THE 153RD OPEN

July 17, 2025

Jon Rahm

Mixed Zone

Q. I assume you'll take that score, especially the front nine?

JON RAHM: Yeah, yeah. Played good golf. If anything, I wish I could have played the easier holes, the first five with the wind today. 2 on were all downwind. Taken a little more advantage of that. I had a couple good looks. Too bad on that birdie on 1, but still, pars out here are never going to hurt you, and those holes starting on 8, 8 through 12 for the most part, all of them into the wind, are just difficult holes, a difficult stretch of the course where if you can somehow manage to make pars it's great. But overall, yeah, I'm very happy with the round. I'll take the score. I feel confident. Hopefully I can hit a few better shots off the tee.

With the rain it's always tough to say. I feel like I was making good swings. Water gets between the ball and the club and it can go anywhere. But I'd like those good swings to somehow produce the shot that I like to see. But besides that, a really good day.

Q. That instant on 11 when the fan whistled in your backswing, can you tell us about that and how frustrating that is when it happens?

JON RAHM: I mean, if I were to paint a picture, you have the hardest tee shot on the course, raining, into the wind off the left, it's enough. I know they're not doing it on purpose. It just seemed like somebody trying to get a hold of someone for whatever it is. It was bad timing.

I think I just used the moment to let out any tension I had in me. Really that's not -- it is what it is. To be honest, it probably didn't affect as much as I made it sound like. It was a bad swing as well. Just a difficult hole.

I mean, it's frustrating, but it is what it is. It's an everyday thing in golf.

Q. How much of a test is that golf course in a breeze like that today?

JON RAHM: There's stretches. There's stretches. Like I said, 2 to 5, and include 7 in there, and then 13, 14, 15, you're not really too stressed. The wind is helping you off the right. As a right-hander, you're usually more comfortable with that so you can kind of get the round going.

The 4th hole, those bunkers were carriable so the fairway is much wider. You can get a little more comfortable. It's every other hole, it's like I said, in that stretch, 8 through 12 and then 16, 17 especially, they're very difficult, in off the left, rain or no rain. It's extremely tough. You have to hit really high-quality shots to give yourself a chance off the tee and then into the green as well.

I feel like in a way, you have somewhere around nine to ten very difficult holes and nine very, very doable holes. But either way, it's a links course, so with that wind you can get in a lot of trouble.

Q. When you got your first Tour win at Torrey Pines in 2017, you were paired with J.J. on that Sunday. Is there any part of you that harnesses sentimental memories into your performance, stuff like that, or being here in the British Amateur in 2014?

JON RAHM: I have good memories every time I've been in this area of the country, from my amateur days. Playing with J.J. that Sunday at Torrey, it's a familiar face, I've played enough with him. He lives in Arizona, someone I see often. But not that I'd be thinking of what I was doing eight years ago. Not really, in that sense. I've played a lot more golf with Xander, all good and bad. Starting college as well, I have plenty of memories with him. They're both great guys, great players to play with. Very easy conversation, just very easygoing people, so if anything, that's the benefit of playing with somebody like that.

Q. If you won here, how would that compare to winning the Masters?

JON RAHM: I don't know. The Masters was quite epic in my mind somehow I felt. There's just a few things that would make this one so special. Not only getting to three majors, being the second Spanish player Seve to win an Open and being the only one to three different majors, that would be -- yeah, makes it very, very special, on top of everything that already is.

But that's the theory of it. Hopefully on Sunday I can answer that question a little bit better.