What they said: Jason Day

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial transcript archive

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Jason Day into the interview room here at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Jason fresh off a victory last week at Los Colinas. Jason, congratulations on that. If we could get you to look back at that tournament and then talk a little bit about your preparations for this week

JASON DAY: Yes, I was very happy that I won last week after I made it very interesting on the last hole. But, you know, I played pretty solid. The last two rounds were pretty sloppy with my swing and my ball striking but my short game saved, you know, a lot of shots out there. You know, I felt like I got a little lucky. I'm not taking anything away from Blake Adams, but me and him were playing for our first tournament. If it was Top-10 player in the world, and he was in the last group with me, I think that he would have overtaken me on that last hole, just because he has had more experience, and he probably had more wins than me. Just me and Blake were going for our first win. We are kind of feeling the same emotions, and the same thoughts as well. I felt like I got a little lucky, but sometimes you get a little lucky out there and you just got to take it and just run with it.

JOHN BUSH: Now you are an Australian, but you call Fort Worth home now, and you play out of this club, and you finished fourth here last year, so talk a little bit about the comfort level.

JASON DAY: This club is just a great club to be a member of. I've been here for a couple of years now. I play out here pretty often and I played well last year here. That was really, really fantastic. I had a lot of support. Obviously being one of the young guys now, and I am just pumped to play this week. I think after last week it kind of spurred me on to trying to do well this week. I really want to play well this week.

Q. Jason, you mentioned being a lit it bit lucky on that 18th hole, obviously playing with Blake, but now that you've won a tournament, how do you feel things will be different now, the mindset and the perspective now when you get into a position like that again?

JASON DAY: Now since I've won, and I have done it, I think I'm going to be a little more relaxed out there, obviously. I know that I've got 2-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and that opens up a few more doors to playing bigger and better golf tournaments. I think the biggest thing is that I get to, after winning, I get to play with a lot of good solid players. I'm not saying that everyone is not that great. But everyone is really good to be out here. It's just that I'm going to be playing with a lot more experienced veterans out here. I think if I get in the hunt again, I'm going to try to listen to myself a little bit better. That first nine holes that I played I had 4 bogeys. I made a lot of mistakes. I tried to go for a few things and make things happen, and you just can't force the issue out there. So, hopefully, next time I'm in the hunt for something I will listen to myself and just show a lot more discipline out there.

Q. How are you feeling this week?

JASON DAY: I feel much better this week than I did last week. I still got some stuff in my nose, I've been coughing that up a little bit this morning. I feel really good. I don't feel nauseous or anything, the medicine is finally kicking in. The second day that kind of flushed my system out. It was really stinking hot out there. I never sweat, for some reason. You can ask Colin, I never sweat, and that second day it was just pouring out of me.

Q. I wanted to ask just about the chances of repeating, obviously only one person has done it, can you talk about what a chore that would be?

JASON DAY: Repeating as in this week? You know, I'd love to come through with a win here. I reckon it would be just great. Me being just a local guy in Ft. Worth, I reside in Ft. Worth and having a lot of friends and family here it will just top it off. Obviously to play well here you can just see Mr. Hogan out there when you walk through the gate. These two events are just really solid events. I would like to one day look back on and hopefully have the trophy and the name on the trophy as well.

Q. What has been the coolest thing in the last 48 hours as far as either going home talking to mom, or where you guys went to eat on Sunday night to celebrate? What's been the best post-victory moment for Jason Day?

JASON DAY: Well, I think the best thing was having, you know, I went to P.F. Chang's actually with some friends and family Sunday night, and we just had a real quiet kind of dinner. It was a lot of fun. My neighbors sent me flowers and congratulation balloons and all of that other stuff. My neighborhood is really really fun. The people there are just fantastic. I think the biggest thing yesterday, I just got to relax and just play Call of Duty online.

Q. Did you play against my son? I will give you his name later.

JASON DAY: I have no idea. I played that for about five hours straight.

Q. Call of Duty, is that a war?

JASON DAY: That's a new modern warfare. Yes, I play that one.

Q. Jason, obviously this week Phil is back here after last year when Amy got sick, and there was a pink out and everything. Phil has returned this week. Just talk about from the perspective of another player just what it's like to see what happened last year on the Saturday round with the pink out. In fact, they're doing the pink out again. What do you think it means to Phil?

JASON DAY: I think it means a lot, just to make people aware of breast cancer. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Just to make people aware of it, and especially women to make sure that they get checked up as well and get checked up regularly. But for Phil, obviously, he has the pink ribbon on his hat, and he shows that. But just the support that people show towards feel and his wife Amy was just fantastic. I know that they are going to do that this year. I think everyone was praying that she was going to get through this and his mom as well. So I think Phil is very thankful for the people in Ft. Worth, especially in the DFW area for that. I know that Phil is going to come here and he is just not going to disappoint this week.

Q. Had you ever experienced a round like that on a Saturday with the pink out?

JASON DAY: No, never. When the PGA TOUR supports something, they support it really well. If someone passes, everyone wears a black ribbon. Someone is supporting something and everyone will do anything to help out. That's the great thing about the PGA TOUR and the players, is that everyone is out. We play against each other and it's a very individual sport, but when it comes to supporting and helping each other, we are there for each other.

Q. What's harder to keep your concentration five hours of Modern Warfare or five hours on the golf course?

JASON DAY: Five hours on the golf course. I'm in my own little world. My wife talks to me, and I don't even know she is talking to me when I am playing Call of Duty. I can spot my wife out on the golf course. But I can't spot my wife at home, and she is standing right next to me.

Q. You mentioned your mom briefly, I wasn't aware, when was she diagnosed, how is she doing?

JASON DAY: You know what, she kept it really hush, hush. She didn't want me to find out. My sister said something to me back 2005, around that year, and she would go and get it checked up. But she is always been like that. She never wanted to worry the family at all.

Q. Is she okay?

JASON DAY: She is okay now, yes. Everything is fine, thanks.

Q. It seems like you really fit in in the Ft. Worth area. What was the reason why you moved here in the first place and really kind of just how it come about where you feel so comfortable here?

JASON DAY: You know what, when I first came over, I was living in Orlando for just over a year. And then my wife at the time, which was my girlfriend, she moved in with me down in Orlando. It was just hard for her because we didn't have any friends there. It's just so hard because we are in and out of town all the time. There is no time just to sit down and make friends. It just really hard to. I hurt my back the first year out on the PGA TOUR. I wanted to work with some trainers. Bud Martin, my agent, is Rory Sabbatini's agent, he referred me to Back 9 Fitness, and they're out of the Jim McLean's center and that's where I currently live now. I came over, and I started working with him, at the McLean Center and there is a little community there, and I saw a house, there was an open house, and we went in and had a look, and I think I bought the house the week after that. Then I started living there. We had some friends here as well. We had a more friends than we did in Orlando, I will tell you that much. So we just came over and I started working with those guys. Over time, you know, with the community, you know, and everyone else, we've just met a lot of fun people. It's just such a great area. They've really taken with me and my wife in really well, so I'm just have thankful for that.

Q. Where do you play out of here?

JASON DAY: I play at Colonial but I practice at McLean Center.

Q. With a win under your belt, do you start looking more critically at Majors and that type of thing as a logical next step, how do you view yourself in that light?

JASON DAY: With the first win, I don't want to go and say I want to win the next major. Winning a PGA TOUR event is tough. To win a major, I'm going to say is 100 times tougher because it's the best players in the world. You are playing against the best players in the world. With the win under my belt right now, I just want to, you know, slowly improve and slowly just try and keep notching up some wins if I can, kind of slowly move and work my way towards majors. And you never know, I might qualify for The Open and go at it and win. If that happens, that's great. If not, I'm not too worried. I know I'm 22, there is going to be 20 majors, 20 years of playing majors under my belt. I'm not too rushed into going out there and winning quick.

Q. Where are you going to try to qualify for The Open?

JASON DAY: In Columbus.

Q. As a guy who plays here regularly throughout the year, just give us an insight on the course and what it takes to succeed around here?

JASON DAY: Yes, well, you want to make sure that you try to birdie the par-5s because, you know, this course, it can be forgiving, but it can really punch you in the gut if you are not too aware of it. I think the biggest thing that you want to do is just to make sure that you leave yourself on the right side of the green. Leave yourself on the right side of the pin. I played here last year and I, you know, I gave myself a lot of chances because out there, it's not the longest course out there, but I think by just giving yourself a lot of chances you can kind of get away with missing some fairways here and there. But you can't really get away with missing some greens because it can be very tough on you.

JOHN BUSH: Jason, congratulations on the win last week. And good luck as you try to make it back-to-back.

JASON DAY: Thank you.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.