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THE BARCLAYS

August 29, 2015

Jason Day

Edison, New Jersey

LAURA NEAL: We would like to welcome Jason Day to the interview room. Started with a 68 to open up and today kind of all came together with a 63.

Maybe just talk about what was going right for you out there today.

JASON DAY: Yeah, it was a good day. It was very warm. I don't know what it is with this New Jersey weather. The first to days it was supposed to be light and variable winds or seven miles an hour and it was blowing 10 to 15. Today actually the weatherman got it spot-on pretty much. It was good weather for golf out there today.

But to be able to have Sang-moon get off to a good start, and he hit it great all day, we are all kind of feeding off each other, drafting off each other today. He played some fantastic golf tee-to-green, very solid and had a good day on the greens, as well.

But I felt good about how -- going in, confidence-wise, and then on top of it, I felt good about the game plan, as well. But I didn't expect to go out there and shoot 63. But at the end of the day, I just kept on pushing. I knew that the scores were out there, a lot more accessible pins out there today, with how Rosey and Carlos OrtÃz went out there and played. But it was a good day for -- good score for the moving day.

Q. Have you been able to figure out how to spin the balls into greens with your wedges more as the week has gone on?
JASON DAY: Yeah, it's difficult because 9, I think I had 100 yards in at 9, and I hit it a little bit past and I spun the ball and it still came off the green. That's kind of -- I'm hitting a 52-degree from that distance and you're thinking that's going to run down and stop.

It's tough to really control the spin. And it's something that we really don't work on too much. You're not out there hitting two clubs left and really trying to drive something in there low and just get getting that one bounce and then kind of running a little bit.

So when you are trying to plan your game plan out, you've got to try and see how the course is reacting. Obviously it's nice and firm out there. We haven't had any rain. If it was raining, it would be very difficult to hold the greens and we would be coming in there two, maybe three clubs less and really just try and chip it in there.

I think this course suits me. I like the course. This is a fantastic Donald Ross course that is very old-school, and I like the look of it. I played well today but we've still got 18 holes left and I still need to control that spin, as you say.

Q. Has it been a learning experience then as the week has gone on a little bit?
JASON DAY: It's more -- with regards to wedges, yes, I just try and really slowdown which I can check because if there's one thing I do get a little quick with my speed with my swing on the wedges, and that creates a little bit of spin and I hit it a little bit further. It's something that I really just kind of need to work on the speed over time, and once that happens, then coming to courses like this won't kind of shock you at the start of the week.

Q. How is the back and how much does the heat help it?
JASON DAY: Oh, it's fantastic. I love the heat. It's very stiff in the morning. But the back is kind of a non-issue. I mean, it's a little tight but when you have back spasms and everything kind of locks up, it's kind of a granted that it's going to be tight over the week.

But to be able to have hot weather is huge. My body is a totally different body on the West Coast Swing compared to the summer swing. It's not to the point where it's stopping me from hitting 300-plus yard drives, so I'm happy about that.

Q. Do you have to learn how to play with a bad back?
JASON DAY: It's kind of just pushing through it a little bit. But I'm up in the morning and I'm doing about an hour and a half of warm-up and activation before I come to the course and then I spend another half an hour and then I'll go to my physio and spend another hour.

So what is that, three hours, fours a day; and that's just trying to kind of keep me going. There is a lot of stuff off-site, but that's what you have to do to keep myself loose.

Q. It's only a short time ago when you won the PGA Championship. Four days ago you're like on your back in a hospital room. Would you have been surprised there lying in that hospital room, knowing where you are in this position in the tournament?
JASON DAY: Yeah, a little bit. It wasn't to the point where it was a bad kind of -- where it locked up really bad and I knew that, oh, it's going to be a struggle for me to play. I knew that I was going to be able to play. I just needed that day of rest because if I went out on Wednesday and played and tried to play, there's no chance I would have played the tournament.

So it was a good call from my trainer, physio, Cornell, to be able to go, let's try and not play the Pro-Am and give yourself a day of rest.

And the MRI, he's been bothering me to get an MRI for a couple weeks now and that's really just kind of going off the baseline we had last year when everything structurally improved. So everything I've been doing in the gym has improved what's been going on with my back.

It was kind of one of those freak things that happened, and it's nothing that you can really control. It just kind of happens out of nowhere.

Q. Kind of answered this a second ago in terms of your back and what you have to do on a daily basis, but how long have you and Cornell had to sort of maintain it and go through these Reggie mens?
JASON DAY: Well, when I first started working with Cornell, which was I think a year and a half ago, it was actually the BMW last year I had to pull out. I think it was last year. And my back went out; that's when I went and had an MRI and I had a bulged disc in my back, and everything was kind of breaking down around the spine or around the disc.

So I've done a lot of work off-course, away from the golf course, even on TOUR, as well, to really kind of strengthen everything. I've put in a lot of hours to try and get to where I'm at today. And that year and a half, ever since I pulled out, I had nothing really pop up until this week.

Other than the vertigo that I had earlier this year, the body is actually responding pretty well to what we're doing in the gym, and it's an indication of how far I'm hitting it, as well, because I think I picked up about ten yards off the tee.

So the work that I'm putting in is paying off.

Q. Was there ever a point this week where you thought you might not be able to play then?
JASON DAY: No, I always felt I was going to be able to -- I've had tweaks in my back before and some of worse than others and this one wasn't as harsh as some that I've had in the past. I'm just an old man, and things like that happen. (Laughter). I can't wait till I'm 40.

Q. Try 60.
JASON DAY: No, 60, that would be fantastic. Honestly, with the way I felt on Wednesday, I was going to be able to play.

Q. You talked about feeding off Sang-moon Bae. Do you think that can work the other way that if guys are struggling it can bring you down?
JASON DAY: Definitely, that's what I was most happy with today, because Sang-moon came out and he looked very focused. He came out, hit a nice drive down the first, hit a nice wedge on the green and got off to a good start. I came back with a nice birdie on 2, and from there, we started feeding off each other.

It definitely is a struggle when you're playing with a guy that is not playing that good, because it kind of -- I guess it may leak into your game. But that's one case where you've just got to focus on your own -- on yourself. It's all about how mentally tough you are to kind of get through that, because it's does, it's like an infection; it starts infecting your game, and you kind of go, worry about yourself.

But I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. This 6,800-, 6,900-yard golf course is a lot of fun. I think it's a lot of fun to play at and it's a good course in the rotation that we have in The Barclays, and I think it's going to be an exciting finish tomorrow.

Q. Do you think it's holding up?
JASON DAY: The golf course? Oh, yeah. I think at Ridgewood, I think Ridgewood is like a low score. I love Ridgewood. Liberty National is kind of the same. Right now, 11-under is winning and it's only the third round.

You don't have to make a course long to make it difficult. You don't really have to do that. You can just tighten the fairways a little bit, put the rough up and make the fairway -- if you have good weather, make the fairways firm and the greens fast and firm, and you're going to have a very difficult week.

I don't understand -- I mean, I understand with the technology, how far we're hitting it now these days that you can kind of add length. But you can still make a short course hard.

Q. On the back of your Canadian Open win and good result in St. Andrews and having won the PGA Championship, is there anything that you fear at the moment?
JASON DAY: Someone asked me the other day, do you get nervous, and I said, yeah, I get nervous all the time. I get nervous when I don't know where my ball is going. That's the only time I get nervous.

Right now, the groove that I'm in, I'm just trying to keep that same -- I'm trying to keep the same swing that I've been doing over the summer, and I'm not really trying to focus on, you know, winning tomorrow. I haven't got -- obviously it's hard to stay present, but I mean, I've just got to get some rest tonight and kind of come into tomorrow's round and be patient out there.

I'm shooting for my fourth win of the season, so I can't really get ahead of myself, and I've just got to not be satisfied with the score that I'm at. I've just got to keep pushing, because the moment that you're satisfied with a score is the moment that you mentally kind of take a break and you start making mistakes.

If you are able to score, you've got to go, okay, what can I do to keep pushing forward. Even if it's a difficult hole, get through that difficult hole, but take advantage of the holes that you can take advantage of and keep pushing and don't be satisfied with a score.

LAURA NEAL: Good luck tomorrow. Thanks for your time.

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