THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 5, 2021

Jon Rahm

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes - 2nd Round

Q. Obviously run us through that ace that rebounded you from that early bogey there when you started and got you straight in the lead.

JON RAHM: I wouldn't say it was unexpected. I feel like every hole-in-one is unexpected. But it was just one of those good numbers. It helped to see Xander's shot because I knew if I pulled the 8-iron it would be over the pin, so I just aimed between the pin and the edge of the bunker, hit a straight 8-iron and let the wind do the rest, and it went in. I did not think any ball landing short of the pin would go in just because it's coming in with such height from the elevated tee and the greens are soft. But, hey, I mean, I think you can kind of see my face of surprise, right, early on, because I was pretty sure that ball was going to be past the hole about 15 feet.

Q. That hole's been interesting for you the last couple years.

JON RAHM: Yeah. (Laughing). I told Adam, I was walking down after I picked up the ball, I'm, like, well, that is some good karma and payback from last year.

Q. You got the two shots back right there?

JON RAHM: Yeah, exactly. Although those two shots last year they didn't really matter at the end, so it's okay.

Q. Obviously you put yourself in a good position to go back out this afternoon. Do you feel very comfortable with how you're playing and how you've been going?

JON RAHM: How should I answer that? I mean, I'm leading the tournament after 36, so, yeah, I'm in a good position. Yeah, I'm comfortable. I've been looking forward to it, like I side, earlier in the week. I've been doing a lot of backdoor top 10s and I'm happy I'm in contention for once.

Q. When it's rolling like that, do you just feel like it's your day? I saw on 18 you got a really nice bounce there off the hill too. I mean do you get the --

JON RAHM: That ball was slicing 25 yards with side spin. It's supposed to go right and the hill is so left-to-right, I mean, it was not that I was playing to land it off the green, but it's not like it's an unbelievable coincidence. I mean, it was, it, that would happen most of the time.

Q. What's it like to be heckled out there? Yesterday that was a lot of talk with what was going on and you've been through that before. Is it just you have to tune that stuff out and just not even hear it, be in your own zone?

JON RAHM: I didn't have any problems yesterday.

Q. No, not you, not today, but just in your --

JON RAHM: No, no. Yesterday I didn't hear much. Was there problems?

Q. Well, with Bryson --

JON RAHM: Was it somebody else?

Q. Yeah.

JON RAHM: Yeah, yeah, just in my case I had nothing but support out here in Dublin, Ohio, so it was great. I mean, yeah, it happens. It is what it is. I mean, it's part of sports. It's only unfortunate that sometimes fans go a little bit too far and we can't do anything about it. I think the only unfortunate part, but it's, I think with sports, and it's happening more and more is that we athletes are held to a certain standard and the fans are not. For a fan to get kicked out they have to say something really bad and if we do anything towards them we get fined right away. So I think there has to be a balance. And it's going to keep happening in golf with the whole DraftKings and betting live going on. I caught a couple times yesterday where seeing one of my playing partners miss a putt and see people just exchanging cash right next to the green. It just happens. Yeah, I and you see it more and more, it's part of what it is. It's almost like people are in a bar doing the same thing, right? So it's going to happen, I think as players we need to do our part to try our best to not get affected by it, but I also think that the TOUR needs to at some point also protect the players. I have no idea what happened yesterday, I don't know how bad it was, but I know people can say some bad stuff out there.

Q. What are you going to do now until your tee time?

JON RAHM: When is my tee time, around 1 p.m.?

Q. Yeah.

JON RAHM: Well, go back to bed, lay down, I probably won't fall asleep, but kind of act like I'm waking up at 9, 10 and restart the day. Probably get some food, shower, again, just like if it was a new day. If I can fall asleep, I'll try, that will definitely help.