TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 6, 2020

Jon Rahm

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What was the biggest difference from Saturday to Sunday?

JON RAHM: 24 hours. That's all I can say.

Yesterday didn't feel that bad. Just I got a little tight on the course, a little hesitant, and didn't really commit to a lot of shots, therefore I wasn't hitting it close enough to the hole.

And a birdie few putts I had I wasn't able to convert. So I think at the end I just got a little -- not overwhelmed, but just trying too hard. I wasn't really letting it flow like the first day or today.

When you start to think too much on the golf course it doesn't really work out, at least in my case. That's as simple as what happened.

Today I was able to make decisions and be a little bit more comfortable with the lines I was taking and just commit a little bit more, and gave myself a lot of chances out there today.

Q. You were six back I think entering Sunday last week with Dustin in the lead. Obviously he's playing well, as he has been the last couple weeks, but you were able to catch him and take him down last week. What do you feel like you're going to have to do tomorrow in a similar situation that you can take from last week to apply to tomorrow?

JON RAHM: Well, we're going to need Dustin to not have a good day. If we get lucky and shoot somewhere around even par, assuming he stays at 18, that chase says it all. I need to shoot at least a 5-under round which is not easy.

But the one good thing I have going for me is we're here to win, so tomorrow is a green light for everything. Just got to be aggressive and hopefully pull the shots off and be able to make as many putts as possible.

Hopefully I can get a little bit faster start than I have so far. I was able to get away with 2-under on the front nine today, but that's only because I made three or four really good up-and-downs out there to get the round going.

Hopefully I can hit some good shots and maybe get to 3-, 4-under today like he did today on the front nine and give myself a chance on the back nine.

Q. I know it's only 54 holes, but how big was the last hole?

JON RAHM: Oh, it's very important. Those two shots were everything. I played this back nine so well today. From 11 on I hit good shots, gave myself birdie chances on pretty much every hole, and they were all legitimate. They were all putts for the most part uphill, just good looks, and I wasn't able to make any of them.

So to hit one close on 17 and make that birdie kind of freed me up a little bit on 18 not to be, like I said earlier, just really trying to force a birdie in there, and probably just because of that I was able to make the last putt.

Q. Are you the kind of guy that if you were to win tomorrow you would buy something, and if so, what?

JON RAHM: No. I'm not a very materialistic person. I believe in saving it just in case what might happen in the future. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't know. I might get injured and not be able to play again. Hopefully it doesn't happen. I try to take really good care of my body, but you never know what's going to happen in the future.

And it's not only for me, but as in right now I should be able to pay for more than one of my kids if I have kids in the future, probably two, three, four if they want to go to college. I should be able to put them through college, and even their kids should have enough money to go through college.

So I think that's much more important. I could think of many things to buy, but not really. Last time I made a lot of money I bought an Xbox. That's about it. I don't really -- yeah, no. I'm not one of those to spend money really like that.

Q. What's the challenge of this course trying to make up that deficit? And secondly, looks like you might be playing in front of him again this week. Is that preferable for you, maybe put pressure on Dustin?

JON RAHM: It doesn't matter if I play with him or not. Even if I'm in the group in from or with them require me playing an extremely good round of golf. I'm going to need to shoot 5-, 6-under and hope for him to not have a good day. It's as simple as that.

On this golf course everything needs to be working. You need to put the ball in the fairway in order to be able to be aggressive. You need to hit good iron shots. You need to hit good putts. There is no part of this game or your game that can be weak out here. It's as simple as that.

Hopefully I can play as good as I did today, maybe be a little bit more aggressive in certain areas and hole the putts. I wasn't too far off today from a really low round. Just a couple putts dropping in and you never know.

Q. You've played obviously some very good golf of late, but you've also seen what Dustin -- have been around it. How would you describe how he's playing right now?

JON RAHM: Well, the first day -- I would say he hasn't played his best the first two rounds. The first day he really addressed a lot of shots properly and made a couple putts, and yesterday he didn't really play good at all. He just managed his game really well to end up with an even-par round.

Q. Just generally speaking the last few weeks --

JON RAHM: Oh, the last few weeks? I mean, he's Dustin. He's won 22 times on TOUR now. Is it 22, 23?

Q. 22.

JON RAHM: From our -- my generation and the generation before, he's the one with the most amount of wins by quite a bit. What can you say? He's just a great golfer. He's one of those guys if you give him a couple shots it's tough to make up.

I had to do something really, really unique last week to be able to have a chance. 10-under on that golf course on the weekend is unheard of. I'm going to need something really special tomorrow, too. And again, we're going to need Dustin to throw us a bone and not have a good day, because right now the five shots I need to make up, possibly six if he makes birdie on 18, he's going to have to have a bad day.