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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 4, 2015

Jason Day

Norton, Massachusetts

Q. Incredible golf. Just look at your start, three birdies on the bounce. How hard was it for you not to say to yourself, here we go again?
JASON DAY: I mean it's early in the tournament. To be able to get my 7-iron from about 176 yards and place it on the green with an uphill putt, which was one of the few I had, so I got myself in good position there. It was nice. We're off to a good start.

Q. Do you just like everything you see when you look at yourself, when you're watching your playing and your swinging, your tempo?
JASON DAY: It's just more about being as patient as possible. This is kind of a freak birdie here, because it is very difficult. To get off to that start, I had to be as patient as possible.

Q. Another one, similar sort of length?
JASON DAY: This one was a little longer, I particularly struggled with the 12th hole.

Q. How excited are you now, though, with the way people are talking about the Big Three, you are in there, how excited are you about that?
JASON DAY: I'm excited about it, but I can't think about that too much because I need to make sure that I stay focused on what I need to do to keep the flow going. And right now the putts today, if they would have dropped, I would have shot a lot lower. But once again I holed some good quality putts to keep the momentum rolling my way. Overall it was a good day to get a 68 in. A very difficult day with the winds and pin locations.

Q. Wayne Riley is on our team, he's a Sydney boy, he says those Queenslanders can putt, is there truth in that?
JASON DAY: I don't know about that. But you know what, with Radar, how straight he used to hit it --

Q. He's not Australian anymore.
JASON DAY: He's not Australian anymore, but he had a lot of tap-ins.

Q. Double bogeys most of the time. Great start, 68. You must be thrilled?
JASON DAY: It's great. Good day in some difficult conditions. Might toughen up a little bit this afternoon. I think as the week goes on, it's going to get gradually hotter, greens are going to start baking out a little bit quicker. Fairways are going to start baking out, as well.

Q. I was wondering if maybe the gas tank would be on empty after the PGA and the Barclays, you answered that pretty quickly with birdies on your first three holes?
JASON DAY: I didn't expect to do that. I kind of struggled with the feel of 10. And I guess that's why a lot of guys hit irons. Jordan hit 3-wood. But for some reason that hole, I just want to make sure I get on the fairway and to be able to get in a nice 7-iron in there to 12, 15 feet and holed that one in.

12 is one I have struggled with in the past. I hit a nice wedge and rolled in a good putt.

Today was difficult. It was really tough to get yourself below the hole. Really difficult to try to position yourself on the greens with how the wind was. It was very tough to see or feel where the wind was coming from. There was a lot of swirling there. And overall I'm very pleased with how it went today.

Q. I thought the golf course got progressively harder as the round progressed. The greens started to get a little firmer and the wind came up little bit.
JASON DAY: Yeah, they definitely did. It's just -- it was more about trying to be as patient as possible. With that great start, I got off to a fantastic start, just try to be patient and give yourself a chance on the greens. Don't go too crazy. And a couple of blemishes coming in, but once again it was just tough. The speeds of the green got gradually quicker as the day went on. And I think everything started drying out, baking out.

Q. I thought you hit really good putts that didn't go in on 6 and 7?
JASON DAY: Yeah, 6 and 7, unfortunately it was just a little -- it's one of those putts where you think it may grab the edge and it was 50/50 grabbing the edge, and unfortunately it didn't fall. But you know what, I holed a lot of good quality putts to keep the momentum going my way during the round. And I'm just playing some good golf right now, and I just have to try to keep that going.

Q. Mentally and physically you're not tired in the least?
JASON DAY: No, I'm tired. It's the FedExCup playoffs, you've got to try to grind it out. As I said in the past, five hours to grind it and 19 hours to relax. So grind it out for five hours.

Q. How big does the hole look to you right now?
JASON DAY: I'd like to say big, but it isn't. I'm putting some good rolls on it and then reading the putts is obviously key. First things first, you have to have the correct speed. If your speed is good then you can read the lines. If your speed is off by two, three feet either way, short or long, and it's difficult to read putts, because you're trying to read putts and the speed is way off, you're going to miss it anyway. Over the last seven weeks my speed has been fantastic, that's why I'm rolling putts in. I can go in and fully believe and trust that the line I'm picking is correct.

Q. The confidence comes second, the confidence doesn't lead to that?
JASON DAY: It's the work that I've put into getting the right speed. And then once I know that I'm hitting the right speed on the putts, then you start seeing the results. And then afterwards it's just the confidence. And it's been slowly building and then just kind of crept in at the U.S. Open and got better and better each week. I'm just happy with how things went today.

Q. Speed changes sometimes day-to-day, how do you adjust?
JASON DAY: I've got a routine with my putting each week. I try and work on the speeds from 30 feet and 15 feet a lot, because that's kind of the putts that we have. If you're not hitting from 12 in, you're mainly hitting it between 20 and 30 feet, if not more than that. So that's kind of the target area. So I'm just trying to make sure that I get it the right speed every time when I'm practicing those putts. Somewhere around a foot past, and once I get that foot past, and get more consistent, that's when I can read the putt.

Q. Did you think a 68 would be tied for the lead when you came out this morning?
JASON DAY: I knew it was going to be tough, I just didn't realize how tough the pin positions were going to be. It was blowing pretty good. I'm not sure how hard it's blowing now, doesn't seem like it's blowing too hard. This morning it was pretty gusty. It was swirling around. It was hard to judge where the wind was coming from, especially in the trees. And on top of it it's very difficult to try to give yourself a makeable putt. A lot of side hill putts, a lot of downhill putts, and as the day went on it gradually got quicker and firmer. I'm not surprised that it's 68, or that 3-under is leading, but if the wind dies down a little bit in the afternoon I think the score is going to be a little bit lower.

Q. With your background in Australia were you motivated by money earlier in your career?
JASON DAY: Big time.

Q. Tell me how much?
JASON DAY: Okay, if I can get to a certain number, then I'll be okay. You can't chase the money. Once again, when I turned pro I had zero dollars to my name. So it comes naturally to someone that had no money to focus on the money.

But then you've kind of -- it's like a double-edged sword, you kind of cut yourself in your own way because you have to focus on getting the process right to get the win from Tour. And all the money comes after. If you win the money comes after. And it's amazing, the more you win the more money comes after.

Yes, I did focus a lot on money. And that's kind of the negative side of focusing on the money is that I played poorly. And it happened a lot in my first year because I got on Tour and I was a rookie and you're trying to go, okay, around 700, anywhere between 750 and 850 was the mark usually what kept your card back then, because we didn't have the FedExCup playoffs. And that's what you try to focus on. And you focus on it too much you just shoot yourself in the foot. And unfortunately I had it all the way -- now I'm not thinking about money, I'm thinking about winning.

Q. How hard is it not to focus on where you are right now, and the fact that you are playing for ten million dollars?
JASON DAY: To be honest, it's just that -- I think I've earned about seven and a half million on the course, and I think gradually over time I've learned to kind of not focus on money as much. Because I know if I ever fall and break my arm it's okay. And money isn't the -- I shouldn't say -- money isn't true happiness. But it makes life a lot easier. But once again, it's something that I focused a little too much on and now just as a gradually played more golf I've learned to not focus on it so much and it's more exciting to win golf tournaments rather than the money. It's great to have it, but --

Q. Did you think 3-under would be leading after the 12th hole this morning?
JASON DAY: No, I thought if I could get to a 6 at least. But right now, 3-under, to be honest, I didn't think 4-under was going to lead, I was right about that because I three-putted the last hole. It's tough conditions out there.

Q. You missed that putt on 15, and I thought you were going to quit the game. You were making everything this morning?
JASON DAY: I was I was making everything I looked at, and then it kind of slowly dried up on the backside.

Q. When you made that bogey after making all those great pars, are you almost indignant?
JASON DAY: No, once again, it was a very patient day. You can't get out there and be so disappointed. Once you're frustrated you're going to make some mental errors and it's going to be bad for you. You're going to make more mistakes that way. I just had to keep pushing forward and try to get the best score in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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