THE RYDER CUP

September 30, 2023

Jon Rahm

Tyrrell Hatton

Marco Simone

Team Europe

Press Conference

MATTHEW JOULE: Fresh from 2&1 foursomes victory this morning against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. Another hard-fought battle out there. Give us your thoughts on that match.

JON RAHM: It was a difficult match. Obviously we were aware of how good of a friendship Patrick and Xander have, how golf players they both are. Tyrrell and I got off to a really, really good start. Not the start that they wanted obviously but obviously on the back nine they hit some great iron shots and capitalised on a couple mistakes we made. Being tied on 16 tee is not ideal. Obviously they were able to go 3, 2 and close it out. They are tough players. It was pretty impressive to see Tyrrell make that putt on 16 and then follow with a great tee shot on 17.

MATTHEW JOULE: Overall, another good session for Team Europe. Just your thoughts on the Ryder Cup as it stands?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, it was a good morning for us again. I think ultimately we just need to try and win each session. So yeah, hopefully the guys going out this afternoon can go out there and win the session, and then we'll see where we're at coming into play today.

Q. 9 1/2 to 2 1/2, are you guys surprised by how lopsided it's been so far?

JON RAHM: It's hard to say if you're surprised or not. Obviously we go out there trying to do exactly that, right. Every one of us is trying to go out there and win their point. Surprised or not, it's been beautiful to see the team come together and play the way we have.

You know, we are only halfway through. There's a lot more to be done, and we've got to still keep that mindset we've had till now to hopefully keep performing this way and close it off tomorrow.

Q. Match play is so different than stroke play. What does it do for you guys when you have your teammates gathered around greens or on tees and they are encouraging you, imploring you? You guys seem to do that so well, the screen last night with Justin and he's going nuts and pointing at all of you. What is it about your ability to play match play like that?

JON RAHM: I don't know. I really can't answer. I think it's the chemistry that we have with each other. I really wouldn't be able to tell you, honestly. That might be a better question with Rosey after that reaction he had afterwards.

Like I said, we seem to have an ability to come together as teammates very, very well and feel how close we are. And I think in moments like that when we are there, a player feels the support, whether it's myself, Tyrrell out there, anybody, you feel support of the 12 plus the vice captains. Maybe that's why you see some of the things that happened so far and the reactions that come with it.

Q. Can I take you back to last night after the match last night, Brooks Koepka accused you of acting like a child in that match. Can you explain to us if there's any context to that and your reaction to that, and also how do you think Brooks' doing so far?

JON RAHM: Context or what happened or what he said?

Q. His remarks. He accused you of acting like a child?

JON RAHM: I mean, I'm not going to stand here and say I'm a, you know, perfect example on what to do on a golf course. I don't think either of us two are (laughter). But I play and compete.

TYRRELL HATTON: I'm just sitting here watching the TV.

JON RAHM: I don't think I need to say anything else in that regard. I play and compete the way I think I need to play and compete, and yeah, I think he mentioned it. I'm not happy I left a 10-footer short on 17 to possibly tie the hole, and going up to the tee, I let off some frustration hitting the board sideways, I kept walking, never stopped, that was it. If Brooks thinks that's childish, it is what it is. He's entitled to think what he thinks, and I mean, I don't know what else to say.

Q. Just wonder how you feel when you get accused by an American.

JON RAHM: I'm very comfortable with who I am and what I do. I've done much worse on a golf course like that. That doesn't even register to a low level of Jon anger on the golf course.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm very happy with who I am, and I needed to do that at that moment to let off some steam and play the hole I wanted to do. And clearly it worked out, played two great shots and got a little lucky on the putt. I needed to do what I needed to do to perform under those circumstances.

Is it right or wrong, childish or not, I don't know, but that's what I needed at the moment.

Q. Was it motivating for you at all hearing those comments? Did you see them yesterday?

JON RAHM: It's hard not to see it nowadays. Everybody is on social media, not myself, but I can't control what my friends do, so they do send it to me. I wish they hadn't, to be honest.

But whatever he says it shouldn't be changed on the way I approach this tournament, right. That's it. I'm here to do my job, and whatever comments anybody else may have shouldn't really change the way I go about it or what I think of myself. It wasn't good or bad, really. It just simply is, and that's it.

Q. We hear a lot of stories about your kind of match play relentlessness from friends in Scottsdale and certainly at these events. What is your most satisfying match play memory?

JON RAHM: I don't know, I think the 17th today is going to come very close to almost make it. I wouldn't know what to say. You know, maybe it wasn't the greatest of match play moments because of what it meant for me emotionally. Somebody yelling, "Do it for Seve," and having just lost my granddad, who was my biggest fan, that putt on 17 against Tiger to win the match and get my first Ryder Cup point is always going to be up there.

Team was looking good, but that one, that one was very, very special. It's probably the biggest overreaction you'll see to a 4-footer in your life, but it's what I felt like I needed to do at the moment to let it out. It was a very emotional putt.

Q. You mentioned a couple minutes ago the assistant captains role, and wonder if you can both speak to how important those guys are and maybe give an example of what they have contributed.

JON RAHM: Well, Tyrrell and I and myself in general, I've had Chema following us, to have somebody with his experience and charisma is always motivating, right. He's seen it all, and he's got incredible stories. Whenever we need to rely on him, he's somebody we can depend on.

We have past winning captains as vice captains, Ryder Cup champions as vice captains. So everybody has a little bit of something they can share with the rest of the group.

I think having somebody like Nicolas Colsaerts was great for the rookies, right. He had an incredible rookie performance in his first-ever match, and he can really put it in perspective for the new guys. It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but there are really some guys that you can depend on to do and say what the right thing might be.

MATTHEW JOULE: Tyrrell, can you answer that as well, please.

TYRRELL HATTON: Sorry?

MATTHEW JOULE: The role of the vice captains and what they bring.

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, obviously their experience is great for us, and they add a lot in the team room with the team morale and everything like that. With the experience for the rookies and even for the likes of -- this is my third one, but you can never be shy of asking questions, and I think everyone is always happy to help each other. Yeah, they are very important.

Q. Earlier this week, you were saying that the word "revenge" is on your mind. With the way things are going, I wonder what sort of shape revenge takes in your mind. Is it a win or as it's looking now, is it beating the score from two years ago, and do you firmly believe Europe will go and do that?

TYRRELL HATTON: When I say revenge, I think that was a tough loss for us two years ago, and for the guys that were a part of the team that are here this week, then revenge is effectively you want to win the Ryder Cup back.

So far, we've done a good job, but there's still so much golf left to play. Momentum can change pretty quickly. So for us, it's just trying to win the sessions and get closer to that magic number, and yeah, just go from there.

Q. What would it mean to you if you could beat that score from two years ago, if you could make it an even bigger winning margin, what would it mean to you?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I think, yeah, it's nice on effectively a bit of paper, but ultimately at the end of the day we are here to try and win. Whatever the score line is, if you win, then you're leaving extremely happy.

So that's our goal.

Q. And going back to the questions about Brooks and Jon, as his mate, do you get a little bit protective when you hear people saying things about Jon like that?

TYRRELL HATTON: I mean, I don't think you can really -- I think trying to avoid outside noise is the best thing to do. Just go about your business and try and stay and have like tunnel vision towards your goal of what you're trying to achieve.

Especially on a week like this, tensions are high. Emotions are pretty high. And yeah, sometimes certain things might be said or may be taken out of context, but I don't think you can really look into that too deeply. I think you just carry on in our team room, we are just -- we're all good. We are enjoying each other's company and not really looking at the outside at all.

Q. That match yesterday afternoon with Scheffler and Brooks was intense, and you made two eagles on the last three holes. Just wondering, is that maybe just frustration from him? And have you ever had issues with Brooks? That doesn't seem to be the case at all.

JON RAHM: I've never had an issue with Brooks, to be fair. I don't know now, but up until yesterday afternoon, I thought we had a pretty good relationship, you know. We're both pretty much, you know, straight-up people that don't like the BS -- excuse my language -- in between. There's always been that mutual respect. And he's always been an incredible player, and he's always done amazing things.

And it could be that. Listen, had I seen somebody make the putt on 18 the way I did, I would not have been the happiest of people either. Clearly there was a little bit of luck involved with that. But it is match play. I think we saw plenty of the opposite when we were at Whistling Straits two years ago.

But yeah, I think it could be attributed to it being a long day and seeing what happened on the last three holes that we did. I really don't know what else to say about it. It was a heck of a match. I think they played 10-under par, and Nicolai and I had a great day it. Was really, really fun to be a part of it and experience that.

Q. (No microphone).

JON RAHM: I don't know, I really don't know what to answer to that right. It's a foursomes match, alternate-shot. I haven't been able to see anything of how that match unfolded. I don't really know if Ludvig and Viktor just had an outstanding day or they had a bad one or a bit of both.

Trash talking, it's part of sports. If anything, golf could be a hard one really to back it up because you're not really reacting on what the person in front of you is doing like other sports, right. It's truly you against yourself out there. You can't really influence what the other person is doing directly. But yeah, it's part of sport.

What happened today I can't say is completely directly related to something like that.

Q. Both of you played very -- well, you both played well at Whistling Straits, and you won against an oppressive atmosphere, and now you have a very pro-European crowd out there. How much of a difference is home advantage and feeding off home advantage against how you managed to have such a good record against Whistling Straits feeding against what was a tidal wave of American support?

JON RAHM: I think the crowd, obviously, at home does help, right. But you know, when you're out there, there are ways to handle the crowd that's against you. They are pulling for the U.S., and that week, I didn't see anything that was out of the ordinary. Nobody was too personal or anything like that. And there's plenty of times where they still cheer for good shots. When Tyrrell made that putt on 18 to tie, there's still some people that respect and appreciate good golf and clap for him as well.

When you're in that atmosphere, you almost have to take silence as a good thing, right. Silence that week was our friend due to COVID. There were very, very few Europeans were out there. The European numbers were extremely small. You have to rely on your partner, cheer each other on and take those silences as a cheer because that's kind of what they were.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, pretty much what Jon said. We knew if it was quiet on the golf course, we were doing the right things. It wasn't very quiet, unfortunately, for us and we tried our best and, yeah, same thing, just trying to keep your head down, work together as a team and try and win your point. Obviously it didn't go our way that time.