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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 9, 2017

Jason Day

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

ALEX URBAN: We would like to welcome Jason Day, the 2016 PLAYERS Championship champion to the media center. Jason, you won in wire-to-wire fashion last year, the first player to accomplish that feat since Hal Sutton. Obviously you played pretty well. You were here a couple months ago for the media day, saw the place for the first time since then. Talk about being here this week to defend.

JASON DAY: Yeah, it's obviously pretty special to come back as defending champion. Like you said, I was here a couple months, or a month ago for the media day, going over the changes. The course is in tremendous condition right now. It was back then, and it is probably even better today. So, with the upcoming weather that we have, how firm the greens are going to get and how fast the greens are going to get, it should be a tough championship. But definitely looking forward to coming back here and defending. It's obviously going to have a -- we're going to have a great week of weather, and it's going to be tough competition to try and beat these guys, so looking forward to defending.

ALEX URBAN: Questions?

Q. Could you have imagined when you left here last year that you wouldn't have won since?
JASON DAY: Yeah, it's been awhile. I'm trying to think. I mean, I came close at the PGA last year. I could sense that being No. 1 and all that stuff was getting pretty hard mentally more so than physically, just the mental demand that have you on you, the expectations, and it's very, very easy to get burnt out in a sense. So I would love to win every week, but unfortunately it's very, very difficult to do.

As you go through your career, priorities kind of change back and forth and with what had happened earlier this year with some off-course stuff, my mind was kind of elsewhere, as you probably could imagine. And once again, I was in the gym on Sunday with Jamie Lovemark, and I was explaining to him that I'm kind of in a rebuilding stage and it's -- like he kind of laughed at it because it's really funny to in my position to be able to talk about rebuilding, and it's not in a sense of rebuilding to get my game back to where it is, it's more so I think you're rebuilding to try and get back to the top of the world. That's the more -- that's what I'm trying to focus on is getting back to that winning form, getting back to the workload that I was doing and the practice and the work ethic, and hopefully the results will come after that. But I just can't really, I just have to be patient because the delayed gratification that I get from the work that I put in is far better than the instant gratification of just like doing something quickly and hopefully turning it around.

Q. When you were going through the PGA and the BMW and Bay Hill and Match Play, et cetera, did the game feel easy?
JASON DAY: A couple years ago? Oh, it felt -- once again, I was explaining to Jamie in the gym that there was -- that I honestly felt there was no one better than me in the game, and that it didn't matter who it was, I was going to beat them. That was my mentality going into every tournament going through that stretch and going into the early part of that year after that, and it really showed in my game. I think it was just more so that I had the self-belief in myself.

That's one thing that I probably struggle with the most out of my whole game is the actual self-belief. When it's there, I usually play some very, very good golf. I, like everyone else, will kind of struggle with certain things out here, but that's one thing that I've always constantly been trying to get better at each and every year.

Q. Could you share how your mom's doing?
JASON DAY: She's good. She's back at work. She's crazy. But she has to get tests every couple months and so -- so they want her back here, so I'm trying to get her back here. She doesn't want to come back. She's a very stubborn lady, as you can imagine. Because she needs to come back here every two to three months, we're trying to find some resources back home so she doesn't have to do the traveling, because it is a long trip to come back to Columbus, Ohio, for some CAT scans and stuff like that. But long story short, we just got to make sure that we stay ahead of this and make sure that it hopefully doesn't pop back up. That's the biggest goal for us is to make sure we stay ahead of it and extend the longevity of her life.

Q. So you couldn't keep her in Columbus?
JASON DAY: I could not. She wanted to get back home to work.

Q. There's never been a back-to-back champion here. The nature of the golf course and the fact that it opens it up to almost anybody who is in this field to win, do you think that might come into why there's never been a player who's been able to win this back-to-back?
JASON DAY: Yeah. Firstly, there's a lot of history behind this golf course with regards to the champions that have played here. I think it's very, very difficult golf course. Once again, we do have a little bit of weather here every now and then, but for the most part it's a very difficult golf course at this time, especially with the Bermudagrass and with the current position of them actually thinking about changing the date, that will change the way the grass plays and everything else, so that may change the way that I view the golf course as well, because I tend to like kind of overseeded ryegrass and more so than the Bermuda, but once again, I think what won me the tournament last year was I played the back nine probably better than most, probably best out of everyone in the field last year, and I think that's what holds the key to winning around this golf course is playing the back nine best.

So getting back to the question, I think no one has defended -- that's really surprising to me that no one has come -- I don't know if anyone has even come close or not -- but...

ALEX URBAN: T-5.

JASON DAY: Yeah, so that just goes to show you how hard it is to come back and play this golf course, because it does test every aspect of your game, not only the physical part but the mental part, as well, and if you don't come into a golf course like this sharp in both areas, then it will really unfold out there.

Q. Going back to when you were No. 1, I think you were pretty adamant about that with how important that was to you. Would you handle it differently now? You said there was some pressure, and how would you do it differently or will you do it differently?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I think there's a few things that -- I would probably show up a little bit later in the week to golf tournaments. I think there's a -- you don't realize -- I guess I didn't realize that once you got to No. 1 in the world the amount of demand from the media, fans, sponsors, and pretty much everything else that entails being at a golf tournament and off course as well. So instead of taking 10, 20 minutes now, before, maybe signing some autographs you'd sit there for an hour, hour and a half at some points. So that's just signing autographs. Then you've got the media on top of it. You could be at a golf course for 10 hours if you let it stretch out, and that's just -- it's very -- you get kind of worn out.

I think with me, I've got to make it as less stressful as possible. Make sure that when hopefully one day I get back that I take that stress and that load of stress off my shoulders so I can just go out there and focus on golf because I'm a person that I can't do four million things at once, and that's what it feels like when you're at the top, it just feels like you're getting pulled in each different direction and you've got no time to breathe.

For myself, I think that's one thing that I need to be able to is just step back, take a breath and then kind of handle it better in that regard with just kind of respecting people's time, but also having the opportunity of saying no to people when you need to get work done because the hardest thing is to say no. I feel like that I'm pretty accessible when it comes to that stuff, and people are -- I guess they can come up to me and they feel like they have got the accessibility of coming up to me and having a chat. And that's fine, Ben Everill -- (Laughter.) But that's the thing is I just got to understand that I need to focus on what made me great, and that was getting in, getting the job done, doing my practice, and then going home and resting because rest is a huge part of everything, as well.

Q. This stretch you talked about where you felt like no one could beat you, it would appear that Dustin is sort of in that at the moment. When you feel like a world beater, what is the greatest challenge? Is it what you just talked about, because you seem to handle all of that well when you were in that moment. What is the --
JASON DAY: No, I wouldn't say -- I handled it well for about a year and a half, and then it got to me finally. I'm just like, whoa, this is too much. You know? Yeah, really, it kind of, it mentally, I burnt myself out just constantly doing stuff. I never really got time to kind of get away, because I always joke around, I sit there and you play competitive golf, you say you're warming up you're with your trainers, you go play competitive golf, you try to beat the best players in the world and then you go see fans, media, then you go back home and be father of the year. It can be very, very tough at times. Unfortunately, like I said, just going back to the question before, it just feels like you're getting pulled in all sorts of directions and it feels like you're suffocating sometimes, and that's not what you want to feel when you're at the top. But saying that, I would do anything in the world to get back there.

There's no other, no better feeling than being the best. But I think that I would handle things a little bit differently if I got back there.

Q. Now that you had a chance to visually see the 12th hole and play the 12th hole, what do you think your risk-reward strategy is going to be, and how much will wind, either downwind or wind against you, impact that strategy?
JASON DAY: That's a good question. I think that's -- I think a lot of guys -- I don't even know if a lot of guys -- it depends on wind. If it's downwind, the guys are going to have shorter clubs in their hands. I probably will most likely say, depending upon setup, you'll most likely see a lot of guys lay up probably in the first two rounds and then kind of let it go on the weekend. Once again, that was a hole where in the past you would hit an iron down the middle and just wedge it on and try to make your birdie. There wasn't really -- there was no risk-reward there at all it was just kind of a plain-Jane kind of a hole where you just kind of hit it down the fairway with an iron and flick it on with a wedge. Now they still have that option of doing that, but you have the option of actually hitting a driver or 3-wood up there as well.

With regard to the green, the green, I was here last Saturday and it was running 12.8 and that's pretty slick. If you hit it right, either on the fairway -- the fairway chip is not too bad, but if you hit it in the bunkers or the rough and get yourself out of position, that green slopes away pretty quick. I played it yesterday, and some parts that have slope on the left, if you just dropped a ball and let it just kind of trickle down, it would go in the water. So, any sort of speed with anything is going to go in the water.

Now granted, if you do hit a shot to the green and you pull it, you can drop it up there and try and get up-and-down. But once again, I think if you miss it right, I think it's a worse-off miss than actually going left.

Q. If you play it conservatively, the approach shot to the green, any scarier than it was before?
JASON DAY: No. No. There's certain pin locations, like front left location, if you're way up there and you can't really spin it, that may scare you or tempt you to go right, but for the most part, if you position yourself perfectly off the tee -- now granted, you have to hit the fairway there. If you don't hit the fairway, then obviously it's very, very difficult to hit the green. But the actual shot after the tee shot is quite simple, but that's the risk/reward in it, as well, if you want to take it on and give yourself an opportunity to make birdie, easier birdie, then you got that opportunity now. But for now I think I'm going to be laying up. I'll see how it goes on the weekend.

Q. Two questions. Where does your mother work?
JASON DAY: She works shipping, import/export.

Q. She likes her job?
JASON DAY: She must. (Laughter.) I have no idea. No, it's something that she just doesn't stop. Like it's unreal.

Q. Secondly, what is the difference or maybe the challenge of getting back to No. 1 now compared to the first time around? What's harder about it?
JASON DAY: What's harder about it?

Q. What's harder about it?
JASON DAY: Of getting back?

Q. Than the first time.
JASON DAY: Well, Dustin Johnson is out there playing pretty well. That usually makes it pretty hard when someone hits it 350 yards down the middle and flicks it on with a wedge and holes all the putts. That's kind what I was doing a couple years ago. I think it's more so actually looking at the mountain as a metaphor is that you're climbing that mountain again, and do you really want to climb that mountain. That's the biggest thing. Do you really want to go, you know what I'm kind of happy being down at base camp right now and base camp might be maybe 3 in the world, maybe 20 in the world, it may be 50 in the world, you know what I mean? It just depends on what base camp you're at.

And being able to climb that mountain is very difficult because sitting back and knowing that I've done it before and how much work I actually had to put into it is tough in itself because you are sitting there going, man, that's all I think about is golf and that's all I wake up, sleep, and eat is based on golf and getting to No. 1 in the world.

But saying all this is great, but if you don't have the desire to get there, then just there's no use, you won't get there at all. So there's a mixture of everything, but desire to be the best has to be there. For a moment there after I lost my World Ranking, No. 1 World Ranking, I kind of lost the desire to kind of be there, and I think it was just because I was mentally burnt out from everything that had gone on. Earlier this year with some distractions, finally I can kind of take a breath and sit back and go, okay, I need to kind of start my trip back to up the mountain again.

Q. You opened with a 63 and won wire-to-wire last year, how important are fast starts to you? How important is it for you to get a good first round underway?
JASON DAY: Very important. If you can get out to a good start -- usually when you get off to a good start, especially like that, I shot 63, I can't remember what I shot in the second round. Ben, you would you know that probably. What did I shoot?

Q. One shot worse.
JASON DAY: Really?

Q. You were on record pace early, weren't you.
JASON DAY: Yeah.

Q. 63-67?
JASON DAY: Something like that. The thing is when you get off to a good start, you don't have to -- you don't have to take unnecessary risks on the weekend. More so than when you're behind you kind of have to kind of push a little bit. If you're out in front, you can just kind of play the conservative route, take your birdies when you can, just don't make any mistakes. And vice versa, when you're behind, you kind of have to press a little bit. It just depends on what you like. When I was a kid I used to love coming from behind and beating these guys. And now I would take either.

Q. Are you a better front runner or a chaser do you think?
JASON DAY: Oh, I don't know. I don't know what the stats are on my wins, if I've won more so in the front or behind.

Q. More from behind.
JASON DAY: All right, there you go.

Q. In the early days you didn't stay up front as much, but then when you were on your run you switched it around.
JASON DAY: You should come up here and talk. (Laughter.) Yeah, you know what.

Q. It's getting close --
JASON DAY: All I'm saying is that winning is what needs to happen, and regardless if you win great or win ugly, it doesn't matter, it's a win. That's the biggest thing for me is it doesn't matter if I'm leading or if I'm coming from behind, I just need to win.

Q. You look at the field and you see 48 of the top 50 in this field; does that add any pressure for you to win the tournament?
JASON DAY: No. Obviously when you come to tournaments like this and Major tournaments, this feels like a Major to me, so the expectation and obviously the play kind of heightens a little bit when you come into events like this. There's a lot of guys playing well right now, so I just -- the biggest thing for me is just to focus on preparing correctly. If I can prepare correctly, then I just need to go out and execute, and I felt like I did that great last year, and we're going to get some really, really kind of hot weather, kind of like what we did last year, so hopefully I'll be able to get a 2-iron out again and try and hit it down the middle and get myself in position. Don't have that 2-iron that I had last year; I broke it, unfortunately, caved the face in. So I had to get a new one. Really looking forward to seeing how that goes around a course like this.

It doesn't matter what week it is, usually there's guys are going to play well, so the ultimate goal at the end of the week is to play well and win, and regardless of if it's the top 100 in the world or top 50 in the world or whatever, you still got to go out there and try and beat everyone.

Q. True or false: Jason Day will one day tee off with Tony Romo. I'm sure you saw he's qualifying for the U.S. Open this week?
JASON DAY: Probably true, I think. Yeah, he has got some game. He played with my buddy, David Lutterus in the qualifier, and David shot 3-under and he lost in a playoff. But I was chatting to my buddy last night and he said that he's got a lot of game, hits it good. Obviously he's a football player first, but sneaky talent. Yeah, it's quite impressive to see how guys like that can adapt to different sports, and golf and football are totally different sports, and for him to be good at both of those -- now granted, it's a kind of a big step from going from where he is to professional level, but once again, to be able to shoot the scores that he does and while playing football at the time is pretty impressive.

Q. The truth of the matter is, you could stay at base camp and make a very, very good living. So what is it that propels you out of your comfort zone, and can you really fault players out here who are just comfortable to stay in that place?
JASON DAY: There's guys out here that are comfortable to stay in that place, whatever the base camp they're at. It's a good living out here, I must admit. We play for a lot of money. Back when I was a kid, an amateur, you are playing for toasters, you know what I mean? You're not playing for anything other than the trophies and you get like a bloody stereo system or something like that on the side. But all you wanted to do was win. For me, yeah, you're right, I could kind of just cruise it in and make a good living and enjoy having a little bit of fame and fortune that goes along with it.

But at the end of my career, I will be severely angry at myself if I did not give it a hundred percent. I think it's kind of in my blood. I was actually thinking about this the other day, why, what kept Tiger Woods going for 13, over 13 straight years of being No. 1? What kept Greg Norman going? What kept Sir Nick Faldo going? What kept all these guys, these champions, at such a high level, going? And I think it's part of it is because they're striving for greatness. They're trying to -- you know, they love the competitiveness of winning but also being the best. It obviously fuels the ego as well, which is understandable; being the best it comes with some ego, but being able to handle that in a humble manner is something in itself, as well.

But once again, I -- getting back to when I retire one day, if I know that I've given it a hundred percent, if I can put away the clubs and never pick up another club again and know that I've given it a hundred percent and be happy with it, because I've done my best. But I just don't like playing bad golf, and sitting there thinking that I could have done more just kills me already thinking about retiring and knowing that I could have done more.

Q. You are a family guy, Sergio has a family outside the ropes. How important is this for playing well?
JASON DAY: It was actually so good to see Sergio win, I've known Sergio for awhile now. Everyone in this room has known how hard or how close he has been to winning Majors, and he had that tag of best player without a Major win, and no one ever wants that tag line. No one ever wants that. But it was so good to see him win.

I know how difficult it is to win and how long it's taken him to be able to get in that spotlight and be able to win, and to win the Masters and as such being a historic win for him, that was special. Now that he is getting married, he's obviously going to think about having children, and he was a guy that I remember having dinner with him one time and he wanted to settle down and have kids, and he just couldn't find the right girl, and he seems like he's got the right person with him right now, and once that -- it just helps everything, because you need a good partner in life to be able to get you through the tough times. If you have a great partner that's willing to sacrifice for you and vice versa, it just balances everything in your life.

I think with Sergio and having balance in his life, he'll live a very, very happy life, but I think it will help his golf game as well. So I'm looking forward to seeing how many kids he has, and obviously priorities are going to slowly change for Sergio as he turns into a family man but also hopefully can focus on golf as well, but it should bring stability and balance not only in his life but in his golf game, as well.

ALEX URBAN: All right, Jason, we would like to thank you for your time this morning. Best of luck trying to become the first person to successfully defend here.

JASON DAY: Thank you.

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