Q. How would you characterize your round today?
JASON DAY: It was good. I played solid. I mean, just out of position on 17 and 18. Missed opportunities on 13, 14 and 15. It was a great birdie on 16. But unfortunately just finished the way I did. I mean, I felt like the game was -- I was playing well. Just missed the last two fairways and just out of position, you're hitting wedge shots into those front pin locations and it's very difficult to get those up-and-down. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Q. You're obviously local here, a member here. Have you seen conditions like this on this golf course before?
JASON DAY: No, no. Usually there's a little bit of -- usually we have storms when it comes to Memorial. We're a little bit later in the year, so maybe that's had something to do with the storms not coming. I mean, we did have a quick shower on Thursday, but overall, I think the conditions are really tough out there. Some of the holes you're hoping that you have a decent lie in the rough where you can kind of get it somewhere around the green so you can get yourself up-and-down. 16 today was just unbelievable, and it's not so much the actual shot itself as when you got up around that hole, the grain is just absolutely dead. You know that it's quick when your putter starts slipping when you're going down.
It's going to be -- if we have the same conditions tomorrow, it's probably going to be carnage out there tomorrow.
Q. Does it feel a little bit like a major?
JASON DAY: Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's more like survival tomorrow. If we get those strong southwesterly winds, 15 miles an hour here, gusts over 20 easy and you're hitting two to three clubs more at some holes out there and then you just -- you're sitting there scratching your head trying to make par. If you can be patient out there tomorrow, I think you have a good shot at it.
Q. Do conditions compare to any other tournaments you've played?
JASON DAY: Any U.S. Open, THE PLAYERS Championship when I won. Typically we don't really have too many tournaments out here that finish single digits, but you get the South Course at Torrey Pines sometimes it's good to shoot even par. But it wasn't playing -- there was a slight breeze out there today, but you can't get the ball close. It can get a little bit frustrating for you because you're hitting a lot of greens but you're 20 to 30 feet away and it's nearly impossible to get close to the hole.
Q. How was your back today?
JASON DAY: It's fine. I mean, I'm just being cautious. I just feel like it could go out at any moment because it just doesn't feel strong. But I just want to make sure that I -- I've just got to get through tomorrow. If I get through tomorrow then I take a week off, then I'm fine.
Q. Do you understand how Tiger feels?
JASON DAY: Oh, man, I sympathize with him pretty much every day because I know what he's going through because I'm going through the same thing. Obviously you can tell that it's affecting him a little bit more because his speed is way down, and when your speed is way down and you're trying to compete against the best players in the world -- I saw him hit a wood and it was 145-mile-an-hour ball speed. When is the last time you've ever seen Tiger do that? And when you're trying to do that and compete against the best players in the world, it's very difficult to do. Long story short, it's good to see him out playing again. I hope that his back comes along so that he can actually start hitting it a little bit harder and being a little bit more competitive in his mind because I know that he's probably frustrated with it. But I can understand his pain.
Q. Difficult as it is, do you welcome it because you know what's coming up, the majors coming up and you've played some courses that you've got to put up low scores?
JASON DAY: Yeah, tomorrow I don't know what it's going to be like. It may be even par is going to be the best score out there. I don't know yet. It's going to be interesting. But it's a good test of golf. It's amazing how much they did -- you know, they told us before these two weeks happened that they were going to make it a little bit easier the first week and then difficult on the second week, and they've definitely made it more difficult. But just a true testament to how Rahm is playing out there if he's 4-under through today and 12-under total. That's great playing.
Q. It looks like you're in extreme pain when you bend --
JASON DAY: I'm not in extreme pain, no. I just want to make sure that I don't get in extreme pain.
Q. Why do you bend over? Why don't you have your caddie --
JASON DAY: I can squat down fine. Anytime that I'm in a 45-degree angle where I'm pretty much most of the day when I'm hitting shots, it's nothing crazy, I just want to make sure that I'm cautious and I take the right steps just to get through tomorrow and give myself a chance at winning the tournament. It's fine through the swing. It's just when I first bend over, that's when it feels like it just could go and -- my back could spasm. That's the only part of the swing that feels like it could go out, but other than that, it's fine.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports