Jon Rahm Press Conference | The 152nd Open at Royal Troon

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Jon Rahm speaks to the media ahead of The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

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good morning everybody um I’m delighted to welcome the two-time major champion John Ram to the interview room John it’s obviously been a historic week for Spanish sport um how would it feel for you to continue that run by lifting The claric Jug on Sunday uh yeah I mean it’s it’s it was definitely it’s been a great month for for Spanish Sports um a lot of uh a lot of history being done right Al being I think being the sixth player to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year getting to four grand slams at a very young age Spain winning a record fourth uh European Championship right and and Sergio and his team doing what they did on Sunday uh quite special quite special uh you know coming back to a venue like this with with so much history uh it would be quite incredible to to earn an Open championship in this golf course in this tournament it’s it’s arguably my favorite week in golf and to to maybe even continue that this stretch of great Spanish Sports would be I mean it would be absolutely fantastic on top of all the many things that will make this great this week or this Championship incredible okay we’ll take questions from the floor starting with number three hi John um with that in mind and talking about Spanish sport I just wonder if you’re fully aware that up in these parts this week particularly every Spaniard will be a hero an adopted Scotsman because of the football result are you are you aware of this I noticed that yesterday yeah play played all 18 holes yesterday and I think I got more congratulations for something I didn’t do than I ever have on my life so yeah uh I don’t know why I don’t know what they’ve done but anytime anybody plays against the English national team it’s like every other country in Europe just unifies against them I don’t know why or what they’ve done I’m not aware of the history I think it’s because we’ve heard it’s coming home so many times the last few years that just nobody wants to see it come home at this point do you know all the words the words it’s coming home do you know all the words no I I so I I didn’t know what it was till they made the championship last final and then I didn’t know it was a song Till Terell showed me last Wednesday so I I really didn’t know the whole history about it and he picked it as his song on the first day and I told him no nobody in Spain is going to know what that is and there’s going to the four the three or four English people that are there are going to understand but nobody else is going to know so will you be giving plenty of stick to your English peers this week fellow English golfers will be there be no because the second I see one of them or they acknowledge me or any other Spanish golfer for that matter they just the first instant is the you know they’re all smiling they’re like yeah they know I’m either going to say something or that face is the face they make sense at all for me so you know it’s uh uh the you know you get the occasional joke of oh should have been a handall against Germany and couple of those things but no I’m not I’m not going to be one to to make him feel that pain anymore John can I just just following up on I can ask where you did you watch everything on Sunday did you like did you have a a break and watch the tennis and then the football or to clear your mind or well I couldn’t watch the tennis because we were playing yeah but the crowd did us the favor of telling us the score what was going on I remember we’re playing the 17th Hall and I had to back out on my pot cuz somebody was reacting to the tennis on TV uh there’s quite a big crowd on that green so after I walked by the grand stands they were telling me Oh aarz won the first set he’s 3-1 on the second set playing great right so they were they were making me aware but the only thing I was able to watch obviously besides Sergio’s play was uh was the football and uh the team was sharing the house that week so me and Terra watched it together and well you can imagine that was a sight to see okay next question just over on the left hand side so John you seemed really happy for Sergio on on Sunday what was it like to to see him win at Val it’s just the record he has on that Golf Course is absolutely mind-blowing I think it was 17 starts 14 15 top 10s and four wins it’s it’s it’s hard to do anywhere but in valderama that is especially difficult it’s just so demanding to your green you have to play it really well and obviously the familiarity with it helps but it doesn’t matter no M no matter how much you know the golf course you still need to be familiar still need to play at your best to be able to do that there uh and then it’s just how close he come this year he’s played incredibly good golf he had a great chance in myob obviously losing to hako same thing in uh in in Miami losing to to Dean so to um to see him win it in home soil right is feel like it was only right that that Sunday one of one of us Spanish players won and uh you know I think he’s a very deserving Champion I was extremely happy for him cuz uh you know he’s been a great referend on M when he comes to golf if we’ve you know we we created a great bond in Winsley Straits and to uh to share Friday and that Sunday with him and and see him win it was was very special so yeah I’m extremely happy for him right it’s uh I think you could see it in his face last time I remember seeing a reaction like that was when he won the Masters so maybe not as big but I think the relief was was was there as well so yeah I mean I feel like we all we all felt it for him okay Senter Mark hey John you were uh prior prior to going over to live you were on a really really good run of form uh with a bunch of wins and whatnot I’m just curious where you feel your game is now you know in in that period since then yeah um you know last year from Masters on I didn’t really play my best uh did a feel at my best up until Ryder Cup Ryder Cup was the only resemblance to maybe the earlier part of the year um and this year the first half hasn’t been hasn’t been my best but I would say started in Houston where you know I kind of started feeling that comfort with the swing again and I’m talking about such a small margin right I mean I think I still I still have been playing good golf all throughout that time but um too bad I couldn’t play obviously in Houston on the US Open but but Nashville and last week felt I felt more comfortable getting closer to a higher level of golf where maybe there isn’t as many thoughts on my process right maybe I’m playing a little bit more freely and and uh seeing the ball flight that I want to see more often so yeah I’m getting much closer to what it might have been early last year okay Bob John um if you moved your feet like Scotty Sheffer does when he swings what would happen and also and also why do you think that works for him so well why why is he a so good doing it that way you know I I probably I might have not studied his swing enough to to understand how it really works but it seems to me that a lot of that movement happens after that CLA face is made contact with the ball right so whatever happens after it doesn’t matter right once the ball’s flying it doesn’t matter but it seems to be what helps him keep that club face square is that simple is do your own swing whatever seems repetitive right and uh he clearly can repeat it very well and Under Pressure uh Greg Norman who was a great bull Striker as well had a very similar move with his rear foot maybe not as much as him but um similar um it’s almost like a little bit of a resemblance of you know when you go bowling of the back foot going going towards the side right it’s almost like a way to keep it keep your hands straight towards the target I really don’t know how to explain it in any other way uh but I I feel like so much of my stability and my swing comes from that that real foot I’m almost the opposite for most of my career that rear foot’s been planed for so long that I I don’t think I I’ll be a very efficient golfer if I did that yeah I don’t think I’ll be a pro whatsoever could I hit it possibly but it wouldn’t be pretty okay next question from the far right John over here um just going back to the Sergio question um you mentioned his success of Bama I’m just wondering is there a golf course where you feel like you have sort of a similar or have had a similar level of success if if you had to say one which one do you think I’m going to say cuz there’s one clear one that I always talk about would I have won twice there you go yeah I if I had to say that story pints I don’t know what it is but every time I go there I don’t maybe don’t have as good a record as Sergio but I I just I feel comfortable right I get so many especially when I see the paragliders I get so many images of of what I see at home where I grew up where I didn’t necessarily play golf right on the coast but it’s just I get such a good feeling that uh I I always feel like I have a chance to win there and uh I think every time I’ve teed it up there I um at some point I’ve held the lead or I’ve been on the final group on Sunday uh I’ve had a chance to win multiple times besides the two times that I’ve done it it’s just yeah I feel like there isn’t really any of the golf course where I I think I come close to that and then just totally unrelated followup but I was just wondering what your response was to Keegan Bradley being named the captain of the US team I’m not going to lie I haven’t thought about it very much um I think a lot of people had an initial thought of maybe unexpected just because I heard so many rumors of tiger being it right I don’t know why everything I heard from that writer cup is okay Tiger’s they C down and I mean I guess you shouldn’t always believe what you hear but I think my mind was made up and when I hear anybody but tiger being it I was like oh but he uh he was definitely a bit of a Captain America figure when he was there right he uh very energetic had a great partnership with Phil played really good golf especially at Medina and yeah I’m not surprised uh I think he can be a good Captain cares deeply about the country cares deeply about about the wrer cup uh I don’t know if having a Boston native be a captain in New York might be the best thing but you know I think they can put the difference aside for that week uh yeah I think I think you can be a fantastic Captain okay you’re in the back right John just on your own rer cup situation as we stand now have you paid fines to the tour will you continue to pay fines to the tour and do you think it’s right that that is the necessary system it seems for you to play I was still in conversations with the tour I mean I haven’t been able to play any tour events so yeah we’re going to have to Source it out before I want to teed up hopefully at the Spanish open but at this point I’m so I’m so still waiting on what might happen with my wife and and daughter that I don’t know if I’ll be able to play or not right so my fall still a little bit of a question mark when it comes to playing golf but just to be clear because they said two you had to do two things one remain a member of the tour which you have done and two pay these fines that would be issued to you for not being released yeah well I haven’t paid yet but again I just don’t know when I’m going to play it could very well be a chance cuz it hasn’t been the easiest pregnancy that I just simply don’t have the chance to to tee off so my mind is not thinking on that right now okay Martin John it seemed the only non-spanish winner on Sunday was Bob McIntyre what did you learn about Bob as a a golfer and a person in Rome that I have a really hard time understanding what he says it it it’s I yeah as much as I might seem like you know I was born into the English language whenever Bob speaks I have a i to this day I remember a few conversations where he said something and I just look at him and I remember I think of myself at Arizona State when I was brand new when I was like what did you just say and my mind just goes to yes or no just yes or no and and try to skate by so besides that yeah he’s a fantastic player right um very resourceful even when he didn’t have his best that week there was a time still you know hitting the shots that that he needed um and especially that finish on Sunday right I mean getting a little bit of The Stroke of Luck of finding the sprinkler on 16 hitting seven hour in that close making the p and then making birdie again on 18 to win it is is absolutely special uh reminds me to I think it was him on a chip shot on Sunday on 15 from short of the grain hit a fantastic ship shot to uh to a tricky pin to to a tricky pin location to to keep that lead going into the last few holes not knowing what Tommy might be doing in front of him right so uh yeah he definitely has the clutch Factor when he needs to uh got it down in Canada as well I mean clearly really good player okay make for number one John last time some of us saw you you were trying telling us you were going to try to play at the US Open what happened in those few hours in between that led you to withdrawing and how did you spend that week oh I wish I could post a video um so we went from there to trying to Source a uh a podiatrist is it it’s a podiatrist yeah and uh once we found one we went there and obviously the X-ray on my food but we knew there was nothing wrong with my the bones and he saw the wound and he saw the infection and he tried to clear it out and it it’s calloused over obviously to protect and we thought we had clean it out and I don’t want to get too graphic for people that don’t like it but he basically cut part of that callus out and the second he put a little bit of pressure which still hurt a lot could see some wanting to come out and he says all right John we have to do this cuz we the synapsis in there we have to see how much how deep and I’m like oh boy um so yeah basically he numbed my foot and um grabbed a uh you know the the the shrubs they did the PCR test with basically right stuck the cutton part a little bit in so I was deeper turned it around and just jamed it down my foot and pretty much when I saw that go in I said okay I’m not playing the open um took all the infection out took another sample to see if I was taking the right antibiotics and and that’s when we made a decision he’s a military guy an exmilitary guy he had seen that before apparently he quite common never heard of it but it’s quite common amongst athletes military and things like that and he told me that uh I probably shouldn’t play uh it was hard to make a decision then cuz he had not my foot so I couldn’t really feel anything but based on the progression he said yeah you probably shouldn’t play and and and that’s when we made the decision and had it made it worse had the infection spread anymore could have started going out my leg right and and creating a bigger issue so we decided to take that week off as hard as it might have been uh and then the next morning I knew I’d made the right decision cuz the pain I was in after after that was was pretty severe but it was clean right and then as soon as I could I went back home watched the open I think I posted on social media how Thursday morning I was had the baby monitor the coffee and ready to watch and uh once I accepted the fact that I couldn’t play I think it was quite enjoyable right I think as much as any other I kind of enjoy watching some of the best players in the world struggle and uh weirdly it was it was fun to to just see it was fun for for people to see people play well and it was a lot of fun to almost be a spectator again a fan and and just enjoy it right I could at least give a a little bit of a better commentary to uh to my friends and family that were watching with me because I could put into perspective certain shots that they might not be able to appreciate on TV but I think the best part of all that being being bet ridden as well cuz I couldn’t get my foot dirty I had to maintain it clean and disinfected and all those things uh was being able to spend some time with Kelly uh cuz while she’s on bed rest I had to somewhat be on bed rest as well so to keep her company was uh was probably my favorite part okay we got time for a few more questions starting with the microphone number three hi John sorry to um go back to the football again but I’m just I’m just fascinated by yourself and troll watching the game together because I remember at the Ridder cup he described himself as the swearest man in golf during one of his press conferences um so I’m just wondering what the language was like from TR while you were sitting there watching that match and his behavior uh yeah I mean it was it was fun it was a lot of fun for both of us but it was yeah I mean it was it was Terell Hutton I mean it’s exactly where you’d expect it to be uh and honestly he’s no different to any other football fan I would think out there right uh cuz I’ve seen in enough football with both Spanish and English supporters and everybody’s language is extremely colorful right so I would say yeah he was right up the line of basically any other football fan that was watching that game but it was fun it was just interesting seeing somebody else person sides complaining about fouls and what’s not a foul and right having the arguments whether you know I mean this most two hated players on the team just because how good they are kajal and kukura and I don’t blame them right and they’re both good at fouling when they need to foul and obviously he was just going off a bit on that and then as well as whenever he had to criticize anything on the english team right that’s that was just fun to be a part of uh but no it was it was good I think I think he knew especially early on with how good Spain was playing that it was going to be a tough match for England uh but he uh his reaction when Palmer scored was was an electric one let me just say that okay next question number two hey John I’m just interested uh realistically after this week it could be nine months until you get tear up again alongside Rory and Scotty and and Colin how frustrating is that for you and and secondly the men’s Majors feel like they come and go quite quickly these days three months between the all four um would you like to see them spaced out a little bit more or or do you like the schedule as it is right now wow I have not thought about that um yeah wow haven’t thought about that ever is there a discussion of changing the schedule that I’m not I don’t think so I just feel like particularly for you guys I guess if you’re in good form it’s great you know see someone like Bryson this year you’ve got for and then but if you’re having a poor running the majors is it better to give you longer to to prepare for the big events and and obviously yeah for you it’s a few months again to the Masters now I mean in the past it was really three majors in in four months right with three of them coming in pretty quickly it was just the Masters that was a bit of the the one earlier in the year so it really I don’t feel like it’s that different I guess uh for me to think about maybe spacing it out it all depends on when you play what event where uh and I feel like I’ll need to hear other opinions I really haven’t thought about it enough to to give you an answer and I think uh the governing bad is and bodies in charge of uh of those major events can understand probably better than the rest of us and you you we all understand probably that you can’t really go against football right so without meaning American football so if you have the playoffs in August it’s going to be hard to have a major in August right so I kind of understand why we have the system we have right now uh haven’t really thought of and with so many events you know PGA and US opens being on the northeast you can’t really go earlier on the year because it might be unplayable right so I I wouldn’t know how to how to talk or think about that should the NFL make a change maybe we could make a change but I don’t see that happening because if anything they keep adding games so uh I I think we’re okay as in right now but I’ll be interesting to hear what other people think but do you hope that between now and the Masters you’ll have an opportunity to play against people like Scotty and Rory again whereas obviously right it looks like you might not be able to play you know you w might not be in the same field as those guys again until April next year which is it’s a bit crazy yeah it is it is but it’s also a decision I’ve made uh hopefully at some point going to golf can can figure itself out and at some and we have opportunities to play against each other more often uh but like I said I’m not going to lie anything past September October right now since with the situation I have with my wife and daughter I’m really not thinking about it to be honest I can’t I can’t really put myself past it so uh I can’t give you an opinion in full on in full judgment in that sense okay we’re going to finish with Doug then ju when you John when you look back at austa and Valhalla what was most frustrating what do you think you were you were lacking in your in your game and from what you’ve seen of trun what do you need to be doing your best this week well I got to enjoy trun yesterday on the easiest weather you’re ever going to see in Scotland I I was I was only meant to play nine holes but I looked at Tero and I said you know it’s sunny there’s no wind it’s perfect temperature let’s just enjoy the walk like how often you get to come to a major and just truly just enjoy the beauty of the golf course right uh kind of put a little bit of the show for the few fans are out there take care of the kids it was a very enjoyable second n uh in which I know we’re not going to play the golf course like that ever again so it’s like any other links right keep it on the fway avoid bunkers uh and that’s obviously going to set yourself up to it put you in a position to where you can maybe attack some pins and make some birdies but everything depends on the weather right if if the wind comes like he can come especially out here it’s almost a bit of it of survival uh I think last year score or last opens here score two players were the anomaly I haven’t really seen many of the opens having a really low winning score here right it’s just it’s it’s a tricky Golf Course especially the stretch of uh 9 10 11 even 12 13 14 now with the other T and I guess 15 can get quite difficult um you know all of them playing almost in of the left that that’s that’s a difficult part of the golf course so you need to do it everything well but I think obviously having control over the spin and trajectory of your ball it’s is almost almost the most important part how much do you look back at at the other two majors this year do you just let those go and say it’s golf or is there anything you can learn from it oh there’s always things you can learn from it uh it’s almost a bit what I said earlier answering to the question uh I probably I perhaps have too many thoughts on my swing where I wasn’t just letting it going and flowing on the golf course the way I would have liked to flow uh and probably why I didn’t perform the way I I would have liked to perform a Friday or austa as well right when I’m you’re not feeling your best and you’re playing an absolute hurricane of a day with fir greens I was just trying to survive and almost hoping to make the cut uh Valhalla was almost the realization that I needed to make a change where I was making good swings and just ball wasn’t doing what I was expecting it to make to do and that’s why I believe believe that might have been the last tournament I had my old driver shaft in I changed it after that and I’ve been more comfortable ever since so I think uh I think that was a big change right being able to swing at the driver more freely and without having to think about technique so much I think has been it has been quite nice okay one British Bo link okay we’ll bring things to close there John thank you very much for your time and best of luck this thank you