Q. Did you see what happened to Shane yesterday?
JON RAHM: I have heard what happened. I have not seen the images.
Q. As a fellow player, how do you assess that situation?
JON RAHM: Well, I can relate because I've been there. They've done exactly the same thing to me where they give you the iPad, and look what happened.
Q. Are you in a no-win situation there?
JON RAHM: Yeah, you're in a no-win situation because if you say I didn't see it, therefore I don't think it should be a penalty, even though the rule says it should be visible to the naked eye, you always run the risk of being called something you don't want to be called. And if you take it on the safe side, you're taking a two-shot penalty.
If he starts at 2-under today, you have a good Saturday, you can put yourself in contention. When you get 10 shots back, it's a little bit harder.
It's a tough spot to be in. From what I understand from the whole thing, and I haven't seen the images, this is just from what I heard, it needs to be visible without a camera. If the rule says visible to the naked eye, we need to uphold that more than anything else.
Q. Can they change that rule somehow to make it clearer or more straightforward?
JON RAHM: I don't know. It's always going to be based on the situation, and when you get in the rough, it's tricky. But if he didn't see it, I just don't know -- there's enough people, I'm assuming if he was in the rough on 12, right or left, there's enough people around you that if they see it, they're going to say so. Something needs to be changed for sure, I just don't know exactly how they could change it.
Q. A lot of players are talking about the slow play. Bryson has just been in saying maybe they should time the whole round and maybe go on that bases. Do you have any ideas how to quicken things up?
JON RAHM: They asked me in Spanish about pace of play. Has it been an issue?
Q. It's been really slow this week.
JON RAHM: Well, like I told them, at least the people that played in my wave, we had a lot of rain come in and out, so umbrellas out, glove out, put the rain gear on, take the rain gear off, give the umbrella to the caddie.
It becomes a lot longer that way. Like I said to them, it usually is very much related to the amount of players in the field. When you have 150 plus the first two rounds, every single major except the Masters, obviously, is going to be longer rounds. It's just what it is.
We don't have -- in smaller fields when you have less people, and even in threesomes in small fields, you don't really have that issue. Once they get to the Playoffs or DP World championship or Abu Dhabi, those are not things that become an issue.
I think there's so many players and there's so many opportunities to where the game can get delayed, you can reach the second hole, you can reach 5, you can let them finish or they're going to wave up, you can reach 7, you can reach 12, then plenty of holes like 16 where things can get lengthened, that's just going to happen. It's the flow of the game. There's very little you can do to make those rounds a lot shorter. That's just the nature of the game.
Q. What is your personal approach to playing at that speed?
JON RAHM: It's a bit of an adjustment after playing in LIV because we absolutely fly. The one thing we do, I feel like every round is less than four and a half hours unless the weather conditions are crazy. Doral may be a little bit longer.
It is an adjustment when you get to play a six-hour round a little bit, but I also know it's going to happen. So talk to your caddie, talk to your playing partners. While there's nothing you can do, just try to keep your mind engaged in something else but the game. Just not be thinking, okay, I have this hole, and keep thinking on what you're going to do. Just distract yourself a little bit and basically lock back in when it's time. There's nothing else you can do.
Q. Do you remember the first two rounds at Augusta when Tiger won in '19, Haotong Li was in your threesome?
JON RAHM: Yeah.
Q. What were your impressions of his game then?
JON RAHM: I've played with him before as well, played some practice rounds at Augusta. We went early, me Wesley Bryan in '17 and he was there as well, so we played with him.
I mean, he's a talented player. He definitely has it tee to green. This game is never easy, but he's been able to win in Europe, won earlier this year with a great birdie on 18 I must add, great putt. It's just never easy.
Took that lead at I think Harding Park, through 36 holes he had the lead. Somebody that works hard. We don't really have a lot of Chinese players, and he's definitely a very talented one, obviously.
You need the experience up there to hopefully get it done eventually.
Q. What Seve did for golf in Europe, imagine what he could do for golf in China.
JON RAHM: Yeah, with somebody like Hideki in Japan and Y.E. Yang probably doing what he did winning for Korea and somebody like him in China, yeah, might be able to give golf the exposure that's needed in China. Obviously it would be a massive market in that sense.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports