RBC Heritage
Friday, April 15, 2016
Jason Day
Press Conference
MARK WILLIAMS: Thanks for joining us, Jason Day. 67 and 69, here at the Heritage in the first two rounds.
If you could just give us an assessment of your round today, but also a comparison of what the conditions were like after yesterday.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I mean it was -- I'm just sitting there looking at the weather app. last night thinking that we're going to have winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour and rain. I mean, that's always not a good time to sleep on. It's tough to really get yourself up for those kind of rounds, knowing that it's going to be more of a mental grind more than it really is, trying to shoot a low score.
But luckily enough for us we scooted the weather and we just had some blustery conditions out there. It was really just tough to pick the right shot at the right time.
17 comes in mind. You're trying to hit it just to the green, hit 9-iron, and if 9-iron has the right wind conditions it gets there. It died down and I hit it short in the bunker.
Same with 8 on the front side today. I was standing there hitting 5-iron into the green and then all of a sudden it dies down and I'm going back to hitting 7-iron and ended up hitting 6-iron in the end.
It's all about picking the right shot at the right time, and getting on the greens, and then from there it's rolling putts.
MARK WILLIAMS: 6 birdies has to be pretty satisfying.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I had two blemishes on the scorecard, the out-of-bounds on 5, I was just trying to sling a draw around the corner, and got way too far on the inside and got stuck and just plugged it way right. And that's just the unfortunate thing, because out of bounds obviously does start pretty close to the right side and if you get stuck you get out of bounds. If I hit on my line as I wanted to and intended to I would have gotten down there, and had an iron in my hand probably getting to the green. Sometimes that's the risk you take, and unfortunately it didn't work out for me. But I'll make a better choice hitting off the tee tomorrow.
Q. It's kind of funny the players usually come here after the Masters to chill out and relax, and instead you've got the high wind, you've got tiny, firm greens. You've got kind of the similar conditions last week. Talk about having to play in the wind for a second straight week.
JASON DAY: Yeah, you can't chill out here at all. It's difficult in regards that you have to position yourself perfectly off the tee, because if you don't then you've got a lot of trees to deal with. And then on top of it -- it's similar to Augusta, as well, in regards there's high trees out there. If you hit it above the trees the wind is going to take it. If you hit below, it's not going to get affected at all.
So you have to get -- gather all the information and try and execute the best shot possible. But then on top of it you've got conditions that make it even tougher. It's difficult. I'm actually pretty tired after today. The last two days were pretty difficult.
But I said yesterday that yesterday's round was going to be the easiest, and then from here on in it's going to be pretty tough.
But I'm just trying to do my job and my job is to try and win the best I can. I've got two more days. We'll see how the winds go this afternoon. I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Q. You almost have a full day to recover for the weekend?
JASON DAY: Yeah, it definitely helps to be able to recover. And I think -- I'm not sure how the conditions are tomorrow, but obviously as the day goes on I'm sure it's going to be just as windy. But we're used to the northeast winds, and I think we're going to have it on Saturday and Sunday. I'll try and rest up the best I can and get back tomorrow.
Q. Talked yesterday a little bit about being either mentally or physically fatigued, you may be able to identify which one for us. And then does being in contention alleviate that any, that fatigue?
JASON DAY: I'm a little tired physically and mentally, but that's just what it is. Last week I felt like I had gone ten rounds of a championship fight. I was talking to Brandt Snedeker today about it, he finished T-10, as well, with me. It beat us up, it really did. Physically and mentally beat us up last week.
And coming this week going from a high and you go down to a low, and you've got to pick yourself back up starting Thursday. But I get next week off so I can take time off there. There's no excuses with -- I may be a little tired, I may be a little bit mentally fatigued, but it's not an excuse. I need to get out there and get the shots and focus.
After I hit my shot out of bounds, I was standing on the green on 5 and it felt like it took the wind out of my sails a little bit. I started feeling tired behind my eyes. And saying to myself, stop thinking about it, just focus on what you need to do. After I holed the putt then it kind of went away.
Moments like that is where you get to a breaking point, where you go, okay, I'm starting to lose focus now, because I was playing great but it went out of bounds. I can't think about it, I've just got to keep pushing on.
It is what it is. I've just got to keep focusing and try to do the best job I can.
Q. Getting yourself in contention, does that help alleviate that?
JASON DAY: No. It does and it doesn't. It's hard, because when you're stressed it raises the cortisol levels. And when you have the cortisol levels the adrenaline kicks in.
But if you're in contention, you should be able to get yourself up because you're trying to win a golf tournament. You're trying to do the best job you can. Some days you have it and some days you don't.
Last Sunday I woke up and I just mentally wasn't quite as sharp as I was the first three days. And I think I just got beat up the first three days. This week I feel good. Yesterday I didn't feel as mentally sharp. I felt like I was kind of punch drunk a little bit but came out today a lot more alert and on top of it.
Q. Coming back from being mentally destroyed, is that where some of the advice from Tiger that you got, it doesn't matter, you just have to figure out a way to get it done?
JASON DAY: Yeah, it does. The advice from Tiger, it definitely helps. He's always telling me to suck up, you've got 19 hours to recover, five hours to play and 19 hours to recover. But it also comes from within, as well. You really try to push yourself as far as you can go.
I mean we're in a sport that you don't need a lot of endurance, you're just talk walking around hitting a golf ball. But it is mentally hard. It is tough to really focus out there sometimes. A lot of people don't realize how much of the actual mental side come into play at this level. It does come from within when you're trying to push yourself even further and further.
But right now I'm sitting in pretty good position for the weekend and I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a fun challenge over the weekend. I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully I'm there by Sunday.
MARK WILLIAMS: Appreciate you coming in, Jason. Good luck on the weekend.
JASON DAY: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #178 at 2016-04-15 17:34:00 GMT
