THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY

June 1, 2023

Jon Rahm

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes

Q. Pleased with the opening round?

JON RAHM: Yeah, I'm pleased with it. It's too bad I couldn't take advantage of the, let's say, easier conditions on the front nine. There was no wind, great temperature, perfect greens. Gave myself chances and couldn't convert a couple of them. If I had to say something to do better today I think with a couple of the tee shots I hit, give myself better birdie looks on a couple of the par-5s. Besides that, I think it's a really good round of golf that if a couple putts dropped could have been a really good one.

Q. Is that the difference on the back nine, a couple putts started to drop there on your back nine?

JON RAHM: Yeah. I mean, it was a good 5-footer for par on 1 to minimize the damage at that point. And to make those two back-to-back was very important. And even after that to just keep hitting fairways, keep hitting greens and giving myself chances. Obviously it was relatively stress-free from after that first hole, those last eight holes. Very comfortable to play that way. But yeah, that was the main difference, making a couple putts.

Q. 2020 setup was really extreme because they were going to tear up the golf course. I was wondering if the conditions today equated in any way to 2020 as far as firmness of the course?

JON RAHM: I think it's pretty similar to what it was on Thursday of 2020. It was a significant jump from Friday to Thursday -- to Saturday. That was the biggest jump we saw. But, yeah, fairways are firm, greens are firm. Obviously they didn't really care if they lost 'em so towards the weekend they got a little bit out of hand. But, yeah, quite good memories from that week. Even though it's a, for the most part a different golf course now, it's playing somewhat similar.

Q. This is always kind of compared as a major championship test. Is there anything that tests your part of the game that will get you ready for the U.S. Open, do you feel?

JON RAHM: Well, I would say for the most part fairways are not as narrow as they might be in a U.S. Open. But you have to pick and choose your play off the tee. I feel on this golf course it gives you a lot of chances, a lot of options off the tee. You can kind of give yourself whatever you want coming in. That's kind of the beauty of some of the holes out here. You can be as aggressive or as passive as you want. Hit irons or not. Or maybe hit drivers and take a risk. However you want. But at the end of the day it's mainly a second-shot golf course. You have to have those irons dialed in, whether you have an 8-iron or a pitching wedge. So to an extent I think it might compare to a U.S. Open, but we've gotten to a point nowadays where hitting a 5-wood off a tee in a U.S. Open doesn't usually happen. So it's usually mostly 5-wood, 7-iron. So there's some holes where you relate, but for the most part I wouldn't say it's exactly the same.

Q. The extra yardage on 16 and 17, do the holes play that differently?

JON RAHM: We didn't play the new tee on 16. With the greens being firm and into the wind, I don't know if we're going to see that tee. I thought the day would be today to the back pin to give us as much room as possible.

17, yeah. I mean, 17 at this point, again, you had a choice. You could kind of dial back, sometimes I even hit a 5-wood to kind of short of that right bunker and take basically the 8- or 7-iron coming in and you could have, pick an aggressive tee shot with a driver. Now it's basically driver, it's a must-hit driver. 3-wood can leave you a little bit too far back. So, I mean, it's -- tee shot plays different, but after that it plays the same as it did in the past.

Q. You birdied it.

JON RAHM: Yeah. Yeah. Hit a great tee shot. Great tee shot, great second shot.