	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 16, 2019

Jason Day

Farmingdale, New York

Q. General thoughts about it? It could have been lower.
JASON DAY: No, I'm very pleased with it. I felt like it was a very difficult day out there today. I mean, it was a long golf course, and the wind was kind of tricky because it was forecasted to blow west west northwest and switch around to southwesterly, and it did none of that, and it was kind of fluctuating all over. So it was tough all day, but it was nice to get a couple crucial up-and-downs, especially on 15. That was huge. But I was disappointed with bogeying 10, missing a short putt. I hit a poor stroke and missed it, so that frustrated me.

And 11 and 12 were good momentum kick in my direction. Overall I think getting it even or under par, you're moving in the right direction. Brooks and Danny Lee playing out there today played lights out. For Brooks to go through and play with Tiger and obviously go bogey-free is pretty special.

Q. (Indiscernible) when you see that score up there?
JASON DAY: It's Bethpage. You know, I feel like there's going to be more bogeys than birdies out here. So it's the first day, and we've just got to be patient with ourselves. There's a lot of golf to be played, especially for the guys at the top of the leaderboard and the guys that are just trying to make the cut or in the middle. You can be 2-, 3-over today and still have a good shot at the end of Sunday if you play some decent golf here on in. It's just -- you're just trying to control your ball out there, get yourself -- it's very crucial to hit the fairway. I can't say it enough. Once you get in the rough, you pretty much lay up and try to wedge it on and hole a putt that way.

Q. You missed some short ones today --
JASON DAY: Well, yeah, I think -- I definitely missed a good opening birdie on 1. That would have been nice. But there was a few small putts, definitely on 5 and 10 that could have been the other way. But sometimes you've got to take the good with the bad. Sometimes when you miss a putt, you can -- perfect pace, miss a three-, four-footer for par and then hole a 30- to 35-footer on the next hole for birdie. It's just a strange way how it all happens, and I think if I can just kind of tidy that up, that would be great, but overall I'm just trying to be patient with myself. This is a big course. You've just got to focus and bear down and try and get a score. If you can try and beat the course, I think it moves you forward.

Q. You said it was hard. What was the hardest part?
JASON DAY: Well, today like the wind was fluctuating a little bit, so it wasn't just a solid direction. It was changing as holes went on, and you don't know -- and there was a lot of crosswinds. Normally wind, especially a northwesterly wind, I think is a difficult wind. You're playing like kind of 70 in or so and a lot of the longer holes are playing in and across, and a lot of the holes kind of dogleg and some of them just have barely -- like a nice little curve to them. So it also depends on the wind, but you've just got to hit the fairways. If you can't hit the fairways, you're not going to score. That's just plain and simple. So it's crucial to hit the fairway.

Q. How are you feeling physically?
JASON DAY: I feel good. I feel good. I felt like my back just tightened up a little bit kind of on 15, so I just put this on to try and warm it up a little bit. Obviously it's starting to cool down now, so I've just got to keep that in mind.

Q. What's your reaction when you get here and before you hit a shot, you're already staring up at Brooks?
JASON DAY: You know, the funny thing is you never know where Brooks could be at the end of the week. He could be outside the top 10, outside the top 20, just depending on how he plays the next few days. You can play tremendous golf one day and then wake up the next day and not know where it's going. That's just how golf is. And I'm not saying that Brooks is going to do that. I think he's playing some tremendous golf, especially coming off last week and playing some good golf at Augusta. There's a lot of good momentum for him. But golf is just kind of like a finicky game when it comes to playing one day and then waking up the next day and having no idea how to play.

Q. What do you think about these crowds, and what do you expect from the crowd this weekend?
JASON DAY: Well, it's nice to have Phil in the group.

Q. Really?
JASON DAY: Yeah, it is nice. It is nice to have Phil in there because it kind of takes away the distraction of people yelling at you because they're all yelling at him, which is nice. I think Tiger's group tomorrow afternoon is going to be a little bit loud, especially Friday afternoon, Tiger, playing TNT. It's going to be huge.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297