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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2011

Jason Day

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

LARRY PUGH: Welcome, Jason. What a day, what a week. Congratulations.
JASON DAY: Thank you.
LARRY PUGH: 12-under, just a terrific Tournament. Any comments that you would like to start out with.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I can't be disappointed with that finish I guess. It was one of the most exciting tournaments I've ever played in. I'm very happy with how I played today. I was out there and you're walking down the fairway and there's so many roars, you don't know what's going on and you see a number pop up on the leaderboard and the crowd is going crazy. It's lived up to everything I expected, and more, which is fantastic.
I've had the best first Masters experience, and this is going to go down for a long, long time in the memory bank. I've just had a blast.

Q. Just figured out that you and Adam, best-ball, is 11-under, which isn't too bad. But do you have a consolation knowing you didn't do anything to lose this thing and you squeezed everything out of your game and Charl happened to play a little better ?
JASON DAY: Yeah, you can't do anything about a guy who birdies the last four holes to win a tournament, especially the Masters. If you want to go out and win a tournament, that's how you're going to do it. Hats off to Charl, and he's played magnificently.

Q. Given Geoff's performance today, five birdies in a row on the back, do you think Australia is proud of you guys now?
JASON DAY: I think so, yeah. Obviously we fell short a little bit, but it just shows how good Australian golf is right now. There's a lot of good Australian golfers out there and we performed really, really well in the Masters this week. So it was fantastic.

Q. Jason, Tony was saying he felt like it was good for you to be playing with Adam; that your games are very similar and there was a comfort zone. Do you feel that way today?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I would have probably felt a little bit differently if I was playing the last group than if I was playing with Adam. It would have been a lot more tense in the last group. Today playing with Adam -- obviously when it came down to the last few holes, it got a little tense. But the first 15 holes were great. We had a blast out there. We were talking, just having fun; it felt like just any normal round we had.
It was a lot easier, I'll tell you that much to play with Adam.

Q. You had some help outside from another caddie; could you detail that?
JASON DAY: Two weeks ago I came and had a practice round with Mark Tunesia's caddie, his first name is Chris, and he's been here for 19 years. I think we were out there for a good, five or six hours, just looking at every green, looking at where to hit it. He was telling me, this is a lot of second shot and third shot holes out here and obviously you have to chip it and putt it well. You have to have good feel out there.
Obviously Nick Faldo, I talked to him a lot last year and earlier in the year and he was a lot of help, too, which was fantastic.

Q. You've come so close, your first Masters, do you leave with any regrets?
JASON DAY: No. I knew I had to birdie 17 and 18 to have a chance because Scotty was 12-under at the time. I'm not leaving with any regrets. I played my heart out. I couldn't do anything more. I'm looking forward to next year. Hopefully it's as exciting as it was this year, which was good.

Q. As a guy who birdied 17 and 18, to get to 12-under to force the issue, what do you think of a guy who birdied 15, 16, 17 and 18 at the Masters?
JASON DAY: Pretty special. I don't know Charl too well, but that's really, really special.
15, the second shot is really, really tough to hit on the green there. Obviously that water is just staring at you in the face.
16, you just play it up the top and roll it down. But to finish the way he did, with 17 and 18, was just magnificent.
I'm happy for him; that he played so well. But you know, I'm looking forward to next year.

Q. Did you feel -- I know you have to slow everything down when you're out there, but did it feel like things were just going so fast and at one point, five or six guys were tied at 10-under?
JASON DAY: It was. Especially at the start of my round, everything felt like it was going really quick, but once I got to the back nine, there was so many numbers going up and down. It must have looked great on TV. I can't wait to watch it on TV.
But yeah, no, it was exciting stuff. It really was.

Q. Were the roars as loud as you thought they would be?
JASON DAY: Yeah, yeah, times a hundred. The atmosphere out there was unbelievable. Just like I said, everything that you expect Augusta National and the Masters Tournament itself, times that by a hundred, and you've got it.

Q. After you rolled in that beautiful long putt on 17, how did you then calm yourself back down to hit the nice drive that you did on 18?
JASON DAY: Yeah, obviously that putt was going a little strong, but you know, hit the hole and went in for birdie which was great. I was pumped up, gave a few fist-pumps and knew I needed to hit a good drive down 18 to give myself a chance of making birdie.
I had a plan at the start of the week, and I started working with a mental coach, Neale Smith, from Australia, and yeah, we actually started working in L.A. -- after L.A., actually and everything has been rolling along pretty good. We have been working on a few things in my game just to keep me in the moment and keep me just focused on whether it's shot 69 or shot 284. Just to focus on that shot at hand.

Q. How do you spell Neale?
JASON DAY: Neale Smith.

Q. Did you grow up, obviously everybody knows an Australian has not won here; did you grow up idolizing Norman, or was it --
JASON DAY: Woods.

Q. Woods?
JASON DAY: Yeah, Woods. He's always been my favorite golfer and still is.
Greg was a little bit before my time. I was born in '87, so he was -- you know, I think he was at his peak around that time. Obviously you've heard some stories about Greg around here and it's unfortunate he fell short because such a fantastic golfer. He's Australia's best golfer, ever, and you know, it was unfortunate that me or Scotty couldn't finish it off today.

Q. Did you look up to Scotty?
JASON DAY: A little bit. We went to the same school back in Australia, and we went to the same boarding school, which was Kooralbyn International.
When I was growing up, you would hear stories about Scotty, how good he played in amateur tournaments. That's what I wanted to play like.

Q. What were your thoughts when Tiger was going crazy on the front?
JASON DAY: Oh, like you would hear so many roars. I was down -- I was actually down on the third hole and there's so many -- every hole it seemed like, he would have a big, massive roar, one after another. And then he eagled 8, which was amazing. I think was he 5-under through nine holes; is that correct? Oh, man. That guy's a freak. (Laughter).

Q. You've answered a lot of questions all week about the drought, the Aussie drought; what's another year of it going to sound like to you?
JASON DAY: I'm not too disappointed in this year. You know, I just got off the phone from Greg. Greg called. Actually he was talking to Scotty just after me. He was very proud of us. He's very proud of what we did out there and how we played. I don't think there's going to be a drought for too long. I think Australian golf is right where it needs to be, and there's a lot of young, good Australian golfers coming up right now through the ranks.
One of us is going to win that green jacket one day.

Q. What about the shot on 11 into the green?
JASON DAY: Yeah, I hit my driver right and I was in the pine straws there and I had 176 yards. I had 5-iron in my hand. I had to punch one underneath the tree and obviously I put a pretty big cut on it.
If it was about two yards left, it would have been in the water. So there goes the tournament, you know? And it's just those little momentum swings. I walked on the green, nearly holed the putt and went to the next hole and birdied that.
That kind of got my round going, which was good. If I wouldn't have pulled that shot off, I don't think I would have finished 12-under.

Q. Can you take us through your six birdies?
JASON DAY: Did I have six birdies? I can't even remember.
Oh, yeah. You're right. The second hole, I just hit one right. You know, I got off to -- like I said, I got off to kind of a squirrely start with my driver. Hit one left and got lucky and hit a tree and came back out on to the fairway and had 98 yards and hit it to three feet and holed that.
8, hit it in the bunker right. Hit 5-iron. I cut one around the trees up there, and you know, I had 100 yards to the pin and hit that one into eight feet and holed that.
12, I had 155 I think, somewhere around there, and hit a little 9-iron in there to about eight feet and holed that.
Then 13, I hit 4-wood down there and had 225 to the pin and hit 5-iron on the front edge of the green and 2-putted down there.
Then 17, hit a great drive down the middle. I pulled my 48-degree wedge just left. Hid about 145 yards to the pin just left and then rolled in a really, really solid putt to get it going. That putt was going a little quick. But, you know, fell in the hole which was great.

Q. How long would you say the putt was?
JASON DAY: I don't know. 30, 35 feet, something like that. Make it bigger. (Laughter).
Then 18, you know, I hit a great drive down the middle. Hit a nice little cut down there and had 142 yards to the pin and had a 48-degree wedge and hit a great shot just right of the pin and drew back and hit it to eight feet and rolled in. I saw the putt, I knew that I had to give myself more break than I wanted to give it.

Q. You came so tantalizingly close to winning your first time here. It has been so long since someone won on their first time here. Do you think it will happen?
JASON DAY: It's going to happen, yeah. I definitely think it's going to happen again. Just the talent of the players that are coming through these days is amazing. I really think that a rookie or someone that has not played the Masters before is going to come and win this.
Obviously it takes a couple of trips around here to have that experience on what you expect around Augusta National, but I really do think it's going to hand.
LARRY PUGH: Jason, terrific tournament. Thank you for being here.

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