THE 152ND OPEN

July 19, 2024

Jason Day

Mixed Zone

Q. In contention and trying to keep it coming, must have been a good start for that.

JASON DAY: No, it definitely was. Sometimes when you know you're going to get tough conditions, even-par is a good score, but we got lucky with the draw, I feel like.

It was tough conditions yesterday, but this morning it sat down for us -- it was still a little bit windy out there, but it sat down for us through 12 holes, kind of.

But at that time, we turned, so 11 and 12 were really difficult just because of all the gorse bushes and all that stuff. Every time you turn, it kind of opens up. You still don't want to miss fairways, but you've kind of got a little more leeway there in regards to your misses. So it was nice to get off to a good start.

Then, yeah, it was nice birdieing on 13 out of the rough there, then just kind of nice and steady.

Q. (No microphone). How important is it to hold on late when it gets like this?

JASON DAY: It's difficult because you -- even though it's tough and it's in off the right, the first kind of six, seven holes, you've still got a lot of opportunities if you kind of get yourself decently far enough down there.

The hard thing is like do you want to take the gamble and push it up? Like on 1, 2, 3, for instance, like I hit a 3-wood on 3, and that was when the wind was probably half what it is right now. I was only a couple paces from the water's edge. So I ended up taking advantage of that, which was nice, and birdieing that, which was good.

Once you start making that turn, like kind of starting 9, 10, 11, 12, that stretch there, that's when you kind of have to hold on a little bit.

Q. How do you approach the weekend ahead?

JASON DAY: I think you just kind of try and be as steady as I was today. That's obviously -- it's not a given, you know what I mean? I played really nice today. I'd like to play like that over the next two days, but I've just got to kind of take it one shot at a time.

It's going to be difficult. We're going to have rain tomorrow from what the forecast is. I know the wind is going to be a little bit down because of the rain, but once you're dealing with that type of element, the ball starts to kind of square off everywhere.

Then we're back to some wind on Sunday. So it's just like you kind of just wake up and take it as you're going along the round because the guys in the morning won't have better weather conditions than what I'll have or vice versa. We might turn around.

So just kind of try to get myself in contention on Sunday, and then anything happens on Sunday.

Q. What do you do for the rest of the day?

JASON DAY: I'll probably have some lunch. I don't know if I'll hit any balls. It's kind of a long last two days. Just try and conserve some energy because I know the weekend is going to be just as tough.

I did a lot of really hard work coming up to this week, leading up to this week.

Q. More of what?

JASON DAY: It was a little bit of everything, but more mental work coming into this week, making sure that I get my process right, and that takes a lot of mental energy when you're focused on that during practise, and it can kind of drain you.

So I try to make my practise hard, and then when I come to a tournament, just kind of taper off. Like I said, it's very important to have your mental rest, especially on the weekend.

Q. Do you do that by yourself?

JASON DAY: I have a coach, yeah. I have a coach, Jason Goldsmith, I've worked with him. Yeah, so I've worked with him for a long time now.

I'll see him maybe once a month or so, and we just try and stay on top of the process that we're working on. It can get a little difficult when you're changing your golf swing, which I am, but that stuff, it feels like I'm starting to turn a corner, which is good.