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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONALAugust 4, 2015Jason DayAKRON, OHIO MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Jason Day to the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Jason, making your first start since the big win in Canada at the RBC Canadian Open. Talk about what you've been up to. I know you had a big charity event yesterday. Kind of go into that and then we'll have questions. JASON DAY: It was our first inaugural celebrity Brighter Days Foundation Golf Classic. It was neat. It was a lot of fun. I think the charities that we're going to support -- we raised $250,000, and the charities that we're going to support are definitely going to see a lot of impact, especially with the local areas that we're supporting. It was quite neat. We had a good turnout. Concur was a presenting sponsor. We had a tremendous bunch of corporate sponsors that were helping out the last two days as well. Obviously, for the first time, there's things we'd like to improve on for next year and slowly get bigger and better over the years. But I had a really good week off of a really busy week. It was very stressful just trying to make sure that everything was -- you know, we're getting ready for the day. I played a lot of good golf, played at least four or five times over the last week, and practiced and trying to get ready for this week as well. So now since the day's over, I'm looking forward to this week. Q. Obviously, congrats, mate, on the win. JASON DAY: Cheers. Q. I wanted to ask you specifically about the way you won it and how you thought about that going forward. I mean, finishing birdie, birdie, birdie, making a putt you knew you had to make, is that one of the pieces of the puzzle that you've been waiting for? JASON DAY: I don't know. It gets me excited to think about it every now and then. It's just something so -- it's a neat experience that no one can really -- it's very hard for someone to experience, very hard for someone to -- because it's something that you've always wanted to do as a professional golfer, to have that putt on the last hole to win. I've seen Tiger do it so many times. So it just looks so natural for him. But to be able to have the opportunity and birdie the last three holes because I know that -- it was a little bit -- I got off to a great start that day. I kind of bogeyed 8, bogeyed 9, got off two, and then the par save on 12 was crucial for me. I knew there was opportunities coming home. Birdieing 16 was a good start, and then hitting a massive drive down 17, and then that putt on 18. It was actually kind of a blessing in disguise hitting it in the bunker because, if I hit it down the fairway, then it's fine. If I hit it down the fairway with a drive, I can get to the green, but if I hit it in the rough, then there's the thought process of is it going to fly on me? Is it going to not fly? And you're going to obviously take that water out of the equation and hit it long, but then on top of it, you don't want to hit too far because then obviously it's a difficult up-and-down. Just the way I finished was pretty special. It was a lot of emotion came out of me just because of what had happened previous -- in the previous week. It was a very similar putt to what I had at the British at The Open Championship, and a lot of emotion came out. And it felt good. It really did. I felt like it changed me and the way I look at myself the week prior coming into the Canadian Open, and I felt very confident in my ability to come back. Not only that, I won the Canadian Open, the RBC Canadian Open. I came back after kind of a little bit of a disappointment and just showed a lot of tigger (phonetic) there. Q. Just to follow up, I guess what I'm getting at is, when you find yourself in those situations again, whatever tournament, that is something really powerful to draw on. JASON DAY: Yeah, it is. It's obviously powerful to draw on, but on top of it, you've got to go out and execute the shot. Doing stuff like that is not easy. It may look easy, but it's not easy to do. I think -- it was funny, that Sunday, I was a lot more calm. I was just in a different -- I just felt different that day compared to any other Sunday where I was in contention, whether it was a major or a normal PGA Tour event. And I just, for some reason, I just knew everything's okay. No matter what, just keep plugging along. Even though you may hit a few hiccups, which I did, being patient with myself. And that's kind of what happened to me at Farmers, as well. I just wasn't really doing much, and then finally in the last few holes something happened, and I got in the playoff. I don't want to sound disrespectful, but it was actually kind of good to do it to someone else other than people doing it to me. So it felt good to be able to do that. Q. With what you've been through this year, with the vertigo and all that, do you think this has taken some of the stress away? Just when you're feeling good and you're just kind of -- JASON DAY: Yeah. It's tough because vertigo, I can't get rid of, and it will come back whenever it wants to. So I'm just trying to manage it the best I can. I'm trying to adapt -- they say you have to adapt to vertigo. I mean, everyone knows here that I've had problems with my health in the past, whether it was just back or vertigo or something else. There's always been problems. It's hard because prevention is obviously better than the cure, and I'm just trying to -- and that's what got me changed. That's why I started working with a new trainer last year, and I'm really trying to change the way I look at my body just because, when I was younger, you never really think about this stuff because you feel like you're bulletproof, and you feel like you can just handle anything. As I get older, my body isn't bulletproof, and it's starting to break down. And I'm still young, so it's something that I have to maintain, something that I have to work extra, extra hard, just as hard as my golf game, I have to work on my body as well. With all that said and done, going into that stretch at the U.S. Open, knowing that it was very difficult for me, but I learned a lot and learned how far I can really push myself, not only my body but my mind as well. Q. I just had to ask you about all the crazy pictures they made you take after the Canadian. JASON DAY: With the hats and stuff? You know why it started, it started with one of the Navy guys, and I wore his. Then the Mountie came in. I thought it looked all right. It looked like it was Photoshopped on my head for some reason, but it was a lot of fun. Q. Wasn't there some squirrel or something? JASON DAY: No, it was a beaver. Beaver, yeah. I wonder if I get that one. I don't know. Q. Jason, talk a little bit about the course this week and what are some of the challenges and your history here. JASON DAY: Brutal course, really long. But it looks like we're going to have some good weather. The greens and the fairways should dry out. The greens should dry out and make -- they should be bouncing. With the healthy rain we've had up here in Ohio, the rough should be pretty thick out there. I haven't actually been out there yet, but I'm going out there this afternoon. So I think I'll be able to tell a little bit more once I'm out there. We've had tremendous weather over the last couple of weeks to really get the course really green and lush and ready for the guys. I finished fourth here -- I can't remember what year it was. Maybe a couple of years ago. Q. 2011. JASON DAY: That's a long time ago, actually. A lot of good memories coming back from there. But it's something where I'll sit down with Colin, my coach and caddie, and go over the holes that I've struggled with in the past and go over the holes that I play well. Obviously, I'm not going to change anything to the holes that I play well with. I'm going to keep the same game plan, but there needs to be a plan of action with the holes that I struggle with. This week, I feel good. I'm feeling ready to go. So I'm excited about the week, and the next two weeks are going to be a lot of fun for me. Q. Jason, just talking about sort of going over things, do you have much time to sort of dwell on what took place at St. Andrews? If so, would you change anything looking back on it? Perhaps the third part of my question is how important was it to bounce back with a victory after that disappointment? JASON DAY: Do you have another question with that? Q. No (laughter). JASON DAY: I'd probably hit the putt harder. You know what, I made three bogeys for the week, and they were all in round 2. I played good golf. I played good golf that week. I learned a lot. And that's what I'm saying. The week that I won in Canada was -- the week prior at The Open Championship was a game changer for me, just to be able to understand how to communicate with Colin and to be patient with myself and to not stop fighting. Obviously, it's a little frustrating and disappointing at the same time because I want to hole that putt, I want to get in the playoff, I want to have an opportunity to win in The Open Championship. It can be frustrating. But to turn around so quick and hole the putt on the 72nd hole at the Canadian Open, I mean, it was a good way to turn around really quick and know that I can do it and show people that I can do it and stomp my foot on the ground and say, no, that's enough. I can get it done. But is there anything I would change? Probably not go out on Sunday morning for half an hour and three-putt 12 and 13. That would be a good change. But it's hard. We had horrific wind conditions that week. Unfortunately, we can't control the weather -- yet. Once we do that, I think everything would be a lot easier. Overall, I think they did the best job they possibly could to get the tournament in. It was tough. Q. Can I ask you a final question? JASON DAY: Sure. Q. You mentioned Tiger at the start of your interview here. Do you find it strange there's no category this week for guys who have won this tournament eight times? JASON DAY: I think the WGCs are -- you win the bloody tournament eight times, you probably should -- oh, man, it's tough, though. It's something that, for us as players, we have to earn our spots in these tournaments. Unfortunately, right now, he's going through a spell where he's not playing that great. For him, he never had to think about it because he was No. 1 for so long, it was just part of his schedule. Someday I'm going to go through the exact same thing where I have to somehow earn my way back into this tournament, but I'm hoping it's a long way away from now. It's kind of weird to not see him playing the events that we're usually used to seeing him playing. This is one of those events that he plays well and wins a lot here. Eight times, it's just amazing to even think about. Some guys are just hoping for one WGC win, let alone eight times at one venue. Q. Jason, do you use ShotLink daily? Do you dive into the statistics there? Does it help you at all? JASON DAY: Yes, we do. Colin, my coach/caddie, he's big on that stuff. He can tell me if I'm losing shots to the field on holes or if I'm gaining shots on the field on the hole. What holes to birdie, how many under I should play the holes, or even par because sometimes we'll be playing a hole over par, and he goes, you just need to par this hole for the week. And it may be an easy hole unfortunately. Sometimes it's an easy hole, and sometimes I play the hole terribly. The biggest thing is to really understand what is causing those holes to be a problem. Is it strategy? Is it the first tee shot? Is it the second shot into the green? Visually, is it something that throws you off? Or is it mental? 99 percent of the time it's mental because I feel like I've been on Tour long enough to know when to hit the driver, when to hit an iron, when to go for it and not go for it. A lot of it is, okay, I don't feel comfortable because of this, and it's throwing me out. If I try and hit a drive where it calls for a drive, sometimes I should just taper it back and hit a 3-wood instead just to really try and get myself on the fairway and give myself an opportunity at going on the green and give myself an opportunity at making birdies. Colin is big into that stuff, and I think it's slowly starting to move towards that way. A lot of the younger guys are starting to do that. So we should try to keep this quiet in here and not tell anyone what I just said. With that said, yeah, that's what we work on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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