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August 23, 2014
PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY
Q. Obviously you had that slip‑up early on the back nine but you showed tremendous fight back to be where you are at the end of this round.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I mean, I lost a few drives going right and then reacted to those drives, hit one on 12 from there, just threw me way out of sync, and I had no idea where the ball was going. Just being honest. It's hard to try and get back into the swing of things and trying to trust yourself when you feel you've got a two‑way miss.
So I just wanted to try and stay aggressive to my target out there, but to double‑bogey and bogey the two par 5s on the back nine, obviously a little frustrating with how that went about. But yeah, to come home birdieing 18‑‑ birdieing 15, 16 and 18 was a good bounceback just for the confidence.
Q. What does it say about your game where you're saying your b or c plus game puts you in the lead‑‑
JASON DAY: I wouldn't put a grade on it because it's just that's kind of the‑‑ I just wouldn't put a grade on it. I'm trying to do my best out there, and that's what I had today. And unfortunately I doubled and bogeyed the par 5s.
So with that said, hopefully I don't do that tomorrow and play a little bit better.
Q. How exciting is it, you've been frustrated with injuries, and to be in this position, how good is that for you?
JASON DAY: Oh, I mean, it feels great. Obviously the hard work that I've put in since the WGC; just to be able to get the all‑clear to go out there and not let the thumb injury kind of hinder what you're trying to do in practice.
To be able to get off really a ball count and being able to practice without worrying about hurting it again, really took a lot of stress off my shoulders.
At the end of the day when you have an injury and it's slowly not going away, you kind of play little games in your head. You're thinking, okay, when will I be back fully healthy, when can I practice again, will I ever play the game again.
To be able to practice without any concern of injuring the thumb is obviously a lot of stress off my shoulders so I've been working very, very hard. Got into contention at the PGA after the withdrawal at the WGC, and then in contention again. I've said it to my coach and my mental guy, Jason Goldsmith, the ultimate goal is to get into The TOUR Champ.
So a good week here will obviously take care of that, so hopefully tomorrow I can take care of it and move on.
Q. The momentum‑‑ is it almost like a lot of year and you feel like you can make something out of it?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I talked to Ben here earlier this week‑‑ yeah, that guy right there (laughter).
Yeah, I talked to Ben earlier this week and we were just talking about, you know, just since it has not been‑‑ since it's been a stop/start year, to be able to work hard and get yourself into contention, maybe to even win the FedExCup at the end of the Playoffs would obviously cap off a great year. This is only my 12th start of the year. There's still a lot of good golf ahead of me this year.
So I've just got to keep working hard, doing all the right things, and hopefully it will fall my way.
Q. What's the mind‑set going into tomorrow? Obviously been a while since you've been in contention.
JASON DAY: Really much of the same. Saturday I'm just as nervous as I am Sunday. So I'm going to do some practice, try and sort something out there. Try to straighten it out a little bit. I know I'm a good ball‑striker and I hit it very good. I just have to believe in myself. I think that's the biggest thing is to go out there and really have the belief in myself that I can compete and play against the best players in the world and win, is what I need to try and get through my mind and that's the last thing.
Q. What happened on 13?
JASON DAY: I hit it left off the tee shot‑‑ I didn't really have that bad of a lie in the rough. Everything was kind of going with me, and I hit an 8‑iron, just trying to get over the junk there, and just didn't come out the way I wanted to. And then, I mean, if you walk in there, there's though chance you're going to find the ball. I found a few Titleists but not my TaylorMade. I went back and I hit a 7‑iron and that cleared it, just. Then I hit a 9‑iron on the green and then 2‑putted.
Q. Did you ever find it?
JASON DAY: Never found it. So whoever finds that ball, they can keep it if they want. It obviously deserves to stay there.
I mean, it's just like I said before, it's good to come back and birdie the par3, 15th, and par 4, 16th. What happened on 17, just a poor bunker shot. I thought it was an easy bunker shot that I could play any day of the week without any worries about fatting it, and I just hit a poor bunker shot there. I'm glad I birdied the last hole.
Q. A lot of guys like Adam and others have had up‑and‑downs today. Is there something about this course?
JASON DAY: It's tough if you miss the fairway. If you're not hitting the fairways, obviously it's tough to be able to get any sort of club onto it to get to the green.
When you are trying to save yourself for pars all day, and the less opportunities you have, the more likely you're going to slip up and make bogeys.
It's a premium on hitting fairways and greens, and if you do that, that's a lot of stress off your shoulders and you can go out there and hopefully just have a great putting day. With that said, it's going to be interesting tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun. So we'll see how it goes.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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