ED HODGE: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to our first preview press conference today. Delighted to be joined by two-time major champion Jon Rahm. Jon, welcome to the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale. How are confidence levels coming into the week?

JON RAHM: Confidence is always high. I think as a player you have to have that belief in yourself, that things are always going to be good, so feeling good. Very excited to be here.

It’s one of the venues that I remember as being a fantastic championship venue, historically very difficult one. Weather-wise, very unusual week. Looking forward to see what the challenge presents because I think we’re going to see a
bit of everything, see 6-irons off tees, drivers and long irons into par-4s. It should be a really fun one.

ED HODGE: You’ve had three top-10 finishes at The Open. Obviously looking to try to keep that record going this week. Is that the key; get in the top 10 or even better?

JON RAHM: Hopefully a top one; that’s the goal. Hopefully become an Open Champion.

Q. How many 6-irons are you going to be hitting off tees?

JON RAHM: It all depends on the wind. With the wind we had yesterday, which 10 basically played straight right to left, we all hit 5- or 6-iron on 11 and still almost reached that bunker on the left. We hit 5- or 6-irons on 16 and almost reached — actually, some people reached the bunker on the left. 10, you could make an argument for a 5-iron as well, and if it keeps getting firmer and stays warm with the same wind direction, you could have quite a few holes where that 6-iron is going 280 yards. It’s unprecedented for sure.

Q. Two things, Jon, because you’d be disappointed if it was just one. What’s the biggest challenge when it’s running this fast? What’s the hardest part of links golf when it’s this brutal?

JON RAHM: I would say see how firm they let the greens get, right? St Andrews was firm and their fairways were running very fast, but the greens, they managed to keep them decently soft. That’s why you saw the scoring be low, and it was a bit more about being aggressive.

This time around, if these greens that are way smaller than the ones at St Andrews, get firmer, distance control is going to be key. Knowing how the ball is going to react and where you need to land it to give yourself a putt is going to be very, very important.

This golf course is known as not being the easiest already. Weather conditions usually are pretty harsh, windy. It’s always windy, right? So a lot of those holes are going to present a very strong challenge.

It also depends on the setup. With yesterday’s wind, 13 and 18 was 500-plus yards straight into the wind, they might have moved it a tee up, maybe not. If they didn’t, they would be very long holes. If they moved it a little bit up, still long holes but slightly easier. Same with 15.

So it will be up to the tournament committee on the setup as well, but I think understanding how the ball’s going to react and the fairways and on the greens is always going to be the challenge.

Q. And what did you see when you stood on the 5th tee?

JON RAHM: Haven’t yet.

Q. You haven’t been there yet?

JON RAHM: 15? Yeah, well, I’m teeing off at 2:00. In a few hours I’ll be there. From what I heard, the trees aren’t there anymore. So you actually get a view of the green. That’s all I could tell you.

Q. This major run where there’s obviously not too much time between the Masters and The Open and a long, long wait until the Masters, do you like this? Or would it benefit from being a little bit more spread out?

JON RAHM: I haven’t thought about it.

Q. Think about it now, please. (Laughter.)

JON RAHM: I think it’s got its pros and cons. When somebody’s playing really good golf, having the majors close together helps. We just saw in the LPGA where a non-major champion is a two-time major champion in two weeks, and with Nelly as well. If you’re playing good golf, it’s always going to benefit you.

As far as spectators go, I think us having some more time in between may be better. You could make an argument for either one. I think we’re limited with when we have the best weather for each one, right?

Unfortunately in golf where some of the great golf courses are placed or located, you’re going to have to use those June, July months other than other times of the year. I think it’s always going to be close, but honestly I keep forgetting that the PGA is not in August anymore.

Again, I can see it either way. I wouldn’t say it’s bad or good.

Q. To follow up on that, would you like to have a more international major, not three in the U.S. and one in Europe, or one that travels around the world maybe?

JON RAHM: I think it would be good for golf, yeah. I think if you could have more golf elsewhere, I think it would be fine. I just don’t know — as a major, you need to have that commercial value as well. I understand it.

I wouldn’t know the logistics of that. I don’t know who can decide what a new major becomes or is now a major. Yeah, that would be interesting to see a major happen in other parts of the world, in other continents, I mean. Golf being a global game  and as big as it is, it’s something that could be explored for sure.

From what I’ve seen the last few years, having a major in Australia could be very successful. Not that Europe deserves two, but having two in Europe would also be good fun. Preferably home court in my case. And same in Asia. I think there would be some great venues and great places to possibly have them.

Q. Regarding your own game, you didn’t get the best start last week. What was it you were struggling with, and is it a bit concerning perhaps?

JON RAHM: Concerning, no. Just bad 11 holes. I just didn’t put it in the fairway enough at the start. I think when I counted, I hit three greens in 11 holes. This is a recipe for bad things to happen on that golf course. It was windy. It was firm.

It’s tricky to put it in a place where I’m going to be able to save par, and that was the problem. I think from then on I played fairly good. Too bad of the bad finish on Sunday, but besides the first 10 holes and the last four, everything in between felt really, really good.

Q. Jon, in those holes where you said you’d be looking to hit an iron off the tee, is it not a good risk to try to hit it past everything, or is that not even an option to hit driver and try to go beyond all the trouble?

JON RAHM: Oh, it definitely is. On 16 yesterday playing with Josele, he hit driver, and if you hit it on line, he definitely would have reached. If it wasn’t on the green, it would have been very close. The problem is how difficult is it going to be with a wayward drive when you can hit 6-iron, wedge. That’s what you need to gauge.

I think if we have the same wind on a Sunday and somebody needs to make up strokes, yeah, it could be a very viable option. It would be hard to say. On a hole like 11, it’s much narrower, maybe a little bit more difficult to do so. 16 was a bit more feasible depending on the pin location.

From what I’ve learned in the past, if you start pulling out drivers in an Open Championship, you can do a good job short term. You can maybe get away with it one round. Over four rounds, you’re going to start finding spots you don’t want to be in, and you’re going to pay the price.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about how different this golf course is to other Open courses that you’ve played? Is it the doglegs that make it a little bit different, raised greens, et cetera?

JON RAHM: They’ve changed a few things as well. They’ve made it narrower. They’ve added bunkers, moved fairways closer to hazards, added longer tees. On a golf course that was already difficult, they’ve made it more difficult.

I would say that as well, you have quite a few more doglegs with the fairway that’s slanted, and you need to pick your spots to then attack the greens.

It’s just usually in an Open you have a bit of a choice with how much you can do off the tee, but this, in Birkdale, you can still be aggressive, but you really don’t always have that chance.

Take the 1st hole, for example; you could hit driver, but who knows where that ball is going to end up if you’re not accurate. It’s a challenge for sure. The green complex has been raised and having all these big fall-offs and all these big run-offs.

On 15 and 16 are great examples now. If you miss the green sideways where you end up, it’s a very tricky spot. Sometimes it’s a little bit flatter where you can just roll it and it feels like a putt, but this time around it’s going to be a bigger penalty for sure.

Q. Can I just get your shots on the new 15th hole? I remember at Hoylake you described the new hole there as fair because it was unfair for everybody. Does the 15th here have similarities, and what do you make of it?

JON RAHM: The new one?

Q. Yes.

JON RAHM: Similarities to what?

Q. To the 17th at Hoylake.

JON RAHM: 17th at Hoylake, let me remember. Oh, that was short. Yeah, but one of them was a wedge to maybe an 8-iron if it was into the wind. The other one is nearly a 3-wood if it’s into the wind or more. You can’t really compare them.

The green run-offs area, yeah. If you miss that green on 17 at Hoylake, you could find yourself in some very, very bad spots. But you should because it’s short. In this case, if you’re on the back tee and it’s not downwind, it’s a very narrow target. Even with no wind, you’re hitting 4-irons into a very small green that is firm. You could easily hit a good shot and end up off the green and struggling for par. So it’s a little bit different.

This one, I would say, is obviously much, much harder. If I remember correctly with the wind we’ve had in the past, it’s probably going to be some sort of left-to-right wind. So it’s going to play very, very difficult for sure in that regard. That’s from the back tee, at least 240-odd yards to the middle. If you’re on the up tee, it’ll be a little bit easier. Still, a very tricky hole. They’ve clearly wanted to make the golf course harder, and they’ve done that.

Q. Which wind concerns you most when you’re trying to score out here? Downwind, into the wind, left to right, right to left?

JON RAHM: I think it depends on the hole. There is some benefits to both. When it’s downwind, like I mentioned, on some of the holes, you most likely just need an iron off the tee and you’ll have a short iron in. Then distance control and stopping the ball on the green becomes a little more difficult.

Into the wind, it’s easier to stop it, but you’re probably going to be hitting driver or long irons in.

No matter what, you need to strike it really, really solidly. I think, if you get it cross-wind, you get a bit of both worlds where you can use the wind to navigate the ball into the fairway and then try to fight the wind to stop it on the green a little bit easier. It’s tricky either way.

Q. Just to follow up on the other question, is there frustration or disappointment on Sunday night when you leave here knowing that you’re not going to see a major until April of next year?

JON RAHM: No. I mean, it is what it is, I guess, right? We used to have the PGA in August, and it’s still a very long wait. It’s only three more weeks longer.

There’s so much to play towards the end of the year. No matter what tour you’re playing on, you have the final events of the year, the final prize of the year. And in my case, trying to play some events in Europe after that. There’s still so much to play for that, yeah, it’s not a major, but you have to focus on that, right? By the time it’s done and it’s December already, it’s only four months until Augusta.

Q. Do you have any kind of growing impatience in terms of trying to land another major title?

JON RAHM: No. No. It’s — how to describe it would be really hard. It’s not easy to win a major, and it’s a tough task for anybody on the field. You just have to go and do it.

The only growing impatience I would have is to give myself more chances. I’ve been able to do it once in the last two years so far. Hopefully I get another chance. Right, both PGAs? I would like to be in contention more often, just have a chance.

Eventually if you give yourself enough chances, it’s easier to end up with that win.

Q. Is it harder to win majors when you’ve won two relatively early in your career?

JON RAHM: No. God, it’s hard. It’s very hard, yeah.

Q. From all The Opens you’ve played in, what is the thing that you have learnt most?

JON RAHM: I’ve gotten that question a few times these last two days, and I think they’re all specific to each Open because the weather conditions are different. I think here I may draw a little bit of inspiration from Carnoustie in 2018 because I think right now is playing somewhat similar in which I thought, oh, rough is thin. You can miss fairways, and I try to hit one too many drivers and ended up going home on Saturday.

I think more so than ever, when it’s firm, you want to be in the fairway so you can have more control over the golf ball because out of the rough you start having fliers and the ball can release
so much where even if you’re 100 yards away, it’s tricky to find the greens.

I think putting the ball where you need to put it off the tee is going to be important.

Q. I wonder how you deal with doubt.

JON RAHM: Making me doubt myself right now.

Q. No, I’m just asking. Everybody deals with it. I wonder how you deal with it.

JON RAHM: With doubt in what?

Q. In your game, getting close in majors and coming up short. What is that process like for you?

JON RAHM: I think it’s part of being a pro athlete. I think it’s a part of being a human being, right? I don’t think you’re ever always 100 percent convinced something is going to happen, and that’s why you put the effort that you put in. I think essentially it’s just part of the process where you work as hard as you can to prepare, you try to compete. If things go well or not, you learn from what you did and try to be better prepared for the next one.

I don’t need more specific because doubt is such a general thing. I think we all have it, but again, it’s part of just working hard and try to give yourself the best chance.

Q. Is there ever a time where you beat yourself up after a tournament and learn from it and got better as a result?

JON RAHM: I beat myself up after a lot of tournaments, yeah. I think we all do when you don’t play at the level you want to play and mistakes, and you need to learn from the mistakes, but yeah, many times. Many, many times.

I think you see a lot of golfers sometimes maybe have one bad weekend and then go on to the next week and win or do well.

Best example I can give you from this year is Australia, being tied for the lead with Bryson and Anthony Kim in the final group and having a very lackluster Sunday, learning a lot precisely from what I witnessed Anthony Kim do. Took that to two weeks later at Hong Kong where I was tied for the lead with two other players and actually getting it done.

So, yeah, there’s cases and there’s times where you learn from your mistakes. I think you need to be honest enough about it with yourself to maybe swallow your prid

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