Q. 3-under 67, that ties the low round of the day at Oakmont. Walk us through what was working out there.
JON RAHM: It's crazy because it doesn't feel like I played that different to every other round. Two keys: Number one would be I kept it in play off the tee. I'm trying to go through the round. For the most part, I was in the fairway or the first cut most of the entire day. I think the first time I was not in one of those was the 14th, and luckily I was close enough to the green to fix that.
Then my lag putting. I had the speed really dialed in today. I felt like I was very comfortable, if you can be at Oakmont, with speeds, and it showed. Every long putt I had was nothing but a kick-in and didn't have to stress for it. That helps a lot. And obviously making the bonus one on 16, right.
I think those two keys are what made today possible.
Q. Number 8 was the longest par-3 in U.S. Open history. Can you talk about how you approached that hole today?
JON RAHM: Luckily it was downwind, I'll just say that. How do you approach that? You most likely pull the head cover off one of the clubs and then hope it goes straight because in my case today, I chose to hit a 5-wood. I think 3-wood I could have landed it closer to pin high, but it would have put long, especially right, in jeopardy. So hit a 5-wood trying to hit the front of the green and tried to two-putt, and that's exactly what I did.
Q. What are the key holes coming down the stretch that some of these leaders are going to have to be looking out for?
JON RAHM: It's hard, because you can make birdie on 10, 11, 12, and you can also get in trouble, but those are the birdie holes. After that, 14 obviously. 13 is incredibly difficult. It's very difficult to hit it close to the pin. Otherwise, you're going to have a long putt up the hill or a very, very, very difficult up-and-down. If somebody goes for it and goes long left in the bunker, nearly impossible. Same with the short right one, you can do it, but it's very hard.
Then obviously 15 is just a monster of a hole. Same with 16 and 18. They're all difficult. It is the craziest part, I would say, is any birdie holes coming in, they're more on the back nine obviously than the front nine. Like I said, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, those five you can birdie. It's difficult, but you can.
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