QUICKEN LOANS NATIONAL

June 24, 2014

Jason Day

JOHN BUSH: We'll get started, we'd like to welcome Jason Day into the interview room here at the Quicken Loans national. Your sixth start at this event, couple Top-10 finishes. If we can get your comments on being back at Congressional.

JASON DAY: Obviously it's fun to be here. As soon as Tiger leaves, everyone else leaves, too. No, it's fun to be back. Obviously this is a pretty special spot. This is a spot where I finished second at the 2011 U.S. Open. I've had like John said, a couple of Top-10 finishes here and definitely looking forward to playing this week and hopefully we get some nice weather. Coming off a thumb injury. Played three events now, so I feel like I'm kind of getting back in the swing of things and everything feels good.

Q. You've played well the last couple weeks; is there a sense of at the Match Play that, man, that was really, really poor timing?
JASON DAY: I've said it in the past, where I definitely felt I had a chance of getting to that No. 1 spot this year, just the way I was playing, the way it was trending, definitely felt I had a really good shot. If I didn't get injured, I felt like I had a really good shot of getting to No. 1. Obviously getting back to No. 6 in the world is pretty special, as well. Yeah, I have to kind of slowly work my way back up there. This would be a good start to win this week but there's a lot of golf to be played from tomorrow on. There was some frustration mixed in with a lot of stress and just the injury, I learned more out of this injury than I have the past previous injuries that I've had. Being out for three months is very frustrating, especially with how I played at the start of the year. I'm just glad it's behind me and I can move on and start to practice and really go at the ball 100 percent and not worry about how many golf balls I have to hit and not have a hit count. I'm excited to be here in D.C.

Q. Other than obviously a win, what are your expectations this week, and what did the thumb affect most both positively and negatively?
JASON DAY: I think the biggest thing was you're competing against the best players in the world, and you're not really going at it the best you can through the ball. Obviously it hurt from the top down through impact, and there's no way that I can compete against the best players in the world if I'm flinching at the ball through impact and not really trusting it. The biggest thing that I learned was just to not mess around with the injuries and just go to the best guy and have it looked at and fix it that way instead of kind of seeing two or three other doctors that are kind of local with where you're at. Doesn't matter, just get on the plane and go and see the guy, because you know, I may have shortened my three months down to a month, if I was -- that's two months of golf that I could have been playing, but that's obviously more frustrating for me knowing that I could have been back and on top of it. You know, you're sitting there going, when is my thumb going to get better. Would this be a career-ending injury? I just didn't know. Obviously when you're sitting there by yourself on the couch watching the guys play golf on TV every Sunday, things like that go through your head, and you're probably your own worst enemy at the end of the day. You're playing things constantly through your head that are not obviously good things, but like I said, I'm just glad it's all in the past. I'm sure like Tiger said here, he's had back issues in the past; I'm just looking forward to coming back here and playing Congressional and hopefully contending and winning this week, would be nice.

Q. Is that your expectation?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I've come off a good finish at the U.S. Open and I've come off a good weekend at Travelers. I think the biggest thing for me was to try and make sure that I'm well rested. Obviously this was a big stretch for me, straight out of the gates playing four in a row, playing Greenbrier next week. To manage just the energy levels is huge. You'd think walking around a golf course should be easy, right? It's so mentally high and low and physically high and low. The expectations are pretty high right now, so I've been putting in the hard work and doing the right thing, so hopefully I can contend this week, would be nice.

Q. You talk about, you think this is behind you and you got the cortisone shot. Is this masking the pain or something that you feel like it's going to be following you around the rest of your career?
JASON DAY: I don't know. I tore my TFCC in my right wrist back in 2009 and had a cortisone shot in that, and saw the second guy that did the last shot in my thumb, Dr. Thomas Graham. I haven't had to have another shot in my right wrist yet. It's hard to tell what they are going to, it's hard to tell the time period when it's going to flare up again, really; is it going to be a year, is it going to be six months, is it going to be next week. You just don't know until it happens. It took me 20 years for this to finally flare up and happen the way it did. So hopefully if it comes in another 20 years, I'll be happy.

Q. Your doctors told you that nothing can be done as far as surgery?
JASON DAY: Well, you can go -- I've got 30 more degrees extra extension in my left thumb and so any time I go to the golf club, it goes into hyperextension, so it's kind of like just bending your finger back and you're hyperextended over a long period of time and there's a -- where you have baseline and neutral, and then it just keeps going further and further back. So I could go in there and fuse it and make it not go past neutral and you know, take away that 30 degrees of extra extension, but I'd much rather go in there with a cortisone shot and try and fix it that way before jumping into surgery, because surgery may heal it, or may not, you know. You just don't know.

Q. You sort of alluded to this earlier, but does this tournament fall in kind of a weird place in the schedule where there's some fatigue potential going in?
JASON DAY: For some players it might. For me, it's kind of weird obviously because of the injury that I have. Usually I'd play the U.S. Open, take the week off after the U.S. Open and then jump into the Quicken Loans. So I would be coming for a week of rest but for me personally, no. This year, yes, but you know, just for me I just have to suck it up and play.

Q. Tiger was talking about the young group of players, bigger, stronger, drive the ball farther. You pretty much fit in that young group. Is this what we see in golf in the future and what will it mean to golf?
JASON DAY: You go back to every sport back 20, 30 years, you look at a kid these days, everyone was kind of big back then in every sport. But these guys, there's just so much more science and technology that we have in every sport now, all these kids are being able to get their hands on earlier at a young age and that's why they hit so hard and they are stronger and faster and even out here in golf, they are tall, a lot of the young guys are tall and they look strong. They are swing speeds are off the charts and you'll definitely see the younger guys out here tall, strong, hit a long way and their short games are usually pretty good.

Q. With Tiger, talking a lot about injuries and recoveries --
JASON DAY: I think that goes down to what your body type is. I definitely feel like I'm more prone to injury than the majority of people out there, just going on past history. In pretty much my young professional career over the last seven years, I've had a good amount of injuries. It's tough to tell because all you're trying to do in the gym, especially as golfers, we are not trying to get too big, and we are not trying to be body builders -- I mean, some of us are, but not all of us. We're really just trying to maintain to a point where we can still go at it hard and not hurt ourselves, because if you think about it, we've swung so many millions of swings just one direction. We haven't really done anything to balance the other side out. So that's kind of what we're doing in the gym to really kind of balance ourselves out and pretty much maintain what we got right now.

Q. This might not be as applicable because of the injury thing, and you seem to be into the analytics of golf, maybe some ShotLink or science. Do you think that's the way it's going?
JASON DAY: Yeah. I mean, no one -- when I first came out, no one had stats guys. We had our own. My coach, who is my caddie, as well, and my stats guy, and every week he comes up and gives me a piece of paper and says, that's what you need to do to win around here. And that's just what the winner does. That's what the winner does over the period of years that it's been here; so how many eagles, bogeys, double-bogeys, he gets it down to a T, the averages off the par 3s and par 4s and par 5s. That's going back to the same question that I had earlier is that these kids out here are getting so much information and sometimes it can be information overload but as a player, that's why you employ people. If you're a big CEO of a company, you employ the smart people that make you look you smart; so that's what I'm doing, I have people around me that make me look smart and work very hard on my team. I only need to know a small piece of the pie. They just need to go, this is what you need to do and I just go out and try to do it. That's where I think the golf is becoming a lot tougher. The scores are starting to bunch a lot more these days than they have been in the past. Obviously, you know, everyone's been -- they have been phenomenal golfers throughout the history, but it just seems that it feels like everyone is competing and trying -- that can compete and win on TOUR every week, that's what it feels like. So I'm very much so in that and that's kind of my way of, I need to stay ahead of the curve, make sure that I've got that extra step over the next person, and if whatever I can do to help me win, that's legal, obviously, I'll do. I'm not going to do anything stupid. (Laughter).

Q. Do you use the stats more in practice or the competitive round?
JASON DAY: We do both. At the end of the year, myself, my agent, Bud; my wife, Ellie; and my caddie, Cole, we all sit down, have a meeting, just about everything, and then when Cole talks, it's more about golf. And that's kind of when he goes, okay, this is what you need to improve for next year, and then we'll come up with a practice plan for that so we can kind of maintain the strengths and improve the weaknesses. Golf, when they practice, they usually go out and practice their strength and what they are good at and no one really wants to go out and practice their weakness, because at the end of the day, you practice your weaknesses, you come off the range swearing at yourself because you had a bad session but that's what you need to work on. We do it both ways to come up with a plan.

Q. Can you think back to 2011, 8-under in a U.S. Open normally wins that; is it that a fond memory or bittersweet?
JASON DAY: We had a lot of rain that year. I'm just hoping for nice weather. It's calling for some thunderstorms this week but we can definitely miss them. I haven't been out on the course yet so it's been hard to tell how the course is going to set up. I know when I was chipping and putting on the greens this morning, they were very firm and bouncing a lot so they were obviously different from last week. But it does bring back good memories. It brings back the emotions of how much stress I had because I hit it awful the last -- I hit it awful pretty much the whole week. I didn't have a bogey the last 45 holes of the U.S. Open, which was pretty special to not bogey any holes of the 45 holes. Yeah, I'm hoping to go one better this week, it would be nice. Especially with Tiger coming back, it's fantastic to see him back on the golf course. I think golf needs Tiger in the game. Obviously he's changed the game for us and we wouldn't have all you guys in here -- or half you guys in here now, talking to us (laughter). But it's obviously pretty special to see him back. He's always been a hero of mine as I was growing up, so it would be nice to see if I can get paired with him this week -- wink, wink, anyone out there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing here and playing in front of the dc fans.

Q. Talking about the physical capacity of the guys coming up, but the mental capacity; you and Tiger have to mentally compete with those guys. How much do you think the statistical part helps with their confidence, if at all, and how do you guys --
JASON DAY: Depends on what kind of a person you are. If you like hearing the stats, some people don't like hearing the stats. So I'm that kind of a person that, you know, what if I looked at that and it helped me. I'm trying to search for things that can help me, and Tiger's probably the same type of a person. I'm sure he has a stats guy, as well. He's very private, but I'm sure he has someone doing that for him. There's so much confidence in the young kids that come out these days. I was watching Patrick Rogers on the range. The guy, he's tall, long, he's got long arms and hits it a mile. He's just walking on the range with a lot of confidence, and it's good to see. That's kind of how I felt like when I was coming out when I first came out, but I mean, the game kind of humbles you pretty quick. There's so much golf to be played in a career, and we definitely have a lot of young guys, especially Jordan Spieth is one of those guys that has come out and played very, very good golf and played -- ever since he's come out, he's just very confident in what he does. He's a very tough competitor, as well. It's difficult to compete, and that's why I was just saying, I need to stay ahead of the curve, just because these kids are coming out with so much more information than I did. Hopefully if I can stay in front of them, then I can keep myself up in the World Rankings.

Q. You had a really good U.S. Open finish a couple weeks ago and you've been in contention a lot over the years. Do you look back and think that maybe you should have won more?
JASON DAY: I'd love to win more. I think it's not as easy as the guy that was sitting in my spot about ten minutes ago as it looked like when he was doing it. It's very difficult to win. But that's why you wake up every morning and you go to the gym and you work on the range and short game area for six hours a day. Just to try and compete and get that little bit of silverware at the end of the week. I just feel like I'm doing the right things. If I've put myself there a ton of times now -- well, it's not a ton, but if I've put myself there a few times now, it just shows that I'm doing the right things and I just need to keep working on those things and keep getting better each week, each year and hopefully it will happen and hopefully it will happen a bunch. But until that point, I just have to keep working hard.

Q. Golf is a huge world; you've got us, the media, TV, the other players, the fans, and I'm sure a lot of times you'd love more privacy, but when you talked about being on your couch while you were injured, it kind of made me think, all of a sudden, everything is stripped down and gone. Is there a loneliness to that kind of feeling?
JASON DAY: Oh, yeah, there really is. It's just funny. Sometimes when you're out here, you're like, just leave me alone. But then you're by yourself on the couch alone, you're like, I want to get back out there. It's kind of like a double-edged sword. That's why you have to be very thankful to be healthy, to be able to walk around and not have any problems and to have a job that we have is pretty special; to even have you guys talk to me, I feel like I'm waking up every morning living a dream, because really, you know, f a few wrong mistakes in my younger years, I may not be here. That's why I always think I'm very blessed to be able to have the people in my life and to be able to play professional golf for a living, the sport I've loved the most as a kid growing up; and to be able to compete against my favorite golfer is pretty special. Obviously looking back on it with the injury, like I said, I was playing a lot of things over in my head, a lot of negative things over my head. And that's why at the start of the week I was always happy and at the end of the week I was always moody; you see guys winning all the time, it's like, why can't I be out there competing and winning. But it's behind me now and I'm looking forward to playing.

Q. From what you're saying, it sounds to me like winning a golf tournament is like trying to win the lottery --
JASON DAY: Not that hard. Lottery is pretty hard. I wish -- I'd love to win the lottery. (Laughter) -- is that it?

Q. That was the beginning. You were talking about Patrick and you saw him on the range. Did you know him before?
JASON DAY: No, no, I had never really heard of him until just over the last few weeks. My agent, Bud Martin, told me about him, and never really got to see him. I saw him on the range last week and never got to see him hit and saw him hit it a few times and it was pretty impressive.

Q. When a new guy comes on, and you see him on the range, do you see, what kind of action this guy's got?
JASON DAY: Yeah, everyone looks -- like the new good-looking girl at school, everyone has to have a look (laughter). It's good to see young guys out here. Obviously the older guys are getting a little older now and that next generation is coming through, my kind of generation, they are starting to come through with Rory and Jordan heading that way. It's impressive. I just must be out here for that long because I feel like an old man now with all the injuries that I've had. This is my seventh year on the PGA TOUR, so I've been out here since -- well, I've been professional since I was 18, so it's been a long, long time. Yeah, it's good to see young golfers like that and it's great to see that they gave spots to young guys here at this tournament, because this is a big tournament and I know they are going to have a lot of nerves -- well, I hope they have a lot of nerves. I had a lot of nerves when I came out the first time but seems like they don't. I wish them luck and I'll probably see them out on TOUR pretty soon.

JOHN BUSH: Thank you.

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