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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2011

Jason Day

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

BILLY MORRIS: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to have Jason Day with us. Jason as you know is making his first appearance in the Masters. And he had a very fine round of even par today, and he is 8-under par for the Tournament after three rounds.
Jason, would you like to make some comments, please, just general comments about your round, and then we'll have some questions.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I felt pretty good today. I had a good warm up and came out of the gates flying which was nice.
Unfortunately bogeyed the 6th and 7th and that's just due to hitting in the wrong spot. So I really couldn't be too disappointed on those shots but a few mental errors today and I just didn't hole the putts today that I did yesterday. But I felt that I didn't really play too differently from the last two days.

Q. With the course playing the way it is, what is a four-shot lead tomorrow? What does that mean?
JASON DAY: Well, Rory, the way he's hitting the ball, he can pretty much go out there and he can shoot a couple under par I think and probably win.
A lot of guys, four shots back, so there's a lot of pressure on us to obviously go out there and score early and try and put some pressure on him so he can make some mistakes I guess.
But you know, he's very mentally tough. He's a great golfer, and if he wins this thing tomorrow, he deserves it, definitely.

Q. At the beginning of the week, you said you were not going to put any expectations on yourself because it's your first Masters and you just want to enjoy it; so you had fun. You shoot 64, you had fun. Was today more serious? Did you start realizing, you know, maybe you need to concentrate?
JASON DAY: It was a lot less talking in the group today obviously. (Laughter).
But you know, it's a Saturday of the Masters; you want to do well. I still went out there and had fun. Obviously I made a few, you know, disappointing choices. But I'm going to go out there the same tomorrow and I've got a game plan that I want to stick to. And if I can do that and hole some putts, hopefully I can try and chase them down.

Q. It seems the top young golfers seem to be coming from every place in the world; the top, I believe, seven leaders in this tournament are all non-American. What does it say about the game?
JASON DAY: It's a bright future, obviously. There's a lot of good, solid young players coming up now, and it seems every year, they are getting younger.
It just shows how strong golf is worldwide instead of it's just -- used to be pretty strong on the American circuit. Just shows how tough it is getting and how tough it is to get onto these tours. When Tiger came along, he pretty much changed the game. Everyone turned into athletes. We are not fat slobs anymore. (Laughter) he has pretty much changed the game for the good.

Q. Do you realize how much it makes some of us cringe when a guy who is 23 says they are getting younger every year?
JASON DAY: It's unreal. It's like the LPGA Tour. They are getting younger and younger every year. (Laughter).
It just shows how got coaching is, the science behind the game, and how confident some of these young guys are coming up now, and the better experience they are getting.

Q. You mentioned in addition to the putter not being as hot today, a couple of bad decisions; could you elaborate on where they occurred please?
JASON DAY: 6, I miss-hit a 7-iron and left it short. It's like climbing up Mt. Everest that hill when you're on that green. It's very steep and you have to get the speed right going over that hill. I made sure that I got up the hill, because I didn't want to leave it short. Then I made a bogey there.
Down 7, I just pushed my drive a little bit and it was just stuck behind a tree, so I just wanted to try and chip one up the right-hand side so I could possibly -- if it got in the bunker then that would be great so I could have a chance to get up-and-down. Obviously I kind of chunked it a little bit and left it short, which was tough.
The par 5, 13, I think I had like 230-something to the pin. I hit 4-iron and just roasted it straight through, kind of drawing and landed on the back edge and just rolled over. That's a tough shot. If you hit it too far, it's gone back down the hill. If you don't hit enough, it's short. I left it short and 3-putted from there.
Obviously the 3-putt on 16, it's not something I would like to do, but I hit a little spike mark and kicked it right on the second putt.

Q. Did you sneak a peak up the leaderboard on 6, and following that, you're tied for second in the Masters going into the last round, that's got to be what you're thinking, surely?
JASON DAY: I did take a sneak peak at the leaderboard until I was walking down 6 and it showed that I was leading; that was very short-lived.
I'm currently tied second right now and I didn't play myself out of the Tournament today. I certainly could have played better but I'm very happy where I am. I just have to try and roll in some putts tomorrow.

Q. At the start of the day, were you conscious that Tiger Woods was so close behind you, and what did you think about that?
JASON DAY: I knew that Tiger Woods was behind me. Obviously it was close. He just has to get the putter rolling and he's going to shoot a low one.
I can't control what he does. I can only control -- well, kind of control what I do. (Laughter).
No, I can only control what I do out there. You know, I just wanted to go out there and try to stick to my game plan and try to have a day like yesterday. But like I said, you know, I need the putts to roll in.

Q. Most of the time, there's a crowded leaderboard with a lot of major winners on it and Angel Cabrera is the only guy in the top eight that's won a major. Does it make it easier for young guys and guys still searching for the first major when you don't have to contend with as many guys who have done it before?
JASON DAY: I think so. Obviously if there's Tiger, a bunch of guys that have won majors before out there, it would be a little tougher.
The guys that have been there, they are experienced. They are not going to be as nervous as the younger guys. So obviously I think Rory is going to be a little nervous tomorrow, but the way he's hitting it, he's going to be very, very tough to catch. We need to work at it and hopefully one of us can catch him.

Q. Is there anything intimidating about Rory, aside from his golf game, when you look at him?
JASON DAY: No, not at all. He's a great guy. He's got an excellent swing. He's got really good touch around the greens, so I'm not surprised that he's leading the Masters right now.
BILLY MORRIS: Thank you very much and good luck to you tomorrow.

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