Q. Jon, how would you assess your round out there today?
JON RAHM: It was good. I would say rounds like this don't come by very easily at East Lake. I'm assuming my fairways hit percentage wasn't very high, so to not hit many fairways and still shoot low, it's a hard task out here.
I think I was able to put the ball on the green in good spots when I could, and when I couldn't I was able to give myself the best up-and-down option possible. I tried at least.
There was a couple really good ones. the up-and-down on 6 and the up-and-down on 10 were extremely good, but my driving wasn't great, my iron play was good, and my putting was phenomenal today.
So hopefully I can keep rolling it consistently good and tidy up those tee shots.
Q. How big are those up-and-downs in a great round like this?
JON RAHM: That up-and-down on 10 was huge. And it's not that the easiest. It's deep in the rough, downhill lie, downhill green. I didn't think I could leave that ball short, and I leave myself the hardest possible five-footer I can have for par. It curled in. Put a really solid swing on the next hole, and it just gave me confidence. Making those short ones -- I made one on the first hole, as well. Gives you confidence that rolling it good, you're seeing the breaks properly.
It doesn't make you second-guess when you're hitting shots into the green, What if I miss a shot or anything like that, right? I'm fully confident I can get up-and-down. But I hope I don't have to depend on my short game the rest of the week as much as I did today.
Q. I know you and Dustin weren't playing together last week, but it kind of seemed like a continuation of last week; you guys were trading birdies back and forth today.
JON RAHM: Yeah. I mean, the only birdie we didn't share was mine on 16. Besides that we birdied every single hole together, which is kind of unique, right? We just didn't have bogeys on the same bogeys. So many times we usually play good when we play together, especially -- not especially, it's just weird to see us both struggle off the tee. That's usually our forte, our strong suit, and usually we are both bombing down the fairway and hitting good shots.
It's weird to kind of see the opposite from both of us and see us struggle a little bit and kind of pull some good short games and good par putts out there.
I mean, technically it is a continuation, right? I kind of stole that tournament last week from him and he started with a two-shot lead, so hopefully I can steal this one, as well.
Q. Do you guys feel like you're pushing each other a little bit right now?
JON RAHM: I feel like I was doing most of the pushing because I made pretty much every single birdie putt before he did. Props to him to be making them on top of me. All those putts on the back nine, 12, 13, 15. Two of them were really long before he made his 10-, 15-footer.
I was definitely trying to put the heat on him. J.T. put the heat on both of us early on. It only helps for all of us to try to play our best golf. And at the end of the day we're entertainers, as well, so we're here to put our best performances and the best show possible.
Q. Why do you believe you and Dustin play so well together?
JON RAHM: I don't know. I can't tell you. I just think it happens. We both like to play fast. We might take a little bit of time on the greens. Usually in the fairways we're pretty quick to make decisions, and off the tee, as well.
So I think we both get into a good flow and rhythm knowing what the other guy is going to do. We pretty much know what to expect, so there might be a sense of familiarity in that sense. And that's just a hypothesis. I can't tell you why.
I think we're both good players, we see the golf course very similarly, and like I said, we're both usually good ball strikers, so we feed off of that.
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