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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 18, 2015

Jason Day

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

Q. (Inaudible) 68 at the start, you would take it?
JASON DAY: Yes, it was tough this afternoon, it was very, very tough. Bloody 15th hole, down the hill. By looks, everyone was coming up short there, because we -- our group kind of made a mess of it. It was a tough one. Glad to come back with a birdie on the 16th. That's a U.S. Open golf course, you shoot anything under par on the first round -- even though the conditions were a little easier this morning, a lot more gettable this morning, but I played solid golf coming in.

Q. Did you talk about that before you hit the tee shot?
JASON DAY: 15? Oh, yeah, we had a good discussion there. I felt like I hit a great shot. As soon as I hit, it got up in the air, I knew it was going to be short. I didn't know it was going to be that short, and I felt like I practically went under there and flew it back to the lip. I went from an 8 to a 9, that's what our discussion was. In the end, I was two clubs off. I don't know, I mean, it was just tough, because once that wind kind of kicked up starting on 11, it got a little cooler, the wind is very heavy around here. And the ball wasn't flying as far, and then that changed everything. On the front nine it was pretty warm, the balls were flying a long way. I was hitting normal distances. And getting on the back nine, it was a little tougher.

Q. Mentally letting it go is the key to it after that double?
JASON DAY: The biggest thing is to let it go. 4-under, would be great to have finished 4-under. But like I say I'll take anything under par. This is a marathon this week. It's physically and mentally demanding. So I just have to keep myself in it and give myself a shot on Sunday hopefully. And hopefully it goes my way.

Q. Did you watch any of the coverage this morning? And if so, what did you learn?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I learned a lot, actually. It was great. It felt like The Open Championship when we go overseas. For it to be on at 9:00 in the morning was pretty special. It was great to see how the balls were reacting, how much they were bouncing. Like I said, I felt like it was a little softer conditions and they are usually. There're a foot or two foot quicker on the afternoon and firmer. And it was just good to see where the pin locations were, where the guys were hitting it, how much bounce and roll and what kind of turn they have on them. To be able to see that, FOX did a fantastic job on that, so I was pretty happy with that.

Q. Did it change your approach at all to what you were trying to do this afternoon?
JASON DAY: No, I talked to some of the guys this morning that played and they said it was pretty gettable out there. But the same -- I just tried to give myself opportunities, just tried to hit as many greens as I possibly could. And I felt like I did that today. I putted good. The greens were a little inconsistent with the speed, but overall very happy with how I played from tee to green.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JASON DAY: No, I just -- it was trying to hit center greens. Got away with a few that got close. But, yeah, just trying to get the center of the greens and either two-putt or one-putt from there. Because like I said, it's a grind out here. There's a lot of guys that have come into this day already frustrated at the course, not only how long it can be and how tough it can be, but you can get some good breaks and bad breaks. Those couple of shots that Jordan hit that obviously weren't that great, but ended up great, you know. It's just how it goes. And the game plan is going to stay the same.

Q. 2-under par, as you said -- you're not in a position where you have to go out there and make real low numbers or anything like that, you're right in there. Put that one aside and just take the good and the positive out of today's round?
JASON DAY: That's all you can do. I believe it's only going to get tougher. I think it was two to three shots -- I want to say it was two to three shots harder this afternoon than this morning. But it's only going to get tougher and tougher as the week goes on and everyone knows that. It's all about the attitude. You have to have a good attitude in U.S. Opens. It's easy to play yourself out of the tournament real quick here. Whether you make a mistake, you just have to keep pushing forward and pushing forward and can't give up.

Q. Did it play pretty true in the practice rounds you had or were there things you learned today that you didn't learn?
JASON DAY: I played pretty true. I played some practice rounds in the morning, I played some practice rounds in the afternoon, very similar conditions. The only thing was that some of the greens, like I said earlier, some of the greens were a little inconsistent with the speeds. But, I don't know if that was me hitting a bad putt or not, so we'll see. Like I said, I'm happy with how the scores went out there. It's going to be a quick turnaround for tomorrow's round, so I'm going to try to get some much needed rest and get into it tomorrow.

Q. How do you rank the course? Where does it rank for you in terms of day one at a U.S. Open?
JASON DAY: In past U.S. Opens?

Q. Day one in a major?
JASON DAY: It was special. The fans here are great. I can understand why the Seahawk fans are pretty intimidating at times (laughter). It was a lot of fun, because I said at the start of the week this is going to be a challenging golf course, and this is one course that is going to be exciting to play. I think there's a lot of creativity that you need out there. There was a lot of -- the crowd was in it today. It was great. I think Rickie nearly holed out on 12, and that would have been a great roar if he holed out there. But we had a blast out there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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