THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 5, 2021

Jon Rahm

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes - 2nd Round - Part 2

Q. You played five holes, finished 2-under highlighted by that ace. Talk us through that ace, if you would, please.

JON RAHM: Well, it was 163 meters, which it's a little bit over a stock 8 and I hit a fade, so it was a straight one. A little bit downwind in a little bit of right, and it really helped to see Xander's shot, but he overdrew it a little bit and it still covered on the green and he was safe. So I knew that if my ball, for whatever reason, if I were to pull it, I would still cover on the green and have a birdie putt, right? So that freed me up a little bit. I was still trying to hit it between the green and the right bunker, it was about 15, 20 feet right. Started on a great line and then the wind did the rest. I turned it a touch, the wind pushed it a little bit left. I'm not going to lie, I thought it was long, so probably the temperature being a little bit cooler made it be a perfect distance. Not that you're ever expecting to make it, but you want to make it. So it was a nice little bounce back from the poor bogey on 14.

Q. How much momentum do you believe you gained this morning heading into this third round?

JON RAHM: You know, I wasn't too happy to have to stop yesterday because I was 5-under through 13 playing unbelievable golf. I was feeling really, really solid. Had you given me a flashlight, I probably would have tried to finish yesterday. When I started and I make a bogey on 14, a really poor second shot, and I hit two real really good shots on 15 to get to the greenside bunker and hit a good bunker shot that's just really close from being perfect and a good putt that doesn't go in, you're kind of wondering, man, I don't want to struggle all the way to the finish, kind of like I did after the stop on Thursday, right? Having a great day and 7 through 9 I had to save pars on every hole.

So it's nice that, when I hit that one good iron shot, instead of having 10 feet for birdie like Collin or Xander did, it's in the hole, right? So it was a big boost of confidence and it showed at the end. I mean, I made a great birdie on 17 and had a great chance on 18.