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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

August 30, 2014

Jason Day

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

DOUG MILNE: Jason Day, thanks for joining us, 3-under, 68, round two of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Just turn it over to you for some comments heading into the weekend and you're in ideal position.

JASON DAY: Very encouraged, very motivated for the weekend, Sunday and Monday finish. But I'm very, very happy with the position I'm in. I like to be in contention from last week, to get back into contention this week is -- I'm very proud with how I've played over the last couple of days. I'm looking forward to playing in the last group, obviously. The times I put myself there the better I feel and the more comfortable I feel playing in final groups. I'm just going to keep trying to do the work, stay aggressive to my targets. And it's going to be very difficult over the next couple of days. They're forecasting 10 to 20 mile an hour winds tomorrow. I'm not too sure what they're doing on Monday. But that's kind of what we had today and it was very difficult. Like I said out there earlier, you get yourself above the trees, it can be very difficult to judge how much wind there is. And if you get too far below the trees, it doesn't get hit by the wind at all, and it goes too far or goes too short or whatnot. It played tough today. I played good on the front nine, played kind of average on the back nine but got it in.

Q. What changed for you, from the first nine to the second nine?
JASON DAY: Less opportunities, really. I mean no real change. I drove the ball great on the back nine. I missed a few more greens. And missing a few more greens, sometimes you don't get up and down. And it happens. There was no real change in any mindset. I was still giving myself -- I gave myself fair opportunities on the greens to make birdies, but I didn't hole the putts that I needed to to capitalize on those birdie opportunities. I may have missed two holes and made a bogey somewhere else. Tee to ground the front nine was just as good as I've had this last couple of weeks. And I've been rolling the ball pretty well on the greens. And it showed. I holed a lot of feet on the front nine and I didn't do any of that on the back nine.

Q. Good par save, though.
JASON DAY: Oh, the bogey?

Q. Was that a bogey save?
JASON DAY: Yeah, that was a bogey save. Thanks, man I appreciate it.

Q. 12?
JASON DAY: It was good. Yeah, 12. I hit a 5-iron. We were trying to hit it 185 yards, just to get on the front edge. I got a flier out of the rough and it went over the green. Hit a good shot, exactly where I wanted to go, but caught a flier and went straight over the back of the green. With how hard the conditions were, I didn't expect anything else but to be in the hazard. To be able to get it on the green somehow to judge it through the rough was -- it was a tough shot. There's water over -- well, there's a hazard past the pin and then if I leave myself -- then I've got a downhill chip, if I leave myself too short. With that said, it was a good chip. Jordan was happy about it so it made me happy and then I holed the putt.

Q. I didn't know there was a hazard over there, did you?
JASON DAY: There was a hazard there, unfortunately. I wish there wasn't.

Q. No one ever goes that far left, do they?
JASON DAY: It went straight over the green. It just was 30 yards too far.

Q. No one went really low today.
JASON DAY: I had it going there for a bit, and I thought I was going to keep it going, especially with how I was playing. I felt good. Like I said, it's difficult to create separation when the greens are bouncing the way they are. It's very firm. It's very fast. Tough to get any sort of shot close to the pins. With how the wind was changing a lot -- when you're in there playing the shot it was swirling around a lot. So you were just trying to hit on the right direction of the wind. So the back nine definitely made it a lot tougher for myself trying to commit and pull the shot, rather than the front nine. But it does not surprise me. It played very difficult today. So it's going to play difficult over the next two days. I wouldn't be surprised if it just gets into the teens.

Q. Are you completely over the thumb injury?
JASON DAY: It's fine. I'm not worrying about it at all. We modified the grip, going back a few weeks at the WGC. We modified the grip just to try and weaken it off. I've lost some distance. But you've got to take it on the chin, because I'm not complaining about the thumb. Injuries take time to heal and it is what it is. But I feel good about it. I haven't felt my thumb twinge or hurt over the last week or so. So obviously that's a positive. And I really haven't thought about it, other than you guys keep asking me the bloody question.

Q. Is this a slightly weaker grip, the modification for now, or is it going to be that way going forward?
JASON DAY: I think it's going to be that way going forward.

Q. Are you okay with that?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I'm okay with that. Apparently my strength coach, says I'm very weak in my left wrist, so I've got to -- once I strengthen that, then I should be able to get my distance back. In the certain position that I'm holding the club, that's the position that I'm very weak, rather when I was holding the club before, I was holding it a lot stronger, and that's where I was the strongest, how I would hold that club. So I just have to -- it's a strength issue and it's something that I just have to get used to. I'll gain my distance back, I just have to get a little stronger with the left hand.

Q. If your prediction holds true and it's maybe going to barely get into the teens as far as the winning score, this traditionally goes a lot lower than that, the winner, do you change the strategy at all because of the conditions?
JASON DAY: I think they are calling to 10 to 20 mile an hour tomorrow. To be able to get anywhere in between, I think 10 or 15 will probably be -- that's a large number, large scale. I'm not putting a number on it, because if I do, and we shoot 20-under, I'll look like a fool. But with how dry everything is and how windy it was this afternoon, I know we're going to have that exact same thing tomorrow. It was very difficult today. I played really solid golf. Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets anywhere between 10 and 15. Usually the scores are, I think the stat is 19.75 or something is the winning score, which is well below average right now. And that's just due to the weather and the conditions that we've had. We've had a tremendous week of golf already, with no rain. Very hot conditions at the start of the week. And it's slowly cooling off, but it's going to get back to warm weather, I think, Monday. And with that warm weather coming through should burn the greens out and make the conditions a lot harder. So you kind of want to feel like you've got to sit there and hold on. But you have to stay aggressive and keep moving forward and forget about a number and just play golf. And just try and beat everyone. That's the main goal. The objective is to win and that's what I'm going to try to do.

Q. It looks like we're going to have another secondary cut tomorrow on a playoff event. There's been some talk amongst the players that we shouldn't do it in the playoffs, but it's consistent all year, why change it now, do you have any thoughts?
JASON DAY: Play better, maybe? No, I'm joking.

Q. Actually true, though?
JASON DAY: Well, it is. I don't want to sound like -- I don't want to sound too harsh. But that kind of settles it normally, if you play better you won't be on that line. I've never really thought about it. I mean I'd like to see the stat, if there's any guys that come from just on the cut line to gaining a lot of shots and finishing high on the leaderboard and seeing if that has anything to do with previous finishes with MDFs at all. If it does, then maybe we should look at not having the MDF in the playoffs, and if it doesn't really affect it, keep the MDF. If it is no affect on it, we should keep it the way it is.

DOUG MILNE: Jason, thanks for your time.
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