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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 23, 2010Jason DayIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner, Jason Day, into the interview room. (Applause.) Thanks for coming by and spending a few minutes with us. 500 FedExCup points for you, incredible victory, and I know for you most of all to be called a PGA TOUR Champion means so much. JASON DAY: Yeah, to finally come through with a win, I'm just so happy. I've got no words for it. I'm really speechless right now. It's finally good to just put in the hard work and get the job done. I'm just so happy that I had the family and friends in town, and their support, and the DFW area, their support as well, and I'm just pumped that I got it done. Thanks. Q. Talk about how you got it done. You made it interesting on that last hole. JASON DAY: Yeah, it was a tough day. I cannot remember my round at all. I was trying to focus on the shot at hand, and I hit kind of a chunky 3-iron down the last hole down to the right and had a 205 pin with a wind into me, and I just wanted to lay up that right side, and it rolled a little bit and fortunately it got across the line, and I was surprised that Blake followed me into the water as well, and that took a little bit of pressure off my shoulders. And I was disappointed that I hit it in the water and made it so hard for myself, but in the end I'm happy I holed that putt and won the tournament. Q. You've met Mrs. Nelson. Talk about what it means to win a tournament with Byron Nelson's name on it. JASON DAY: It means the world to me, for this to be my first TOUR event. To be even in the same breath as Mr. Nelson is just amazing and just to have my name on the Champions' Wall for next year, it's a complete honor. I'm so happy that I came through with that win, and I'm happy that my first one was here at the HP Byron Nelson. Q. The clubs at 18 off the tee and the second shot? JASON DAY: Yeah, 3-iron, I tried to keep it short of the water. I've hit it in the water twice this week -- well three times now. The 4-iron, I just tried to play just a little draw up there, tried it hold it up against the wind. The wind was quartering off the left and blowing about 10 yards, and I just wanted to hit a straight shot to the right center of the green and hopefully 2-putt, but I made it interesting. Q. Even though you're quite young, were there times with Rory and everyone else coming up and this week with Jordan when you actually were feeling sort of old? JASON DAY: Old? I would say I am young and this week, especially today, I've experienced a lot today, and hopefully I've matured from today as a better golfer. Hopefully I can take those experiences that I had today and put it into future rounds, if I'm in the hunt. I'm still young and I'm just -- I'm just happy that I won my first tournament, and hopefully this is the first of many. Q. Jason, congratulations. When the ball was in the air it sounded like you said, "Go!" Did you know it was short? JASON DAY: Yeah, I knew it was going to be short. If I was going to hit it at the pin, it had to be a 3-iron. It was just a big carry with a 4-iron, especially into the wind uphill, you know, and I knew that it needed to go -- I was trying to hopefully hint at getting lucky and maybe pitching on top and rolling up the hill to just 3 feet, that would have been great. Q. Talk about the change in your emotions, because you looked very down on yourself, and then like one minute later it was like -- take us through that. JASON DAY: Yeah, you know, I just -- like I said before, I wear my heart on my collar, and I worked so hard to get to where I am today, and this means a lot to me. The first win, you know, it just means so much, and I've always wanted to be on the PGA TOUR, but I've always wanted to win a PGA TOUR event, and I was a little disappointed that I hit it in the water there, but it kind of saved me that Blake followed up and hit it in the water as well. Q. Blake said he actually was not aware that you'd gone in the water. Does that surprise you? JASON DAY: Actually it does, yeah, it really, really surprises me. He hit it way right and got a pretty awful kick to the right. I was unaware that -- I thought he knew that I hit it in the water. When I was walking up the fairway and I saw the ball come out, I'm like -- I saw it fly and I knew it was just too hard to go through -- it was going to go in the water, and I think if he knew that I hit it in the water he may have chipped out. Q. Earlier this week you weren't feeling so well, you almost pulled out. Obviously you're glad -- JASON DAY: Glad I didn't! Q. Yeah. (Laughter.) How was your health this week, did the medicine and everything help? JASON DAY: Yeah, like I said the first day, I was on the range and I thought about pulling out of the tournament. I just tried to fight through it for the first couple of holes just to see if I was going to pull out of the tournament, just to see if I was going to feel sick on the course but, you know, as the week went on, my health got better. I think the medication is starting to finally work on me. I still have blocked ears and my -- I've still got some gunk in the black of my throat and my nose but it's dried up a lot more than it was. Q. Talk about how your strategy changed after Blake went in the water, how much of a relief that was, if it was, and about how you decided where to take the drop from. JASON DAY: It was a big relief. There was so much pressure -- I was nervous, I got to tell you that. I was nervous the whole day. I was nervous last night, I couldn't really get to sleep. It was a real -- just felt like a lot of pressure was taken off my shoulders. I knew if he got up and down that meant I had to. To win. We were looking at where we were going to drop and John Brendal came over and said, "I want you to have a look at your options," and he told me at first, "If you want to drop here you can drop it, but if you put the club behind the ball and it rolls back into the water," because it is a severe slope there, he said that I should check out my other option, which was to go across the other side of the lake, which wasn't as much green to work with, but luckily enough I dropped it and had a good lie and chipped it to about 18 feet. Q. Were the sprinkler heads by the green a factor? JASON DAY: I can't remember, were there sprinkler heads there? Q. Yeah. JASON DAY: No, I didn't see the sprinkler heads, yeah. Q. Talk about the pressure of the day. Do you think it helped, in a way, that a lot of the attention was on the local kid? JASON DAY: Yeah, you know what? I was walking to the fourth hole, and it looked like there was a thousand people following him, and I turned to Blake and I said, "There is more people following that young amateur than us," and I think that helped a lot, actually. I don't know how he finished up, but I know he played well and congratulations to him. But it took a little bit of pressure off my shoulders knowing that I had -- the good majority of the fans that were following me were close friends and family. Q. So is 18 going to go down for you as one of those holes that you would rather forget or something that, okay, I won on the 72nd hole there? You hit it in the water three times there obviously, as you said. JASON DAY: Looking back at it, I think it's going to be one of those holes that I want to forget but one of those holes that I want to remember, because it was my first win. And it was a tough-driving hole, it's a tough-driving hole and a tough second shot as well. I think it's just really good memories, even though I made bogey. It doesn't matter how it gets done, as long as it gets done; it's fine. Q. The bogey on the opening hole, Jason? JASON DAY: Hit a 3-iron and tried to chase one down the fairway, like yesterday, and put myself in pretty good position, slightly downhill. I want to say I had 155 to the pin. I fatted a 9-iron short in the bunker, which was an awful shot, and I hit a good bunker shot and great putt it just didn't turn. Q. Birdie on No. 2? JASON DAY: No. 2 I had 185, somewhere around that, and I hit a punch 7-iron, rolled up to about 15 feet and rolled in a good putt to save from that bogey. Q. Birdie on 4? JASON DAY: Oh, I hit a 3-wood, I tried to aim over the bunkers and drew it back off to the fairway and had 145, and I hit a little 9-iron up there and rolled through to the back and had a left-to-right downhill putt, and I wanted to roll it down there and see how it went, and fortunately it went in the hole. Q. Bogey on the par 3, fifth. JASON DAY: That was an awful shot. If there was one spot that you couldn't put it, I put it in that spot today and I was right. And staying there with a wedge from 150, being downwind, there is so much green left, and if you're going to miss it, I had to miss it left, and unfortunately I missed it right and left my chip on the fringe and missed the putt. Q. Bogey on 7 and 8. JASON DAY: 7, I hooked my ball down into the trees, tried to hit this wedge out and over some trees and caught it fat and rolled into the bunker, and I had 125 to the hole, and I tried to hit a gap wedge, and if that was 3 yards shorter, I think that would have went to about a couple inches. It was a good shot from where I was, but unfortunately it went long, and then my chipping -- I've been so iffy on my chipping lately, and I chipped it through to about 15 feet and missed that putt. And then 8 I hooked my ball into the fairway bunker there, and I got in there, and my ball was sitting in a bit of a hole, so all I could do is advance it out with a lob wedge. Then I tried to -- I had about 110 left to the hole and hit a 48 just left of the putt and up against the fringe. Q. Two birdies, 11 and 12? JASON DAY: Hit a great drive on 11, especially with Blake having the 1-shot lead on me. I saw him hit a long iron into the bunker right, and I knew if I could get away with a solid drive, I was aiming with that right side bunker and fortunately it bounced over it and stayed up there and had a easy chip across and chipped it to about 10 feet and rolled in a solid putt there. The next hole I hit a 3-wood down the left side and had about 130 left, a little breeze helping and it came out really, really nice and bounced a couple of times, and I think it nearly went in the hole, and it sat about 3 feet away from the hole. Q. And the bogey on par 3, 13th. JASON DAY: That hole has been playing really, really short. I don't know if any other players said it was playing short, but I had 186 downwind, I hit 8-iron and landed pin-high over the back, and I saw Blake -- he hit the same shot over the back as well, and he hit a solid chip and I missed my mark by about a foot. If that chip was a foot less it would have been good, but I chipped it about 15-foot past and missed that putt. Q. Jason, last year there was a consistency to your game, 14 out of 18 cuts made. What's the difference with winning? What was the difference between last year and this year, and getting over the hump to win? JASON DAY: I think there is a very thin line between missing a cut and winning. It's a very, very thin line. You do the right things, you know, you play golf, you do the right things, you hit it in the right shot you get up and down. I played with -- actually the biggest thing that turned my year around was playing with Lee Westwood the first two rounds of the PLAYERS. Tee to green me and him were similar. I missed a few more greens than he did, but every time he missed a green, he missed it in the right spot and got up and down, and I missed it in the wrong spot and didn't get up and down. So that was a big, big eye opener. Like I said, it's a very thin line. You get a few bounces your way, a few lucky breaks, and you roll in a few putts and the momentum starts going your way, and you're in the lead at the end of the day. Q. I know you had some injury problems your first year but did you think this day would come sooner? JASON DAY: I believed that it was going to come sooner. Unfortunately it didn't, and it was my own fault that it didn't come sooner. I didn't practice hard enough or -- the first year I didn't practice hard enough. I had the conditional card from the first year, and I worked my tail off, and I came close a couple of times last year, and finally I got the job done this year and, you know, I've only been pro since halfway through 2006; I'm still a young professional, and I'm still learning, and hopefully next tournament I'll have a chance of winning; hopefully I will finish it off better. Q. Was it injury that first year? JASON DAY: No, me being lazy and thinking -- you give someone a really good contract deal with, you know, a big company, you have -- you know, everyone is telling you you're the best, and it's easy to slack off. It's so easy to slack off, and I never grew up with anything. I was very poor growing up, and to have a couple of dollars under my belt kinda eased the tension, and with that I didn't work hard. I've been working very hard this year and last year, and it's starting to pay off, which is nice. Q. What triggered the turn-around? JASON DAY: Like I said, I've been writing down -- I've got a journal, and I've been writing down after every round, you know, how I felt mentally, physically, how my swing technically was and how I played the course technically, and I write down what I did great and what I need to improve on. Each day, you know, I try and improve on that each day. Q. In retrospect, do you feel like this worked out better for you not winning right away, waiting a few years, having adversity made you a better player? JASON DAY: I think if I had won early I wouldn't have experienced the experiences I've had. It's been a hard, tough road for me. I've had a lot of negative thoughts go through my head. I've -- just thinking this year, I haven't been playing that well and I was like, if I don't secure my card this year, where am I? I would always think of what jobs I could do if I didn't secure my card. Q. What would that have been? JASON DAY: A check out lady! (Laughter.) No, I'm not too sure. I've always thought about that. But I'm glad I just stuck through it and got through those hard times, and Cole was with me; he always helped me, and I'm glad I pushed through those hard experiences and I finally came out on top, which was nice, but I'm not looking just to win one tournament, I really want to go ahead and win many more tournaments, but this is just a first of many, hopefully, and I just want to keep working hard and improving every day and every week. Q. So having been through all the experiences you've been through, do you have any advice for 16 year old Jordan Spieth? JASON DAY: He looks like he's got all the game in the world, you know? Being 16 and making a cut in a PGA TOUR event is unreal. If I was 16 -- I wouldn't have been where he is right now. Right now -- to make the cut in a PGA TOUR event is unreal. The advice I would give him is keep at it, keep learning, keep playing a lot of tournaments and try and win as many as you can and make it a habit, make it a habit and keep pushing through, no matter what happens. As long as you push through those hard experiences and work hard, you'll come out on top. It will all work itself out. THE MODERATOR: Jason, congratulations. JASON DAY: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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