lighting it up again this week. Was there a spark you found, anything in your game that you're carrying with you?

JON RAHM: I couldn't tell you because last Sunday my swing last week wasn't feeling the best. I wasn't supposed to play last week, but with the situation in Arizona I felt it was better to be here for two weeks and practice, and this week I figured something out on the range on Tuesday, just a little bit of a feel on the swing that's been making me feel a little more comfortable.

Last Sunday, I honestly couldn't tell you. I started with a bogey on 10 and I think I just told Adam, let's just go for it; I have nothing to lose whatsoever, a lot to win. I started hitting good shots, making a couple putts, and that's how I ended up being low. Didn't really focus on the score or anything special.

I don't know, I'm kind of surprised it was the best tee-to-green round I've had strokes gained. I feel like I've played really good rounds tee to green that were better than that one. But hey, I don't know. If I can keep doing it, hopefully -- I'm feeling good in every other part of my game, so if I can just keep the ball in the fairway I should have a chance.

Q. Did you say you found something on Tuesday on the range?

JON RAHM: Yeah, I think Tuesday or Wednesday. Just looked at one of my swings and went to just a different feel based on how the ball flight was going. I felt a little bit more comfortable. Not 100 percent with the irons. I'm comfortable off the tee, but some of my iron shots have been rather bad just because I wasn't too confident. But it was getting better. Not to say it's back but it's really, really good. Just tidying up maybe a little bit of tension in the hands sometimes, just believe that I'm going to be able to hit a good strike.

Q. You said early in the restart you were a little bit rusty and you're trying to work through some things. How do you feel at this point in terms of how your game has progressed?

JON RAHM: Well, you know, I did get a lot stronger over quarantine. Did a lot of workouts, and I was hitting it further. My distances with the irons were completely messed up, so one of the things we did this week, we actually adjusted the lofts in the clubs, and adjusting the loft last week I had to get used to it, and I'm getting better and better and that's why strikes gained with my irons has been better. Just little adjustments that you need to do.

It's hard to see back home at the end of the day Arizona is so hot everything flies straight, everything goes far. I knew it was going to happen, I knew I was going to need most likely two, three weeks to get used to things, and that's what I did, and hopefully this is the beginning of a good run.