MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2023

Jason Day

Quick Quotes

Q. How tough is that finish if you're not really --

JASON DAY: It's not really tough at all. Hit two bad lag putts, and when you miss it left and you're going to lay up, obviously a couple of mental errors, but yeah, it's disappointing because you're coming in with some good momentum going into 15. Even though I missed a short one on 14.

Yeah, it's disappointing to go from 9 back to 5 in a matter of four holes.

Q. With the way the weather could shake out, could you still very much get yourself back into it?

JASON DAY: Yeah, who knows what happens over the next few days. I'm not even trying to look at where -- obviously I know where Brooks is, but you never know how the weather pans out and then you could find something over the next couple days.

Q. How do you pick yourself up after that finish?

JASON DAY: Go do some more work.

Q. That must have felt like a real high after that chip-in.

JASON DAY: Yeah, it was good. The chip-in was great, and then the birdie on 13 was great, and I missed a short one on 14. I just missed some short ones coming in, and unfortunately that's just how it goes sometimes.

Yeah, I'm actually very disappointed with how I finished. Being decently close to where Brooks was going into the weekend, you never know how it goes, and obviously going from 9 to 5 was a bit of a kick in the gut.

Q. What about when you found the water there; take us through that.

JASON DAY: Had 82 yards -- I'm trying to hit 30 yards off a 60 on a pretty severe downslope, and you're trying to hit it pretty clean so you can get some spin on it. It's really difficult to take a lot of distance off a 60 and you're trying to elevate it, too.

It wasn't the first one I hit fat today, unfortunately.

Q. Was it a bit of deceleration in that swing?

JASON DAY: Did you think I deceled? The majority of the time when you decel -- I haven't deceled in a long time. Yeah, I just hit it completely fat, unfortunately. I felt like the swing itself was good if I just hit it clean.

Yeah, looking back on it, it would have been nice to get a good drive away there so I could hit the green in two but then you're left and you've got to chip out to the right.

Q. How good does it feel just to be back healthy and --

JASON DAY: It feels good, but today kind of ruins it for me (chuckling). I've just got to give myself time. I've just got off the golf course and I'm thoroughly annoyed with myself, and I'm sitting here answering questions, and that can be difficult because it's in the heat of the moment, and I'm trying to get ahold of myself.

Q. Back to the chip-in, obviously an amazing shot. Did you think of the Larry Mize shot of the day until you hit at any stage --

JASON DAY: No, actually to be honest I was trying to just get it up-and-down, and fortunately I hit a really nice chip shot, and it went in, which was good. That was kind of the nice kick in the right direction going off on the back side that I needed just because I wasn't hitting it as good as yesterday. Sometimes you need things like that to go your way.

Like I said, I had really good momentum going into 15 and just had three bad holes.

Q. I know you'd like to be closer to Brooks, but in some respects does it free you up a little tomorrow knowing you've got that ground to make up?

JASON DAY: It just all depends on how he plays, as well. Shoot, seven shots is a long way. But there's still 36 holes to go. I'm just going to not even focus on that, just got to focus on just hitting the best shot I can at the time and then add them up after the next few days.