|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 8, 2016Jason DayAugusta, Georgia Q. A bit of hard work that back nine again today? JASON DAY: Yeah, I'm playing the back side 8‑over par. Yeah, it's no good, but I seem to ‑‑ I think I worked the front side out, which I'm 7‑under par now and just got to tidy up the back side and right now it's really difficult conditions. I'm sitting there thinking if it keeps, if the wind keeps up, it's going to be tough and it almost feels like we're just trying to survive out there and feels like a U.S. Open to a point. It's going to be interesting to see where the scores are at the end of the day and kind of assess from there. Q. (No Microphone.) JASON DAY: Yeah, it's a very, very difficult golf course. I don't know how many guys shot under par, but I can't see anything too low. With how the greens are, they're drying out really nicely and they're very quick. I mean, there's not too many times where I'm standing on a golf course and you have to aim a putt for wind, which is just tells you how gusty it is in some parts, on some parts of the golf course. And then other parts when you're kind of hidden, you don't feel it at all. So, it's just, it's really hard to commit to a lot of the golf shots out there and you got to be very mentally strong to be able to do that. Q. This tournament can change in just a few holes. JASON DAY: Definitely, that's why I'm just trying to say to myself, just kind of keep myself in it, just got to keep grinding out until it's over and three, four, five shot lead can change in a hole or two. There's not much that can get it going and you saw my back side coming in yesterday, it can happen pretty quickly. So, just be patient, try and get some rest tonight and get back into it tomorrow. I know we're going to have another day like this and if we do, just need more patience. Q. Finally, you can grind it out, you made a couple crucial putts this afternoon. JASON DAY: Yeah, I'm trying my hardest, I really am, just trying to get it in with the lowest score possible. I mean, I would have loved to made one on the last hole, but I holed a lot of good putts out there today for par and birdie. But you just got to take them when you can and, fortunately, I'm in the house and I'm just siting and waiting to see how Jordan goes out there. Q. It was a more difficult day today than yesterday? JASON DAY: Yeah, it was a lot more difficult. I think they're predicting for it to be a little bit tougher as the day goes on with the wind and if that happens, then the scores may come back to us, it just all depends on how Jordan is going and he seems like he's playing some decent golf right now, especially with how the course is. Yeah, I mean it's a tough old day. Q. And down there on 13 sometimes as a player, you holed that putt for a bogey, that's nearly better than a birdie. It's got to give you a little bit of momentum coming in. JASON DAY: Well, I would like it to. It definitely helped, I didn't want to walk away with a double there. And I mean it's hard. I'm standing there with 3‑iron in my hand, obviously on that pitch on that slope, got 214 yards to the pin, I mean, I've got nothing to the ‑‑ I mean you think 3‑iron's going to get there pretty easily and then you add 20 wind and it's 235 yards to the pin. After that, you got to kind of nut up and hit it. I mean, it's difficult, but at the same time there's kind of a risk reward that you take and, unfortunately, I hit it in the water today, but I got away with a bogey there. Q. You hit a couple with your driver to the right. Was that the wind more than what you were doing with your swing? JASON DAY: Yeah, it was more ‑‑ it's one of those things where it's not so much swing and it's not so much wind, it's more of the commitment with the swing itself. You're standing up there thinking, okay, I'm going to hit it down the right and draw it and then all of a sudden you feel like the wind's going a different way than what you expected it to, because it is swirling through the trees. And once it does that, then it kind of throws off your focus a little bit and then you kind of miss it. But you know what, I mean it's ‑‑ I just got to keep grinding. I mean you know how it is, it's very difficult out here, I just got to keep grinding until the end. Q. But you enjoy the grind, don't you? JASON DAY: Yeah, yeah. It's stressful and sometimes I hate it, but I enjoy it. These conditions, you just got to just grind it out and the tougher the better, I think. I'm hoping that we get tough conditions, because then I can just keep grinding it out. Q. When you grind it out on a day like this, is this more taxing physically or mentally? JASON DAY: I think it starts mentally and then physically you start getting tired, because you just always are on the grind. And if you're not hitting it that great, it's even more so. But I actually hit it okay, especially on my front side, my front side's great, my back side is a little different story, but, yeah, I feel good with how everything's going, I just got to keep up the work and see how it goes on the weekend. Q. How much are you watching the leaderboard and seeing what Jordan's doing early on? JASON DAY: Well, it was on my back side, so I saw him get to 7 and 8 and then he doubled 5. And then I was like, oh, okay, what he's doing is like what I'm feeling, too, because he seems like he was playing a different golf course. But these conditions, I'm sitting here right now and it's a lot tougher than what we were playing early in the day and they're obviously predicting it to get a little bit harder and if that is true, then it's going to be tough to score. Especially down on the back side and how it's swirling down there. But we'll see, I guess. Q. How thin a line between pushing too hard and staying patient, realizing there's still 36 holes of Major Championship golf to go here? JASON DAY: You got to be patient. In conditions like this, it doesn't mean you can push anything. It's very difficult to force anything. I tried to force something on 13 and it's Ernie and I both hit it in the hazard and we both hit good shots. These days, days like these you got to just kind of be patient, get it on the green, and try and hole as many putts as possible, even if they are 20, 30‑footers, give yourself a chance. I feel like I'm putting actually really well right now, I just got to give myself some opportunities on the greens. Q. You kind of mentioned it, but your struggle with the back nine was the same struggle as yesterday. Can you talk about it? JASON DAY: Yeah, I mean it's tough. It's, I don't know, it's difficult to say, because it does swirl through Amen Corner, which is very difficult to try and pick the wind. You hit it on the wrong wind or you hit it on a gust, then you are either short or you're long. It's very difficult, you got to hit at the right time. Sometimes you don't have enough time, you have to just get in there. Once again, on 15, I was standing there and I've got 121 yards, hitting 9‑iron into that green. Because you don't want to hit pitching wedge, because it's going to spin back into the water and 9‑iron's going to one stop and, hopefully, be somewhere near the pin. But it's just playing very, very tough. I just got to tidy that up and hopefully I can do that on my weekend. Q. The low scores out there, that's got to give you confidence going into tomorrow that you can pull up that gap and climb to the top of the leaderboard. JASON DAY: Yeah, I mean hopefully I can get the back side like the front side. If I can do that then I can kind of start leap‑frogging some guys. But, yeah, like you said, there's, it's very difficult to shoot any sort of low number or even a couple under is difficult to do. But, yeah, I mean today and even tomorrow, it's just being about patience and just grinding it out the best you can. And it's about survival over these last two days and even tomorrow and then Sunday might get a little bit easier, but I probably doubt that, too. But, yeah, I just right now I'm sitting at 1‑over par and trying to see where the lead goes after today. See how it goes. Q. A little bit of the same stuff. You did well on the front side and let a little chance slip on the back. JASON DAY: It sounds so easy when you say it like that, doesn't it? Q. Even though it's not. JASON DAY: It's not easy at all. I'm sitting there on 11, no, 12‑‑ this is how easy it is. So Ernie gets up there and hits a little baby pitching wedge. Kuchar hits a really small 9‑iron. And they're both ‑‑ Ernie stumped it and Kuchar is off the back. I'm sitting there with a pitching wedge, and I hit it longer than those guys, and the wind switches back into me and I'm like, I got to hit this thing hard now. So it's just, you got to hit it on the right gust at the right time, pick the right shot, and also you got to aim for wind on the greens. I mean, it's, there's not many times where you have to actually aim for wind to help you out or for it to move the ball and read that into consideration, because I know that, we know the greens are always quick here, but when we have gusts up to 20 miles, 25 miles an hour, it certainly starts moving things around. Q. You want it to basically blow and blow harder now if you're in the house, hopefully bring him back a bit? JASON DAY: Well, I mean inside, yes. I want the guys to go out there and play as well as they can, but right now it's just very difficult to, it's difficult to do it. It's a tough old day out there. And I think that they're saying that it's going to get tougher and if that is true, then we'll see how it goes at the end of that. I know that ‑‑ I think that the scores will come back, because it's a tough old day. The greens are starting to get marked, it's starting to get very, very quick on the back side, and, yeah, I mean it's tough. Q. (No Microphone.) JASON DAY: What did he shoot today? Yeah, I mean he played great. He's always been a fantastic player from tee to green. I didn't realize he was going through stuff like that on the greens, but I heard yesterday he was doing a lot of work from three foot and in, just to try and get some good reps under the belt and he came back and played great golf. It was tough conditions out there today and he, can you see that he was still fighting it a little bit out there, but for the most part it kind of, it shows a lot of heart how much he has to be able to come back out and still fight, even though you did go out and shoot 9‑over or something like that yesterday. Q. (No Microphone.) JASON DAY: No, it's not that at all, it's more commitment for me. Once again, I'm standing there on 12 and the guys are, it's on my side to down, downwind, and then it switches back into, and then you got to stand up there and hit the shot, you know what I mean? And trust that the wind is going to do what it's supposed to do. And that's where the commitment comes in. And if you don't, if you're not a hundred percent committed on the shot, you're not going to hit a good shot. So it's more, these conditions are very, they test your patience. And I think that if you can sit there and communicate with your caddie well and commit on the shot, then you're going to do so much better than the guys that are just not doing it at all. Q. I know there's a long way to go here, but did you reflect on the back nine last night at all? You made the turn at 5‑under and I know we were sitting with Jordan at that point up in the room and he looked at the board and he said, well, I might be behind by two or three by the end of the day. JASON DAY: No, I didn't really reflect, I played soccer with Dash last night, so I didn't really have much time to think about it at all. Man, I would love to ‑‑ it's just, it's a difficult old back side. With the wind. If you, this golf course, it's so quick to bite you in the butt, if you don't, if you're not, if you take that risk and you don't get the reward, it's very easy to turn around and you can make a double or a bogey pretty quick. Days like this, you have to be very patient and it was kind of a little bit more scratchy on the back side. 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
|