MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 12, 2025

Jason Day

Quick Quotes

Q. Jase, how excited are you for tomorrow?

JASON DAY: Yeah, I mean, obviously Rory, outside of those two doubles, he's played pretty nice. He's obviously 12-under. He's making a boat load of birdies. He's coming off a lot of confidence winning THE PLAYERS.

I feel like if he can come back to us a little bit -- but once again, Sundays at Augusta is unlike any other tournament. You just never know what potentially could happen. I know that if you shoot a low one, you can use the crowd as momentum, and it also works against you, as well. If you can start hearing the crowd through the golf course.

All I can do is just try and give myself the best chances tomorrow and hopefully I capitalize on some of the putts.

Q. When he was making that early run, do you hear the roars and maybe think that was Rory on those first five holes?

JASON DAY: No. I mean, not really. It wasn't a Tiger Woods cheer. I mean, I remember just standing on 7 and Tiger holed a putt on 9 from four feet for par, and you would have thought he holed it from the fairway. It was unbelievable. I was standing there like, what happened.

There are definitely cheers -- obviously there's going to be a lot of people cheering for him tomorrow just because he can be one of the only few to have the Grand Slam, and that's something he's been chasing -- I think this is his 11th time trying to do that and accomplish that. He's definitely putting himself in the correct position.

He seems like he's very focused and level headed right now, and he's going to be a very, very difficult person to beat tomorrow, just the way that he is looking off the golf course before the round. Very confident, very balanced in himself.

Q. Having stood shoulder to shoulder with him, does he seem like a player who belongs on that Mount Rushmore of players with Tiger and Jack --

JASON DAY: Yes, if he goes ahead and wins it tomorrow -- the guy, I think, what is he trying to win his 30th PGA TOUR event, something like that? Is that about right? 29?

I mean, he's the best player of our generation for sure. He just makes things look so easy.

You look at his score today, he was, what, 4-under-ish through three holes, and then kind of faulted and then all of a sudden he makes three on the trot. It's not easy out there. It's very difficult out there. There's a little bit of wind. The wind is moving around a little bit. The greens are starting to firm up and they're getting a little bit quicker.

But he's explosive enough to be able to do that. There's not many guys on this planet that are able to do something like that. That's what's impressive about him. Yeah, he's got two holes left, obviously, and we'll see where we're at at the end of the day and then try and focus on tomorrow and see how it goes.

Q. Do you think there is an element of pressure on him, and how does that relate to you?

JASON DAY: Yeah, there's obviously pressure, but he has pressure every single week. Like I said before, he seemed very focused, determined to obviously accomplish that. It doesn't look like he's focusing on it. That's the thing.

I know it's in the back of his mind, but I think he's running off so much confidence and he has so much belief in his game that it almost -- like he knows it's going to happen, kind of thing. And when you're playing like that, it's very dangerous.

Very tough person to beat when you're playing -- especially for him because he hits it so far. But he has such -- I think over the years, I think his putting has improved dramatically in regards to his speed control. Short game is severely underrated.

Then obviously his mind -- to be able to push and keep pushing and keep pushing, that's the hardest thing in any tournament really because you can push and then you can falter and then for him to come back with three birdies on the trot, get to 12, like I said before, there's not many people that can do that.

Q. What's your personal level of satisfaction with being back in the mix? You've had career highs, you've had lows --

JASON DAY: Oh, yeah, it's a mixed bag of everything, really, to be honest. I'm looking forward to getting some work done, trying to find just a little bit more control with the irons. I felt like I've played pretty sound so far.

Obviously you take the bogey out on 16, I've only made two or three bogeys or so for the week, which is good. The only unfortunate thing is I haven't been able to capitalize on the opportunities when I get on the green.

A little bit of putting, a little bit of hitting, and who knows what happens, trying to just claw my way up the leaderboard tomorrow.

Q. You talked about the roars out there. Are you a leaderboard watcher, and if so, when you see Rory's name with all those red numbers up there, what goes through your mind?

JASON DAY: Can't do anything. Some guys are just -- you want to go over there and break every club in his bag, but that's just not going to work. He's clearly playing some good golf, so you've got to do the best job you can, and when someone just clearly plays better -- I've been on the receiving end of a couple of those where he's run away with it a little bit, Congressional when I finished second there and he beat me by eight.

But saying that, it's awesome to watch because you can hear the crowds on certain grandstands. One number might click over and these people around you might know but they know and then you can hear the cheers.

There's no place like Augusta National, especially on a weekend.

Q. Have you ever chipped one from the green like you did on 16 today, and what was the thought process behind that?

JASON DAY: There's one green that I -- there's a couple of greens out there that I think are too severe. That one I actually hit a pretty good shot going into the green. I mean, a yard left and it's down the hill and you've got a birdie opportunity, and you're standing on the green thinking, well, if I putt it the best chance I've got is 10 feet other than if I hole it.

Try and take the first two yards of the green out of play which is the most severe and then land it with a little bit of cut spin so hopefully it kind of cuts back into the slope and then dribbles down.

I actually hit a pretty good chip, just a little bit high, and then the second putt was good. I just didn't hit it hard enough.

Q. Do you have a score in mind that has you in with a chance with nine holes left tomorrow?

JASON DAY: I mean, it's low. It just all depends on what he does. Obviously if he comes out and let's say, for instance, he's at 12 and he shoots even par the front side, you get something -- you get 4-under the front side, you're only two back, like anything can happen. You're just going, whatever I just shot is out the door, I've got nine holes and I'm trying to compete and play against him.

The thing is that you can get -- there's birdie opportunities, 2, 3 -- I made a great birdie on 5 today. That's usually not a birdie opportunity. But there's 2, 3, you can get one on 7. I'm hoping they put the pin in that little gully on the right there. 8, 9 -- there's definite opportunities out there to make birdie. So you can climb your way up pretty quick.

If he doesn't do anything early tomorrow, there's some pressure. That's the goal.