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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 15, 2013Jason DayIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship Jason Day into the interview room, making his fourth start at this tournament. He's finished in the top‑10 in all of his three previous starts. Jason, welcome back. Comments? JASON DAY: Looking forward to getting back playing this week. The course looks phenomenal, the greens are running nice, I just finished my morning Pro‑Am with the guys, and there is a lot of grass on the fairways and a lot of grass on the greens, and we're going to get warm weather over the next few days, and that should bake out the fairways and the greens and that should make the course tough. Q. Played well at Augusta, didn't come out with a win but T‑19 at the PLAYERS, talk about that. JASON DAY: This year has been a positive year for myself. I've had four top‑10s now and I would like to obviously get more but, you know, I played well at Augusta and played well at some big events which is nice and the 68 in the final round of last week's tournament was a good confidence boost coming into this week. It was pretty difficult last week. The wind and the grass is very similar to this week. You know, playing well that final day was really good for my confidence coming into this week. I know that I've played well here in the past and I just gotta go out there and make sure that I'm prepared for the next four days. I made one club change, which I'm going to put a 1‑iron in, take my 2‑iron out and put a 1‑iron in this week. Q. A 1‑iron? JASON DAY: Yes. Q. That's amazing. JASON DAY: Yes. Q. How many players do you think have a 1‑iron in their bag? JASON DAY: I wouldn't think there would be too many. They don't physically‑‑ tailor‑made doesn't make a 1‑iron we got a Rocketbladez 2‑iron and bent it to a 1‑iron. I was out there today and hit a couple of‑‑ it was downwind and it was 10 to 20 mile an hour wind out there and there was a couple that went 300 easy with the bounce and roll as well so I want to say today with the wind hit about four, maybe five drives total, everything else was a 1‑iron and I didn't pull out the 4‑wood at all. The ball flight is very strong. What the experiment was, was we were going to try a 1‑iron and try it out here because we know if we have a 1‑iron here and it works well in the wind, when we go over seas to the British this year we can have the full confidence that it's going to go the right distance and can come out low and hit different types of shots when I need to. I know that it's not British Open course but the wind is very strong here. Q. Can you talk about, are there certain holes out there‑‑ obviously you want it shorter than a 3‑wood or whatever, why would a 1‑iron hit better? JASON DAY: I hit 1‑iron 7‑iron through three today and normally I would be hitting a 4 there or a similar club. Normally I feel like I'm more accurate with the 1‑iron, it doesn't spin too much, it comes off with a pretty boring flight, penetrates through the wind and when I'm hitting downwind it stays up in the air a lot, so I like the change I made this week. Q. Can you talk about the timeline of when you first got this idea and when you started to work with the club and all that? JASON DAY: Well, initially we thought of taking out and putting in a‑‑ taking driver out and putting in 2‑wood. We fiddled around with a wood and we couldn't quite get the right configuration with the shaft and the flight. So we decided to‑‑ this was probably back, I want to say, about a month ago we were thinking about putting in a 1‑iron and just practicing with it because of the British. We finally put it in this week and we practiced with it yesterday and the numbers on TrackMan, they weren't quite going as well as I'd hoped they would, then I just said, "you know what, we're going to go out there and"‑‑ it's not quite the tournament yet but Pro‑Ams you're still a little bit more amped than practice days and I hit it great. Didn't go off line too much, strong flight, I ended up putting a graphite shaft in instead of the normal Pro‑Deck shaft that I put in. Q. This would be the only tournament before the British that you'll use it? JASON DAY: Yeah, I don't think‑‑ I'm just trying to think‑‑ because I'm going to play in Memorial as well and we're also probably going to put in for the‑‑ I haven't played Marion yet so I know that from what I hear Marion is a very short‑type first 13 holes or so, I'm not too sure but that's what I hear, and the last five or so are the longest. So I think that would be a very good club around there but I don't know until I get there. I'm definitely going to use it this week and I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with it for Memorial but I know I'm going to use it at the British. Q. Can you talk about 18 and the challenges that hole presents? I know you have mixed emotions, you did win there‑‑ JASON DAY: Blow it up! I actually like 18, even though‑‑ it's a good, tough finishing hole. If you have the lead it makes you think twice about what kind of shot you want to hit. If we have the normal prevailing wind it's in off the left and with the water on the left you have to commit to the tee shot and if you're going to make a mistake on your second shot it's always going to be long or just cover the water. I think this year, you know, I'm going to play a 1‑iron just down the right side and not even go near it. I think I said that three or four times last year and hit it in the water every time so I'm going to hit it in the tree before I hit it in the water this year. Q. I came in here late, how many times do you think you're going to hit this? JASON DAY: The 1‑iron? Q. Yeah. JASON DAY: Off 1, 3, 4, hit it off 9‑‑ 7, 8 and 9, 10, 14 and 18. So pretty much most of the holes. That's pretty much it, right? THE MODERATOR: Which ones are you not‑‑ JASON DAY: The rest I'm hitting driver, so. (Laughter.) It's a good majority of holes I'm going to hit it on. Also it depends on the weather. There is a chance for thunder storms tomorrow so if we do get rain it might soften the conditions out and that's when you got to pull out the 4‑wood and get more height because once the ground is damp it probably won't run as far but if we get hot, dry conditions and you can get that 1‑iron out and get everything running as far as you can sometimes as far as drivers. Q. When is the last time you carried a 1‑iron in your bag during a tournament or is this the first time? JASON DAY: No, I think I was 13, and I had a Callaway set and I think it was X‑12s and 1‑iron all the way through to sand wedge and that was the last time, and that was, I want to say, 13 years ago. Long time ago. THE MODERATOR: A 13 year old hitting a 1‑iron? JASON DAY: Probably. Q. Is there any other course or tournament I guess would be a better way to say it, where you have had so much success? JASON DAY: I don't know, Augusta, I had to pull that last year, but this year second and third was a nice two finishes that I've had there. I don't know what it is about the course. I think the people are great here, the fans are really nice, I always have a good time when I'm here, the media treats me well and for some reason I play good around this course. I said last week, this course it's more of a grinder's course because the conditions are so tough. The grass around the greens is difficult when the ball sits down, the wind can be pretty gusty and swirly around here. You just have to grind‑‑ it's one of those courses where you have to grind it out and by the end of the day you're ready for a 10‑hour sleep. I've had good finishes here in the past and hopefully I can go ahead and win this week. It would be nice. Q. Is there something also about it that fits your eye?  Any particular thing? JASON DAY: I hit 1‑iron pretty much off every tee, I don't try to get myself into trouble when I'm hitting driver off the tee. It's‑‑ some of the holes‑‑ when you get to a course and sometimes you just feel really comfortable around it, even though the tough holes may feel uncomfortable for some, the tough holes here I feel comfortable playing. I guess it's just when I'm here I have a different sense of confidence going and playing this course, compared to other courses. I think with last week's finish and the memories of playing well here and winning here for the first time is obviously going to help this week. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jason. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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