Q. Can you just give us a review of your round?
JON RAHM: Just a really good round, really good golf in general. Everything felt good. The thing I would say made it really good was how well I did off the tee. I would say hit pretty much every tee shot in the fairway or on the first cut and far down there at that. So that certainly made the day a lot easier.
Q. Certainly it's important not to over react, but how important is it also not to downplay a first round like this too much? Where is that balance?
JON RAHM: No, I'm extremely happy. I played some incredible golf to shoot 1-under, which we don't usually say, right? Not many things I could really say about today. The only thing I could think about is the putt on 12. That was a short birdie putt that I should have made. It was a bit of a misread and a bad stroke.
I feel like those are the moments early in the championship that can test you a little bit, and you've got to get over it quickly because it is Oakmont, so you say that happened and move on. I think I did really good at staying patient. I made a lot of good swings on holes like 17, tough spot; 1, hit two good shots, just catches the upslope; on 2 I hit a great shot getting out of a tough spot as well. So I did a great job trying to be understanding of where we're at, and I think I got rewarded when I had the chance on 3 and 4.
Q. Did watching the broadcast from this morning help at all?
JON RAHM: Yeah, I watched it. I think it helps. It's not exactly the same conditions, and in the afternoon it dried up a little bit. Some of those holes were playing a little shorter. Some of those bounces were maybe slightly firmer. But it always helps to see. When you see someone like J.J. go out and shoot 4-under, you say, well, it's doable. It's hard, but it's doable.
Q. How much did you watch last year?
JON RAHM: You mean like the tournament? Oh, a lot of it. I couldn't do anything but be in bed. So I watched a lot of shots.
Q. Is that worse physically not being able to play than perhaps being in a major and not playing well and missing the cut or no?
JON RAHM: I mean, you want to be there, and you want to compete. That's what we're here for. But whether I can't tee off in general or you miss the cut, what's done is done. Tomorrow's a new day, and you can actually just enjoy it and watch is fantastic.
I think a lot of my friends like it if I'm home because I think I provide some commentary that -- you know, just the knowledge of the golf course that they don't, and I can explain why certain shots are a little bit harder. So I think my friends like it just because of that. I just enjoy it because I'm a golf fan in general. If I'm not there, I can still enjoy it.
Q. Is there a shot out here that they probably don't understand that it's as hard as it really is for you?
JON RAHM: Probably every shot. I mean, there's too many. Too many instances where you may not know -- the best example I can give you is 16. I hit one of the better 5-irons I can hit and had maybe 7 1/2 feet to the hole. Mentally, like I want to make that putt, but I'm thinking I'm going to hit three feet right and it's downhill. I'll take a tap-in.
There's things like that where you don't realize, or if you leave it just short of the green on 1 on that little upslope, how hard that putt is. There's so many things and so many little instances on the golf course that if you're not there physically, even if you're in the grandstands, you don't understand how difficult it truly is.
Q. When you talk about patience, was that reflected in the first 11 holes? You had 10 pars and a bogey. Or were you antsy at all to get a birdie?
JON RAHM: No. It's nice when you get those scoreboards and it tells you how difficult holes are playing, right? So you know that, if you're making par, you're gaining pretty much half a stroke on every hole. It's one of the craziest things that you can see. So pars are always good. And knowing that if you make a bogey, you're not losing too much.
Yeah, I played good enough to not really get caught up in that moment. That's why I think it was nice to get a chance in a couple holes to go after good tee shots and take advantage.
Q. Is there a mental exercise that you do between these rounds to really reset? Like, okay, that was tough today.
JON RAHM: Well, today's a quick one, right? See how quickly you can kind of -- I don't know the word, is it deload? Is that a word?
Q. Unload.
JON RAHM: Yeah, unload. I'm thinking in Spanish. When my family's here, I start thinking in Spanish again basically.
Yeah, basically just unwind, try to come back to normality instead of competition. You have a good dinner and go to sleep and sleep fast because tomorrow's an early day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports