MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 11, 2025

Jason Day

Quick Quotes

Q. Jason, two rounds in the 70s, nice way to start off your Masters week. How does the game feel right now?

JASON DAY: Game is nice. I just haven't holed a lot of putts out there, or the putts that I had opportunities on. Just either just missing them, or I guess 17, that was a difficult putt obviously pulling up short in the heart.

I was just trying to get on the other side so you can putt back up into the hill, back up into the wind, be a little bit more aggressive. I did kind of nurse that down the hill there.

I feel like I've been very patient with myself out there. Yeah, I just need some putts to go in.

I think overall I'm hitting really good putts. I'm just going to kind of work on that this afternoon.

Q. You obviously have a lot of experience on this golf course and in contention on this golf course. How does that help you on the weekend?

JASON DAY: Well, you kind of understand what to expect. We know that you can hear the SubAir going right now. Obviously that's just on this hill here. But we'll have the SubAir going overnight. The greens will firm out. There's light and variable winds tomorrow so the greens will quicken up. That's the defense of the golf course, especially going into tomorrow.

There's guys up at the top of the leaderboard that can hit it a long way, so I know that they're going to try and make it as difficult for us on to the greens as much as possible. We know that Saturday usually is the tougher day of the two. Tough day tomorrow and then get through and hopefully get myself into contention on Sunday.

Q. How do you stay patient when the putts aren't dropping? What do you do specifically?

JASON DAY: Inside, I'm like swearing at myself. But it's very -- this golf course, it can frustrate you. It's a funny golf course because where they put the pin locations, if you're leaving yourself 30 to 35 feet, very rarely do you hit it very close. You're always leaving yourself two, three, four-footers, and that can be very frustrating because you're going to go through your process again and try and hole the putt, and that's why you feel mentally fatigued getting off the golf course at the end of the day, just where they place the pin locations.

But when you're missing putts and giving yourself opportunities, it is what it is. I feel like the stats will soon kind of turn for me, and hopefully it's this weekend.

I feel like I'm playing very nicely. I just don't get -- we've got 36 holes left, so there's a lot of golf to be played. If I can get myself rolling the way that I feel like I can, then I feel like I can get myself into contention.

Q. Reuniting with your coach recently, tell us how that came about. Who picked up the phone?

JASON DAY: Yeah, it was definitely me. I was doing my own thing kind of at the end of the year. As a professional golfer, you can't. You need a good solid team around you. It's very difficult to do -- think you can do everything yourself. Even though you may have the knowledge for it.

But anyone could stand in front of me and I could say, hey, I know exactly what's going on because I'm looking at it. And it's different when you're looking at video through a phone. It's not the same as I'm looking at myself.

So it's nice to have somebody come in and make things a little bit more clear, as in not as complicated as I was making it. He just said, you've got to fly the plane. Just go out there and fly the plane. Some weeks you're not going to have the best stuff, so just go out there and try and get it done.

That reminds me a lot of what we did well back in '14, '15, '16. Some of the stuff that I played back then wasn't great, but we just somehow got it in, which was good.

Q. Can you tell me about the phone call when you rang him, how he reacted?

JASON DAY: It was more of a text. We text these days. I think it was a text that said, hey -- well, I sent swings through and said, hey, can you look at this, and then that kind of evolved into more texts and more calls. And then I said, hey, man, would you be open -- because I know he works with Karl Vilips, and I'm very respectful of people and trying not to step on anyone's toes in that sense.

So I'm like, hey, if you've got time I'd love for us to try and get back together and work. Fortunately he's got some time. I know that he's busy with doing his commentary stuff and Karl, but it's nice to have him back on the team.

Q. You had Rory in front of you today and then Scottie coming up behind. Did you feel like (indiscernible)?

JASON DAY: Yeah, looking at Rory, he played tremendous. Obviously he played great yesterday, too. He came home with a couple of doubles, which obviously hurts, but he's played great golf in a very tough day and he's two back.

Obviously I know he's trying to finish that Grand Slam that he's been trying to get for a long time.

Scottie is Scottie; I feel like that guy is always in contention no matter what he does. He always gives himself the opportunities. Doesn't get too high or low. It seems like he's always somewhere around the lead.

For me, I'm kind of under the radar, which is nice. I feel like sitting at T9 is good going into the weekend. I just keep my head down and keep pushing.

Q. 14 years here, what have you learned about the weekends that you can use this weekend?

JASON DAY: Just get yourself into contention on the back side. Anything happens on the back side. Obviously there's proof of certain people or individuals that have struggled on the back side and certain guys that have played well on the back side and won, too. I'm not going to name names because obviously that might bring up memories of people.

But get through tomorrow. I know it's going to be tough, but get the opportunities, try and capitalize on them and then get myself into contention on the back nine on Sunday.