WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Jon Rahm

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How are you feeling going into day 3? You must be happy.

JON RAHM: Yes. I'm happy, feeling good. Played good in both matches, and today was a tricky day. Cameron started really good, three birdies through the first five, and the wind was pumping. I kept playing solid. I kept playing good golf. I stayed bogey free, and he made a couple mistakes, and I think the momentum shifted and I was able to get the win.

Q. When you ever in match play have fallen down early, has there ever been a sense of panic?

JON RAHM: No. Just five holes. I was telling Adam, even after my tee shot on 6, I said, listen, Adam, I'm hitting every shot the way I want to. There's obviously way more wind up there than we can see or than we can feel or than we can tell. A couple of shots were great. The shot on 3 was good, the shot on 4 was good. Even 1. But got a bit of a wind gust, and he hit driver to 15 feet for eagle.

He was playing great golf. Obviously I just had to stay patient knowing that mine was coming. From 6 on I played wonderful golf.

Q. Is there a match just kind of in the history books for you, maybe what was the largest deficit you've faced that you ended up coming back and winning?

JON RAHM: I think I was 6 down to J.B. a couple years ago and got to 17. I don't know exactly what my deficit may be historically or this event. I have no idea. I can't remember.

Q. Or even as an amateur or junior, any crazy comebacks?

JON RAHM: There's a couple of those where I've been 2-, 3-, 4-down early, and if I'm going to be down early -- if I'm going to be down at some point or another I'd rather it be early. I can't remember any of those maybe winning the last four or five holes and getting the win.

Q. As much golf as you've played around the world, I'd like your opinion. When the wind is blowing like this on the 17th hole and the difficulty of it for being so short and not having a pond in front or true water hazard.

JON RAHM: It's very difficult because even if it says it's supposed to be right to left, I mean, that wind is gusting, and when there's 20 miles an hour between being a little down or a little into, it's 30 yards. You kind of have to commit to your shot, and at the same time somewhat get lucky with the wind gust you may get and deal with it. I think everybody goes there with the intention of especially with the wind like today, with the intention of making a 3. A 3 hardly ever loses the hole and it will win more times than one would like to believe.

When it's gusty and windy like it is maybe today, when it's up to maybe 10 miles an hour, you'll see a lot of birdies. Also depending a lot on the pin position.

Q. What are your thoughts on 13?

JON RAHM: It's hard to play this -- it's straight downwind. I feel like the only chance of stopping it on the green is hitting the pin, otherwise you're in the back, most likely not going to stay in the fairway, and you're going to be against the grandstands dropping on dormant Bermuda on a downhill lie. It's a great par-4. You can hit a 7-iron and still have a tough shot with a wedge shot or go for it and kind of hope for the best. I think it's a great hole.

It's even better when it's playing right to left so you can hold it against the wind and maybe hit the green and make that wedge shot a little bit easier to hit the pin. You can tell by the contours of the green it's designed for that, but we got the wind we got, and I think you're going to see a lot of people go for it and struggle to even make 4.

Q. Is the wind left to right today?

JON RAHM: Straight down. At least when we played it it was blowing 20 straight down. It was playing short.

Q. Curious about your relationship with Patrick Reed. Have you guys chatted in the past? I assume you've been partnered together a few times.

JON RAHM: I mean, we get along well. Haven't really spent that much time with him. I've asked a few times about a couple of tips and some things that I like how he does. Obviously his short game is one of the best in the world, so tried to learn from him a few times, but not much. He's not the most talkative person on the golf course and neither am I, so we're out there competing, right, so -- I wish I had more to tell you. I wouldn't say we're friends, but we don't hate each other, either. We haven't spent enough time with each other to actually say he's my friend, but we get along good.

Q. I asked you earlier in the week whether you kind of flagged in your head that match. He's down now, still some to play, but would that be a little strange? I imagine you'd expect him to be 0-2 coming into your match.

JON RAHM: I mean, it's hard what to expect in match play. Especially in conditions like this. You just never know. Even if you're struggling with your swing when a day like this comes, it's about shot making. There's a lot of people that have the ability to actually get it done. Would I expect him to go 0-2? No, but it can happen.