|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE PRESIDENTS CUPOctober 6, 2015Jason DaySongdo IBD, Incheon City, Korea Q. What what do you think of the golf course? JASON DAY: I think it's good. I guess it's not a traditional Korean golf course. It's kind of tighter. Out-of-bounds, kind of everywhere and then the greens are elevated a little bit. Here it's more traditional; it feels like America with how the layout is. It's definitely long. I mean, it's traditional kind of Nicklaus course where it's a little forgiving off the tee box, a little more forgiving off the tee box, and kind of deadly if you short-side yourself. So it's position, second shots is crucial, into these kind of greens, because it is -- there's a lot of undulation on the greens and they are very difficult. So it's going to be hard if you're not hitting it straight. Q. What do you think about the drivable par 4? JASON DAY: I think it's good. I heard Dustin Johnson drove it on the green today, 330 yards, and the thing is the fairways are not bouncing. They are not bouncing ten to 15 yards. I think it's a good hole to have a drivable par 4. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do. Obviously it varies day-to-day with foursomes and fourball and see your position-wise, if you're down or up. If you're down you have to play a little more conservative, but if you're up, try to be a little more aggressive and try to stay out in front. I like the 14th hole. I think it's good. The only reason I will and will not go for it is depending on how I'm feeling that day, but on top of it, more so where the pin position is. It's pretty tight out there on the left-hand side. There's still water left and water right. Q. Given your position and how well you played this year; in The Presidents Cup and team room, do you feel a responsibility to be more of a vocal leader? JASON DAY: To be honest, I think the guys understand what we're here to do. I'm sure over the years that we'll get a lot more -- it's not, I wouldn't say important. I think it would be a lot more important for me to do that over the years as I become more of a veteran. This is my third one. I was looking at -- we've got the little Cups on our golf bags this year to see how many we've played. Adam Scott's got seven Cups on his bag. So I think we are trying to lean on not only our captains, assistant captains, but also Adam, bouncing back and forth between us. I think we're trying to really discuss who is going to be paired with each other and then trying to work out a game plan from there. Because typically, we haven't played the foursomes that great and everyone knows it. I mean, it was not surprising today that we went out and played foursomes and possibly with the pairings that we could have potentially starting Thursday. So I'd love to be one of the voices but I think everyone know that is we need to win. Everyone understands that because the last time we won was '98, and it's been awhile. So you know, for us, it's kind of do-or-die for us because we had like a mini-victory this year with the points changes, so hopefully that makes it a lot more competitive. Q. Does it add more pressure because they made the changes? JASON DAY: No. I mean, you look at it, I don't think so, because obviously you look at how stacked the American side is. We're going to remember it for a long time if we win and it's going to be painful in the Americans lose, because of how they played this year. They have had a really good team. They have played phenomenal golf. And once again, I mean, it's just -- with the old points system, you strike lightning in a bottle, you're going to win one of the times. But with the new points structure, hopefully that makes it a lot closer. And not only for us as competitors, but for fans watching, for media watching, for people watching around the world, no one wants to see it be done Saturday afternoon and then the single rounds mean nothing. Q. Does it have a good feel, breaking new ground in Asia, changes in personnel. You've been at the top recently; does it sort of have a different feeling about it? JASON DAY: No, it certainly does. When you look at it, I think the average age for our team is 30 years old, so we've got a pretty young team, which is good. I think the guys are up for it. I think once everyone gets over the kind of first initial few days of being here, getting past the -- because everyone's, I wouldn't say that everyone is, but most of the guys are kind of a little bit more low-key, kind of just not slacking or anything but lagging behind just because of the jet-lag. We have a lot of guys from South Korea, a lot of guys coming from America, a few of them have come from Korea, Japan. It's just a long way to come over. But it's good to have The Presidents Cup here. It's good for Asia. Good for the game of golf here in Asia. So with that said, I think once we get over this first initial bit of jet-lag and by the time the tournament comes around, everyone is going to be ready. Q. What do you think of playing the foursomes on the first day? JASON DAY: You know, it doesn't really matter. Right now, once again, it was one of our things where we've struggled in the past. And for the Americans, they get to do it every year, which is great in a way, because they play The Ryder Cup every other year and Presidents Cup every other year. So they have been playing it a lot longer than us. But you know, once again, we've just got to go out there and play better. Unfortunately that's just how you've got to win and that's how you've got to do it. This is kind of a new experience, not only for us, for myself, for the team, but for the American guys, as well, coming across to be here in Korea and playing. It's a new experience for us. We are not too sure how -- once Thursday rolls around, what's going to happen with controlling people with cameras and stuff like that, because we can't get rid of the sound of cameras going off. And we've talked about that in the team room and understand that, don't get frustrated with people with cameras going off, because it is going to happen. You can't control that stuff as much over here than back home. That's something where when all that's said and done, we have to be patient with ourselves. Q. You mentioned the '98 win. You would have been, what, ten years old at the time? JASON DAY: Yeah, ten. I was ten. Q. Did you watch it? JASON DAY: No, I didn't even know that it was around unfortunately. I was down in Royal Melbourne, too, so it would have been on TV I think. No, I did not watch it at all unfortunately. Q. What were you doing at ten? JASON DAY: I was playing junior golf, that's for sure. But yeah, I don't -- you know what, I probably ended up watching it but I can't remember any of it. I'm sure it was big. It was huge. I'm sure everyone was talking about it but I can't quite remember it. Q. Could you tell us more about the greens? JASON DAY: Yeah, the green complex is very difficult. It's going to be very difficult to fly it straight, second shot coming into the greens. Controlling the bounce and spin is huge; it's key here. Somewhere along the lines where it's soft enough coming into the greens -- but around the greens, when you're chipping, there's that first bounce and they are rolling a little slower than I expected but it's understandable with how much slope there is on the greens. There's some putts out here that you're hitting it up and over some hills and you've got to give yourself six, seven feet of break. So it's crucial where you hit and you don't want to short-side yourself. Typical Nicklaus course, you don't want to short-side yourself. Get a good drive away and second shots are key. Q. In the U.S. team, Phil is playing the big brother role. Who is doing that other than the captain? JASON DAY: I don't know, it's tough, because I think with all these point changes, we started talking about it in 2012, but especially this year when we had a lot of meetings. And the main guys that were pretty much guaranteed on the team through their World Rankings; I think those guys, once we got through that initial stage of getting points changed; the guys that sat in the meetings all the time, I think that was good bonding sessions for us, to really get a lot more closer than we have in the past. Once again, some of these guys play in Europe, some of these guys play on the PGA TOUR as well, and we don't get to see them as much as the Americans get to see their teammates. So to be able to see each other every few months and have these meetings and talk about stuff for an hour, an hour and a half; I think everyone understand that is we just have got to go out and play well. Obviously Adam Scott is kind of like the veteran of our group and he's probably the most vocal out of everyone to stand up and tell us, you know, say how it is and tell us that we need to do better. But it's just something where we just go out and play. Q. Do you enjoy playing team match play? JASON DAY: Yeah, it is a little bit different. Foursomes are personally a lot more nerve-wracking than the fourballs. Fourballs, you're out there playing your own ball but foursomes, you can't -- you're thinking about not getting your partner in the junk and I'm sure they are thinking the same thing. The biggest thing is to really don't say -- you don't say sorry out there. Just look, go out and do my best, talk about game plan. Some of the guys talked game plan today just to see what holes, who is going to have the most putts; if you tee off certain holes, what holes maybe are you more comfortable, what holes would you like to hit the drives or hit the second shots. Just something like that where you can get all the information that you can gather and then make an educated system with who are you're teamed with. Right now, just going forward from here, just trying to get some practice tomorrow, play nine holes with -- play nine holes with Anirban and Steven Bowditch tomorrow. Q. Is that weird that Australia and South Africa and Japan are all still alive in the World Cup and you guys are all teammates this week? Is that causing any friction? JASON DAY: No, no, I don't think so. To be honest, I don't think any of the guys, they are probably watching it but I don't think they are watching it as closely as they should. Q. Did losing The Presidents Cup feel any different in 2011, which was your first, than losing again in 2013 and being more of a veteran? JASON DAY: 2011, both were very close, but I think it was more heartbreaking in -- well, not heartbreaking. I guess it was more of a -- it was a lot harder for us to lose in 2013 because I know that everyone really wanted it and everyone was trying their best. But it was such a long week with the rain that we had at Muirfield. And then on top of it, the delays and waking up really early, it was just a really long week. So when Sunday came around, I think it was a bit of a relief that it was finally done. But then on top of it, everyone felt a little bit disappointed. I know the one thing, we had a lot more fun in the team room on the Sunday night than the Americans did even though they won the Cup. Q. That's not unusual. JASON DAY: We had guys singing on tables and everything. It was pretty loose. Q. What's going to happen if you win? JASON DAY: I don't know. I know that it's going to be very loose if the Internationals win. I think Sunday's going to be a very, very fun night. Q. Do you feel like a leader on this team? JASON DAY: I think -- I'm just trying to be the best person I can for my teammates, try to help them out as much as possible. I mean, leading is more, you've got to sacrifice. When you're a leader, you've got to sacrifice and think of others before yourself. In my case, once again, if I need to sit out, because I'm playing poorly, then I'll sit out, even though I've played great this year. I just have to do whatever I can possible to help the team and I'm okay with sitting out if they want me to sit out. And that's why I said, if I need to go play every day, I'll do it. I'm here to try to get as many points as we can so that we have a shot at winning at the end of the week. Q. Interested in taking on Jordan on Sunday? JASON DAY: Is there any interest? Q. Are you interested? JASON DAY: Oh, I think a lot of people around the world are interested to see if that will happen. I'm not sure physical happen. I think it would be a lot of fun playing against Jordan. But, then again, I'm not too sure what their strategy is with that; if they are going to hold Jordan to wait for my name or if Captain Price is going to hold my name for Jordan. And once again, he may want me to go out early, try to get a point up. It all depends on where the points are, how everyone is playing, how things are going, and from there, make that decision who I'll play against. But I think it would be a lot of fun. We've both played pretty good golf. Q. You are one of the best players in the world. Have you got confidence for the US team and how many points do you expect out of yourself? JASON DAY: Oh, that's a good question. It would be nice to finally get that win against the Americans. It would be nice to win. I think everyone's kind of fed up with it; that we have been losing for awhile now. I think more so Adam Scott is more so fed up with it because he's been on his seventh team now and hasn't won one. So I think right now, I think all the guys are kind of slowly but surely getting amped to play against the American. But for me personally, I'm just going to try to do my best. I would love to go 5-0. That would be fantastic. But once again, it's going to be tough because the competition on the other side with the Americans is going to be very difficult to go 5-0. And I've just got to go out there and try to just keep grinding away and see how it goes. Q. Did Adam tell you this was his seventh Presidents Cup or did you look it up? JASON DAY: I looked at his bag. I knew it was like six, six or so. And then I saw seven and I'm like, yeah, I looked at his bag, there's like seven little Cups on there. That's a lot, mate. It's kind of like Phil. Phil's been -- and that just goes to show how consistent they have been over the years. And that stuck with Phil, how many Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups he's been on is just unbelievable. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|