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JOHN DEERE CLASSICJuly 6, 2011Jason DaySILVIS, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Jason Day. Jason, this is your fifth start here at the John Deere Classic. You just got done playing the course. If you want to talk about the course a little bit and then we'll take a few questions. JASON DAY: Yeah. I got here Sunday and I played nine holes, the back nine Monday and then the front nine Tuesday. And I tell you what, the fairways were very firm, and the greens were very firm. I think they watered them a little bit overnight, the whole course, and it softened them up a little bit, and obviously I played in the morning and in the mornings it's a little softer than the afternoon, but I think if they keep them -- you won't see 26-under winning if they keep them firm like this definitely. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Questions? Q. Can you talk a little bit about this tournament, your first one five years ago? Is it special to you? JASON DAY: It really is because I was 18 back then, and you know, it's the first tournament I had as a professional, and you know, it's not the strongest field. Obviously we're opposite the Scottish which is, you know, the warmup for the British for most guys. But you know, there's a lot of good solid players in the field. You know, there's a lot of good solid American players in the field, which is nice. And I think it's much easier with the John Deere having the charter going over to the British, which is much easier. It brings a lot more players to come play the John Deere instead of going over to the Scottish. And you know, it really was my first start, and I always like to come back and support the tournament. You know, the people are nice here and they've always been great to me, so I really enjoy playing the course and having fun out here. Q. I saw where you told the Australian media last week that you might have to reconsider a little bit now that you've kind of become a major player. JASON DAY: Yeah. Q. Can you talk a little -- you did mention that you feel like you had to (indiscernible). JASON DAY: Yeah. I think maybe. Maybe. I'm not too sure. It just depends because normally if I go over there, if I go to Hawaii for two weeks, I normally get sick the second week. If I'm playing the Hyundai Tournament Championship, if I go there early, I normally -- because I'm from Texas, I have -- it's cold weather and I go to the hot weather, I normally get sick at the Sony, and I've done that the last two or three years. So I want to -- it would be good to prepare to go over there and play in the Scottish and the world ranking points are there. A lot of really good solid players in the Top 50 are playing that week, and it's obviously a good warmup for the British. But it's very hard to go away from this tournament. It's very hard to turn away from this tournament because it's very close to my heart because it was my first start back in 2006. And right now it's just too tough to tell if I'll ever go over and play before there. We'll have to see. I may -- like I said to my playing partners out there, going to the British is all about the preparation on the course, the Tuesday and Wednesday of because you know, I'm going playing Royal St. George it's going to be a tough course. Obviously it's going to be a tough driving course, and I need to know exactly where the lines that I need to hit out there off the tee. I need to know where to hit my second shot, so it's more preparation than anything else going to the British next week. Q. Jason, you sat here a year ago and you were getting ready for your first career major at the British Open if I recall. JASON DAY: Yeah. Q. Now kind you kind of look back where you've gone the last year? You've had three straight Top 10s and two runner-up finishes in a row. Talk about how you feel about yourself as a player now based on your success in the majors. JASON DAY: Yeah. It's been a whirlwind since last year going from obviously I think I was maybe scratching in the Top 50 to No. 7 in the world now. It's pretty amazing. It's been a really good run. Been working very hard on my golf game. I've been working very hard on my mental side of my game and obviously the physical side, too, which is good. So it's good to see that all the hard work that I've been doing has been paying off, which is nice. It's always taken me a little bit of time to feel comfortable. I'm getting out here and I'm starting to feel that comfort zone, but obviously, you know, I'd like to be one of the guys that wins more regularly out here. And you know, I think if I can do that, you know, if I keep putting myself in these positions to win big tournaments, you know, it's only a matter of time before I can learn to follow through and win. Q. You talked about how special the tournament is to you. How nice would it be -- you've got one tournament -- how nice would it be to make this one the second one and maybe the season you've had, the two runner-up finishes in majors to win this going into the third major and kind of as a leading point? JASON DAY: Yeah. If I could win this tournament every year, I'd like to win it every year. It would be great. You know, obviously, you know, you have a lot of confidence going into next week if you do win this event. And you know, it's just a good starting point. You know, if they keep the fairways and the greens firm, you know, obviously it's going to be a little firmer over there, but you know, it's not too far away from obviously the British Open fairways and greens if they keep them firm. But you know, it would be really nice to win this week. I think it would be really good to come back as a defending champion next year definitely. Q. What have you learned from the two near misses at the majors this year? Does that even have you at a tournament this week very anxious to playing next week? JASON DAY: I'm looking forward to next week. I really enjoy playing on the big stage in front of a lot of people. It just seems that if the course is tougher, there's more pressure out there, it makes me focus a lot harder. And you know, I actually have a sniff of winning over the last two majors. Well, obviously not the U.S. Open because I got whooped there. But the Masters, obviously I really couldn't do anything about -- you know, I can only control what I did. I couldn't control what Charl did. And you know, being in contention and you know, being where I was on Sunday of the last two majors is exciting. You know, it's really fun. That's why we compete, and that's why we play, to go out there and try and win tournaments. It's not about -- some people come out and play for money. It's not about money for me; it's not about money for Rory or all those guys. We know if you play well, the money is going to come with it, and most of the time it's just about getting the hardware, definitely. Q. Is there any kind of a camaraderie between yourself and Rory, this young group coming up? JASON DAY: Yeah. Q. Do you feel like, hey, man, we're going to take this thing by storm? JASON DAY: I think Rory's his own guy. You know, you can compare him against Tiger Woods. You can compare him against any other player in the world. He's his own player, and he has a unique style of playing golf. You know, there is this new breed coming up and everyone's talking about it, and you know, give it a few years, give them a few more years of experience and you'll start to see a lot more younger guys popping up. Obviously it's been a great year for the young guys this year, but you'll see them pop up a lot more. Q. Why so? Is there a Tiger effect? I mean was that a factor in your interest? JASON DAY: It's getting tougher. The competition is getting tougher. You know, the guys are competing at a younger age in professional events. Before you played amateur golf in college and you'd get out like 21, 22 and you wouldn't really play many TOUR events, but the guys are going one, two years in college and coming out and turning pro. Some guys don't even go to college and they turn pro young. You know, I turned pro when I was 18, so it just seems like some guys are not going to college anymore, which is the more they get out there, you know, they experience tournament golf, if they experience playing against the guys they're going to play against in the future, it's better for them, I think. Q. Can you go back to '06 your coming here to your first pro event, the trepidation you felt, the nerves, coming to Middle America to make your debut? JASON DAY: I was nervous. I was very nervous because I didn't know how I was going to perform. I knew that I had some game, but I just -- obviously coming to this event there's so many -- like I felt that they were so much better than me. And you know, I was coming out and trying to play the best I could. You know, obviously I didn't get off to a hot start. I think I was like 2 or 3-over through nine, and then I came on strong, which was good, but yeah, I was definitely nervous standing on the first tee and even through my first nine holes. Q. You don't feel like they're better than you now? JASON DAY: No. I think I've worked hard to where I've gotten. No, I think the more years you're out here, the more comfortable you feel around the guys, and you know, it's just been a work in progress, yeah. Q. How did you get that sponsor's exemption here in '06? What were your connections? JASON DAY: I have a good agent. Yeah. I have a really good agent. I'm not too sure how he got it, but yeah, he got me seven stops on the PGA TOUR in 2006. I don't know how he pulled that out, but he got it somehow. Q. What was your amateur schedule like, and did you play a worldwide schedule at some point? And why did you feel ready when you felt ready? JASON DAY: I played -- when I was younger, I represented Australia. When I was 15 I was in the Australian squad and I represented Australia as an amateur, as a junior, and I played around the world a little bit, but mostly time when it's winter in Australia, it would be summer here, so we'd come over and play the summer amateur tournaments, and I only played a couple of years of that. And I decided to turn professional, because yeah, even though I didn't win the U. S. Junior or U. S. Amateur or British Amateur, the big events that you can win over here and in Europe, I just didn't feel like I needed to accomplish anything else in my amateur career. I just felt like I wanted to turn professional, I wanted to start playing against the guys I'm going to be playing against in the future and came out and played seven tournaments here and then go on the Nationwide Tour and been out here on the PGA TOUR ever since. Q. Can you tell the Ryder Cup captain why America is falling behind the international group? JASON DAY: Oh, no. No. It happens every generation, you know. America, you know, they've got a lot of young players right now, you look at Rickie, Gary Woodland, a bunch of young players that are coming up through the ranks right now. Europe, their bunch has come up right now, and it goes back and forth, and it always does that. So I wouldn't be surprised if you -- you know, Rickie Fowler is going to be up there. He's going to be one of the best American golfers by far. Give him a few more years, give him a few more tournaments where he can compete and kind of finish a tournament off, and once he gets that sniff of winning, he'll be certainly a force to be reckoned with. Q. I think I read 8 out of 10 years your score at the U.S. Open would have won that tournament. When you watch the way Rory played that day and through the weekend, you obviously have to respect that. Do you just feel like the wrong time, wrong year and was there some frustration? JASON DAY: No. No frustration. There was nothing I could do about what he did unless I go and break his knee, but I can't do that. You know, he played unbelievable golf. You just can't beat a guy that goes out and shoots 16-under in a U.S. Open. You know, I played great and shot 8-under and I was eight back, so I'm disappointed, but I'm very happy with how I played and handled myself out there. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thanks a lot, Jason. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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