WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 27, 2021

Jon Rahm

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

JON RAHM: Nobody's made it easy for me last few days.

Q. Beating Erik van Rooyen, he didn't want to go away. He was hanging around but you were able to close him with the eagle here on 16. How challenging was this match?

JON RAHM: It was a tough match. We both kept hanging in there. I feel like most of time he had putts to win holes and had some chance to maybe get a bigger lead early on.

And, well, you know, just couple moments I think was key. 11, 12, 13, right, and especially 14 where he misses that putt. I give him 12, I win 13, and then on 14 he misses that short one as well.

So I think that stretch of holes was big for me obviously.

And then, well, as much as I wish I would've had two putts to win that hole, nobody has made it easy this week so I knew I had to make it. I've missed a few short and I did not want to go up to 17 today, so I needed to rest the legs, and I'm glad I made it.

Q. I don't think there was ever a point where I said, Yeah, absolutely Rahm is going to win this one or which way it was going go. Two well played rounds.

JON RAHM: Yeah, today was definitely the best I played, especially the front nine. I felt like if previous matches have been 3-under on this front I would've been 3- or 4-up.

He was playing great golf as well, right. I mean, there was many mistakes being made and the ones we made is because we were in the rough and it's challenging to guess if it's going to be a flier or not.

Luckily the two eagles on the back nine and his missed putt on 14, I end up on top.

Q. I thought the big exchange was at 14. At that point I thought you were in control of the match.

JON RAHM: That was a big putt, because he hadn't hit his best putts, you know, coming in. He hit a few online but left them short. Then I make the 10-footer. That one he's got that one to stay 1-down with four to play. It's a big putt for him, right.

Looked like he made a good stroke. Yeah, going 2-up after 15 gave me a big boost. Especially making that two-putt as well on 15. It was far, a lot of slopes, a lot going on, and his was hard, too.

But, yeah, I mean, it never really looks like I had it done, right. And even then on this hole when I have ten feet for eagle and he's in the right rough, I'm expecting for him to hit it close but not closer than mine, and he hits it to tap-in.

That shows, I mean, at this stage of the tournament nobody is giving it to you. You have to win it.

Q. Scottie Scheffler is going to make for a good match this afternoon.

JON RAHM: Yeah, I could hear the crowd pulling for him. I had a bit of a taste of that yesterday with a Texan who actually went to, to UT. It's going to be challenging, but, hey, it's good practice for the Ryder Cup.