TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 2, 2021

Jon Rahm

East Lake Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you characterize the round today?

JON RAHM: It was good. Played really good 14 holes, and then I think there was a bit of a slump on 7 through 10, but I was able to manage really well those. The up-and-down for bogey on 8, the up-and-down for par on 9, and the up-and-down for par on 10 were key three in a row to limit the mistakes or the damage and from then I played amazing golf.

Q. The chip-in at 1 kind of got you going, right?

JON RAHM: Of course, yeah. I think it's easy to just think on the chip-in, but I think the long putt on 2 helped as well. I mean, you get a chip-in, it's a bonus, obviously, and then on 2, I leave myself not in the easiest spot or I'd have a long putt downhill with good 10 to 12 feet of break and I almost make it perfect pace.

So when I start with that, with a good chip-in and knowing that I have the pace of the greens, it kind of gives me a little bit of a bonus feel. And, again, it was a great round except a couple of errors, but that's why we practice short game.

Q. How do you feel about your overall position here as far as trying to make up the difference?

JON RAHM: It's very easy to get caught up on how far back you start. I don't think I really once thought about it out there. I was just trying to post a score. My job is to hit the best shot I can each time and that's all can I control.

So I can't be thinking of what the people ahead of me are doing. And I think that applies to tomorrow as well. Maybe on the weekend you think about who is leading, who is not, but try to think about it as a regular event and not how much distance I got to make up. Obviously, 72 holes, it's a lot of holes and four shots is not that much.

Q. With the staggered start, where everyone starts and what have you, is it out of sight, out of mind by the time you get to tomorrow?

JON RAHM: I think it's, I mean, honestly, in my case, I think you guys and the people out there think about it way more than I do. Because at the end of the day, with the format we have right now, when you step on the tee, you know you're four back and that's it, but if you start early on you know you're 10 back and you still got to post a good score. I think it's maybe on the mind of who is leading where if they were to shoot 64 they're definitely going to have an advantage. But in our case and on this golf course I know that I'm going and I need to play really four solid rounds of golf to have a chance. So far I've done a good job.

Q. That's going to happen one of these years and they will change the format, won't they --

JON RAHM: I have no idea.

Q. -- someone shoots 62 one day and he's got a 12-shot lead and everyone goes home?

JON RAHM: Listen, you still have to finish it. That's the thing, right? It might happen some day; it might not. This is not the easiest golf course to shoot 62. I don't know if I've ever seen a 62 here myself. I think the lowest I've seen might be a 64. They don't come very often. I know D.J. did it last year to get a massive lead going into the final round. And I played really good golf out there. I mean, mistakes are very penalizing out here. So to be fair, if somebody goes out there and shoots 62 or 61, they surely deserve the lead.