Q. Obviously it does make dinner taste a little bit better with that finish there. Just a few comments about the round today.
JON RAHM: God, it was, it's a very solid round of golf. Great opening nine, 3-under, had a lot of looks for birdie. On the back nine it was more of the same. Played really well, hit some great shots, especially off the tee I kept putting myself in good spots and the ones that weren't good I managed pretty well.
It was just too bad that I couldn't capitalize on the tee shots I had on 13, 15 and 17. Those are really solid ones, putting them in great spots with irons into the greens on the par-5s. But it is what it is. It's golf. Things happen. I'm going to -- I'm leaving here very hopeful knowing that I shot such a good round making mistakes, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Q. Did they make enough noise for you at 16?
JON RAHM: No, no. They probably started too early because then they didn't realize it takes about three, four, five, six seconds for me to get ready to then hit the shot, which is a lot of time to be yelling. I also don't think a lot of them are used to yelling while we're swinging, right? That's more a Saturday thing. On the weekend definitely they don't care. To me it's almost easier to deal with the hole when they're yelling. But today it wasn't as loud as it could have been.
Plus, I also didn't hit it as close as I wanted to. They made plenty of noise for hitting the shot. So that's the right thing to do.
Q. The Arizona State jersey coming out Saturday?
JON RAHM: No. No, no. Probably not going to come out in a long time. Not for lack of enthusiasm or willingness, more for sponsor conflict than anything else. Last time I checked Travis Mathew doesn't make football jerseys, right? So can't really be endorsing somebody else.
Q. You mentioned good with the driver, good with the irons today. Fifth gained in strokes off the tee, sixth tee to green. Does that make you feel good going into the next couple days like if putts start falling you're going to start scoring some low numbers?
JON RAHM: Heck, yeah, it does. I mean putting, the only thing I could say is maybe it's three instances. One of them we could maybe understand it, which was the putt on 17. I mean, I'm 80 feet away with three different breaks, up and down, water, I've seen tragedies on that hole from the fairway, from the green. So let's forget about that.
The only thing is the 3-putt only 13 and the missed putt on 10. That's about it. Besides that, there was certain moments throughout the round that could have been better and I actually thought the putter was good, it felt good it was rolling good, there was a lot of them out there that just were close and didn't go in that any other given day may go in. So I did what I had to do, made most of those putts inside 10 feet for pars and birdies, which is always going to save a round. So I'm not going to get too picky.
I'm not looking -- I mean, I want to shoot 10-under every time, but it's not always going to happen. So it's like I said, I'm leaving here very optimistic knowing that I can play better than what I did today even though it felt amazing.
Q. A long way to go, but given your history with this event ties to the community, what would winning this title mean to you?
JON RAHM: It would mean a lot. I've been able to win the Spanish Open twice and I carry that with a lot of honor. And this is kind of essentially home away from home, right, I guess it is my family's home now, I'm from Arizona, I'm from Scottsdale and I'm an ASU graduate.
So it means a lot, it's a tournament that is always marked on the calendar early on. And I've been close somewhat close to winning, but never really had a chance, so I'm hoping I can get that done, because it's a tournament I really like and definitely one that I would love to win.
Q. You mentioned earlier in the week you got D.J. with you this week, how did it feel getting out there with him today?
JON RAHM: It's good. It always brings me a smile when I see him out there, knowing that I'm doing good for him. So if I don't have enough motivation hopefully for the rest of the week then I got to remember each birdie I make it's only going to contribute more to his cause, if I need any more at any point.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports