Masters Interview - Jason Day

THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  It is my great pleasure to welcome to the media interview room today a golfer from Australia that's just supremely talented.  Believe it or not, this is just going to be his fourth Masters Tournament.  Seems like he's been here for a good while.

            His success at Augusta, though, is very notable:  He was tied for third in 2013 with a score of 281; and in 2011, finished second with a score of 276.  So far, Jason's 2014 has been highlighted with a victory at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.  It was Jason's second TOUR title and it has put him inside the Top 5 in the World Rankings.

            Before we take some questions, Jason, we would ask you to comment in your brief career, you seem to have developed a very strong comfort level here at Augusta.  What is it about Augusta that suits your game?

            JASON DAY:  You know what, I just love coming back here every day ‑‑ every year.  I've been watching this golf tournament ever since I was a little kid watching Tiger Woods win around here, watching as far back as seeing highlights of José Maria Olazábal winning, as well.  Just the memories of watching Augusta and knowing that one day, I wanted to be the Masters Champion and slip on the green jacket.

            I always wanted to be the first Australian to win it.  Obviously Scotty got there first, but I'm happy to be the second (laughter).

            I just love everything about this place, the history and the tradition behind Augusta National and the Masters, it's golfing heaven in such a small place in the middle of America, and every year it's just fun.  And every time I get back here, it gets the juices flowing again, all the memories and the good memories that you've got that I've experienced over the past all flow back.  I just think, I wake up at four o'clock in the morning back home when I was a young kid just to get up and watch Augusta and the Masters.  I just absolutely love the place.

            Q.  Can you give us an update on your thumb?

            JASON DAY:  Yeah, I was thinking that was going to come pretty quick.  It's fine.  I've had about six weeks off now.  I had a cortisone injection into it on Monday of last week, straight on top of the knuckle with Dr. Ruff back home in Columbus.  Had about a week off after the injection and everything's been progressing nicely.  There's no pain.  I'm taping it just as a precaution, so you'll see some tape on my thumb, my left thumb.  I mean, I have tape on my right wrist and my left hand now, but all that stuff is just a precaution and I've been icing it a lot.  But it's more frustrating for me because just coming off the WGC win at the Match Play, I was playing some pretty good golf.  It was trending in the right direction going into Doral and the Florida Swing there.

            Just something so small, it's so frustrating, because everything else is fine, but you need your hands to grip the golf club, and every time it hurt when I swung the golf club, I would kind of flinch at impact and you just can't compete against the best players in the world doing that.

            So to get the cortisone injection into it, to be able to swing pain‑free now, is great.  So I've been here since last Wednesday practicing and playing.  I've played 36 holes here over the last four days, and the hand's coming up nicely.  I'm really looking forward to a nice, solid start.

            Q.  The list of players who have played this tournament well from the very beginning is pretty short, and you're one of them.  What do you attribute that to and are there other stops on Tour that you feel as comfortable?

            JASON DAY:  I think the course sets up nice for me.  I hit the ball pretty long and I hit the ball pretty high, as well; with how the greens are, the undulation on the greens, the speed of the greens, you definitely need to hit it a lot higher than lower.  My coach and myself, we've come up with a good game plan over the last three years that have worked pretty well.  For me it was just about going out there and executing the plan.

            2011 was a solid start for myself.  I had a chance to win, and then obviously 2012 had to pull out because of an ankle injury.  But, again, back in the hunt in 2013 to have another shot at winning with the lead, you know, standing on 16 late on Sunday was pretty special.  I know that I'm doing the right things that I need to do on the course, because I've had some good success in such a short career at the Masters.

            So as long as I just keep doing the prep and work hard, hopefully it will fall my way.  I feel like I have a really good game plan in place and I've just got to go out there and just do the work.

            Q.  There have been quite a few Australian winners this year, and it seems like since Adam's win here last year, every Australian seems to have raised the level of his game.  Is it a coincidence, how do you explain it?

            JASON DAY:  You know, it's surprising to see Australia kicking it up and it just shows that Australian golf is in a good spot now with Matt Jones winning, and the last two PGA TOUR events, Australians have won.

            Going back last year after Scotty won, it was very inspiring for I think a lot of golfers that are on the TOUR to kind of kick their game up another level.  Because I remember back in the day when I would hear a story about Adam Scott playing when I was a junior, and just hearing the stories about him playing in the same events as me; knowing that he is a person that I've known in the past and if he can do it, I can do it, as well, and I think a lot of the Australians are doing that exact same thing and having that exact same mental approach to the tournaments that they are playing recently.

            It's not surprising to see Steve play well in a windy kind of place, because his short game, everyone saw how good his short game was.  And then Matt Jones, exactly the same thing, played great, phenomenal chip‑in and I'm definitely excited to see how the guys go this week.

            I think it sets up well for an Australian to play well.  I know Scotty has said that in the past; that Augusta does set up well for an Australian.  Those guys should have a good shot at competing this week.

            Q.  Any concern that you have not played in six weeks a competitive round and you've not played a stroke‑play event since Pebble?

            JASON DAY:  Not really a concern.  I think I just need to tighten up a few things, just kind of get a little sharper with my tee shots.  I think I'll be good.  But I took six, seven weeks off after coming back from Australia last year.  My first event of the year, which was Torrey, finished second there.

            To me, personally, I think it's the amount of work that I put into the game before the actual week starts, so the preparation is very huge for me.  I know I need to get into town early and do the right prep that suits for the course, whatever tee shots I need to hit, I need to work on those; whatever irons I need to hit, I need to work on those.  And then I know that this week, you really need your short game, so I've just been shelling a lot of chip shots and bunker shots and doing a lot of putting and speed putting, because there is where ‑‑ the short game is where you win tournaments, especially this tournament, you need that.  Preparation was huge before Torrey and it's huge now.

            Q.  First timers are not supposed to win here and you very nearly did that.  How were you able to do that, and do you think the young guys are more fearless than they used to be when they came here?

            JASON DAY:  Yeah, you know what, I think it's ‑‑ they are a lot more confident coming out and playing in their first events.  You look at Patrick Reed, the way he's playing right now, he's an outstanding golfer, a 23‑year‑old kid; to win the WGC Cadillac the way he did was pretty special.

            But I think times have changed where, you know, before you would have a team, you wouldn't have a team around you back then, going back maybe ten, 15 years.  So you really couldn't bounce things off people to really kind of see how you're improving.

            These days, kids have a mental coach, strength coach, swing coach, maybe a short game coach.  I mean, they have so many people around them that are there in place to make sure that they are improving and competing and playing well.  You know, you need a good, solid team around you these days.  Not only for just your improvement but just to bounce things off and really understand that sometimes you're going to get nervous and it's good to talk about things and really kind of let it out.

            I think kids these days, like I said before, they are coming out confident.  They are coming out stronger, faster.  Their game is a lot tighter and every year that goes by, they are just coming out tougher to compete and play against.  My thought process is I've got to stay ahead of the curve and try to do everything I can to be in front of those guys, and even the guys that are out here.  I'm just trying to do the work the best I can and try and improve each and every week.

            But I've had a good start in this short career that I've had here at the Masters, and I'm hoping to improve on that and hopefully I'll have a green jacket on my shoulders one of these days.

            Q.  There was a great article back home in the "Courier Mail" entitled, "Ten Reasons Why an Aussie Will Win the Masters".  One of the reasons was your form and you experience here at this course.  The other was they mentioned a pack mentality.  Now, there are seven Aussies here.  Do you think there is a pack mentality and how will affect your experience, having six other countrymen?

            JASON DAY:  I played a practice round with the young amateur Oliver Goss, I believe it was Saturday.  I saw Scotty here Friday and Saturday.  We are all hanging around each other which is good.

            It is the Masters.  It's the biggest tournament of the year, so we all kind of stick together and we'll see each other in the locker room, we'll see each other on the range and we'll say hello to each other.  It's good to see familiar faces, but there's one thing that we have to do is we have to go out there and compete and play against each other.  So I need to do the work to try and beat those guys, because they are tough to beat, and the rest of the field that's in this week is tough to beat, as well.

            So it's interesting.  I think there will be, just like it has in the last few years, I think there will be some Aussies up there.  We'll soon see because there's a lot of guys that are coming into form as of late, Bowditch and Jones.  It's tough to tell, but Scotty's been playing great.  He has an opportunity to week to get to No. 1, if he wins.  It's exciting stuff for Australian golf right now.

            Q.  How well do you know Matt Jones, and what was your reaction when you saw the replay of how everything went down yesterday and can you kind of put yourself in that place?

            JASON DAY:  I found out through Jordan Spieth what happened.  Because, I mean, we can't have cell phones here, so a normal tournament, you would be looking at your phone (laughter).  Respecting the rule, got to make sure that I'm not caught with a phone.

            I found out on the putting green, and as I walked back into the caddie hut, they have it on the TV there, but I just saw it on the replays last night.  That's stuff you dream about, really.  To be able to birdie the 18th hole in regulation with a couple of shots there that may have gone into the water but stayed up and he made birdie.  But to chip‑in in a playoff is ‑‑ you sit there as a kid and you're chipping and you always say certain things:  You know, this is for the Shell Houston Open or Augusta National, the Masters.  It's the stuff you dream of.

            And it was good to see Matt win, because I know he's had a few up‑and‑down years, but it seems that he's doing the work and he's doing the right things and it's been working out for him.  I've known Matt since the Web.com and since I came over to the States.  Always been a great bloke to me.  I'm glad to see him on top.

            Q.  Just as a follow, how life‑changing could that potentially be for him?

            JASON DAY:  It's huge.  Not only have you got a couple years exemption, you get to come to Augusta and you get to play in the Masters.  That win not only opens up, it just kind of frees the way you go out and play golf, because you know that you're secured for the next year or two years and you can just go out and play golf and not worry about certain things that can potentially knock you off the TOUR.

            I think people go through that, and they think about that sometimes.  So he'll get in some tournaments that he probably has not played before, and you know, it's exciting, because this is kind of ‑‑ he's right at the front door where he can actually step up and go and compete and play well and move inside the Top‑50 and get on to the big stage and compete against the best players in the world at Majors and WGC events and everything.  It's good to see.

            Q.  Speaking of things that you dream of as a kid, there were a lot of kids here yesterday, I don't know if you got a chance to see it or not, but what's your take on that and would you have liked to have done it yourself?

            JASON DAY:  Oh, yeah, no doubt.  I would have loved that.  Ever since I was a kid, I dreamt about coming here.  I had to earn my way to get here.  Those kids earned their way to get at this event.  The Drive, Chip & Putt, I think it was an outstanding tournament they had here.  I think a lot of kids are going to start playing golf because of what they saw on TV yesterday.  I was close to tears watching some of these kids, because just to see the excitement and joy on their faces; to hit the putt that Adam had on 18, even to hit the drives, to be able to walk where the professionals are walking, not many people get to do that.  There's 88 kids yesterday that got to do that, and it was very special because, like I said, I've always dreamt about playing here.  I had to earn my way and those kids earned their way there.  I hope they just enjoyed themselves, and hopefully that's inspired a lot of kids to pick up the game.  I know it will.

            Q.  You mentioned Scotty having a chance to go to No. 1.  You also have a chance to go to No. 1 this week.  I wonder if you can talk about that.

            JASON DAY:  Yeah, I'm just not trying to think of that.  I can't get to No. 1 if I don't win, so my biggest thing is just to really focus on myself, and I just need to go out and not really think about the outcomes that could possibly happen; if I do this, then this will happen, or get caught up in stuff that can make my game go backwards.

            I think that's what mental toughness is, is to be able to stay in the present and really focus on what you need to do to produce the result in the long run.  My goal is obviously to be able to get to No. 1 one day and to have a green jacket, and I can do that in one week.  That's exciting stuff for me, it really is.  Because I know that there's been a lot of hard work and dedication that I've put into the game for many, many years, and it could all pay off in one week.  But you know, stuff like that, you've got to put it out of your mind.

            I'm not really thinking about it.  I know that it's going to be a long week.  It's Monday and I've got a couple more days of practice and good prep I need to get into, too.  If it happens, it happens but I'm going to give it a good shot.

            Q.  Secondly, Tiger not being here, the public talks about it, the press has written about it.  Just curious what it means to the tournament through the eyes of a fellow competitor, if anything.

            JASON DAY:  Tiger, I mean Tiger's been around for so long.

            Q.  He's old.

            JASON DAY:  He's 38 now.  He's an old man (laughter).  It's a little sad seeing him hurt.  He's such a huge part to the game.  He's changed the way we look at golf as professionals.  I was talking earlier about having strength coaches and mental coaches.  I mean, there was some guys before his time that were doing that kind of stuff, but he's turned the sport into an athletic sport.  The guys are doing their best and the guys are bigger, stronger and faster now, ever since he's come on to the scene.

            Q.  Does his absence have any bearing on you this week?

            JASON DAY:  No.  Like I said, I just got to focus on what I need to do.

            It's hard, because you see him ‑‑ every big event, he's always there.  He's at that event, and he's over the last ‑‑ since '97, you've seen him up there and he's played so great for so many years.  He's Tiger Woods; you expect him to play well.

            He's getting older now and the body just doesn't react the same as it did when he was 21.  It's sad to see him hurt.  Hopefully he has a healthy recovery.  I just need to go out there and do my work and hopefully he can be back sooner.  I know that he's going to be back stronger and faster.  But it's kind of ‑‑ I know he's frustrated right now, because I know that there's a bigger picture for him; that's winning majors and hopefully passing Jack.

            But right now, the biggest thing for him is to get some rest and make sure that his body is ready to go again.

            Q.  If Steve or Adam approach you this week for a little bit of advice, what will you say to them?

            JASON DAY:  I think just try to give yourself an uphill putt (laughter).  Because if you give yourself an uphill putt, you'll walk off the course thinking the greens are slow.

            But no, I think the biggest things is just to enjoy yourself, enjoy the next few days of being PGA TOUR champions, but once it comes Thursday, get back into golfing mode.  Don't slack off.  It's great to be here but you're here to compete and win, and that's the biggest thing.  You don't show up to this event just hoping to play well and do well.  You've got to show up and really do what you did to get to this event, and that was win.

            So make sure that they have a good game plan.  Everyone's game plan is totally different from the next.  People's ball flights are different.  So you definitely have to go out there and make sure you have a good, solid game plan.  But then just enjoy yourself.  I think the first time I came here, I didn't care how I played.  I just wanted to enjoy myself because I didn't want to spoil my first experience if I was disappointed or frustrated with myself by playing bad.  I just wanted to enjoy myself because I was here at Augusta and playing the Masters.

            That's probably my No. 1 thing, is just going out there and have fun.  Just go out and try to win and do the same thing.

            Q.  What's it like with the Eisenhower Tree gone?

            JASON DAY:  It's sad.  It really is sad.

            To be honest, I never had a problem hitting over the tree.  But it's sad.  I think ‑‑ I'm sure these guys, I'm sure Rob and the guys here will do something about that.  It goes along with everything; the history and the tradition, walking down 17.  I knew that I could clear it, but it's just something that I'd see all the time and you grow up watching it, and now it's gone.  It's not the same, but it's not going to take anything away from the golf experience or the tournament itself.

            It's still going to be a fun week for not only myself but the Patrons and the members and the guests here that are coming to visit Augusta, maybe for the first time, they are still going to have a lot of fun this week.  I know we are going to get some good weather, and I'm just hoping that everyone enjoys themselves and the players make it exciting for the Patrons and everyone watching around the world.

            Q.  Does it make it easier at all, the hole?

            JASON DAY:  It's just a little wider.  I was playing with Mike Weir this morning and he had to hit it down the right side of the tree because he couldn't clear it.  And now he can just hit it down the middle and he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

            You know, it definitely makes it a little easier for the guys that are shorter.  For myself, I didn't really have to change too much about the game plan.

            THE MODERATOR:  Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.  And Jason, thank you so very much for being with us and best of luck to you this week.