Q. Eagle and chip-ins and all kinds of stuff.
JASON DAY: Yeah, the hole-out on 3 and then again a chip-in on 4 was pretty special. It was even better on 3 because it was in a pitch mark. It was probably about a third of the ball was stuck under the ground, so it wasn't my pitch mark, so I couldn't drop it out of it. I just kind of chopped down on a pitching wedge, and luckily enough it went in the hole.
Then the next hole was just as good.
I caught fire early and then I'm sitting there going, man, maybe I peaked too early. But overall it was a nice day. I played some pretty good golf.
Q. You made an 11-foot putt for bogey, right?
JASON DAY: Yeah, on 17. I made a poor drive -- I'm not quite happy with how I'm swinging it right now. I have a couple of errant shots here and there in my rounds over the last three days. I need to work on it after I finish up here.
Yeah, it was a nice 11-foot bogey putt on 17, then to be able to birdie 18 to kind of get that shot back.
Q. Take us through the eagle there on No. 3. What did you pull out of the bag?
JASON DAY: Yeah, typically I've got a target yardage that I want to hit, and I hit 3-iron off the tee to try to hit that, and I'm like, okay, great. I was talking to Martin on the way down to my ball, and then I just started looking at my ball and he's still talking to me but I'm not listening to him because I see my ball embedded. I'm like, okay, there's no chance that's my pitch mark.
I think I had 140 yards-ish, somewhere around there. I knew I needed to land 10 on, so I'm looking at 130, and then pitching wedge -- you don't really practice out of those lies. I just kind of -- I'm like, okay, I'm going to back foot it a little bit, just chop down on it and hopefully it comes out decent. I'm either chipping out just short of the water and trying to get up-and-down, I'm like, no, it's Saturday, what was I, 50th in position, so I just said, I'll go for it, and luckily enough it went in.
Q. To play well here, what does that mean to you?
JASON DAY: Well, it was unfortunate I had to pull out last year because I was really looking forward to it. The two times that we played during the pandemic, I played really well, but we had no fans, which was unfortunate. It's nice to be able to be back this year playing in front of the fans, playing at home, being at home, having a lot of family and friends in town, which is nice. I had a good day today. I just need to kind of work some stuff out on the range and on the putting green and hopefully shoot another low one tomorrow and see how it goes.
Q. Are you playing sectional qualifier?
JASON DAY: No. No.
Q. Off the top of your head, do you know how many eagles you've shot here before?
JASON DAY: Oh, I have no idea.
Q. This wasn't your first, right?
JASON DAY: Well, everyone says it's my home club and it is to a certain degree, but before this week I only played nine holes in the last two years here, so not a lot. Even though I live like 30 minutes away. I'm too lazy to get in my car and drive 30 minutes to a championship golf course. I'd rather go to another championship golf course 10 minutes away.
But no, it is nice to be able to have a golf course like this, especially the caliber of golf course that we have in our backyard. A lot of people don't understand Columbus and Ohio in general have tremendous golf courses, and they're like hidden gems. When people come out here, they're actually quite surprised how good the golf courses are up here in Ohio.
Q. Just in a general way, how is your health, and do you feel like your game is good?
JASON DAY: It's good, yeah. No, I feel like I don't have an injury or like I've never had an injury, which is great. That just tells me that -- it gives me the confidence knowing that my body and what I'm doing in the gym and what I'm doing in my swing is really paying off. I've just kind of got to put it all together. I feel like there's like three good rounds and then one average round that keeps me out of it.
I'm just being patient. I'm optimistic about where things are going, but I'm trying to be as patient as possible.
Q. How long has it been since you've felt this way?
JASON DAY: 2015 is probably the time when I really started getting sore. Yeah.
Q. Have you been doing anything different, regimen, diet?
JASON DAY: Just pretty much everything in general. I know that -- I watch what I eat, but I'm trying to cut out certain foods that I have sensitivity to that potentially could give me an inflammation response. I do cold plunges, a sauna, I do everything I possibly can.
The training is different. It's a lot different to what I used to do. It's unfortunate that I can't hit the gym yet, but I'm going to at some point where I can get stronger and I can start hitting it a little bit longer because right now my body feels good and it feels strong, but it doesn't feel like when I was No. 1 in the world strong. Like I felt really strong then.
Just got to be patient with it.
Q. That's what happens when you get older, right?
JASON DAY: Unfortunately.
Q. Obviously you've lived here for a while. How well do you know Cameron Smith?
JASON DAY: I know him pretty well. If I text him, good luck trying to get a text back.
But no, I've known -- how long have I known Smithy now? When I was 18?
AGENT: Maybe even earlier. We met him in '15 in Brisbane.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I've known him for a while. It's amazing to see the development of his game and the maturity of his game, as well. When he first came out, he didn't overly strike the ball long, like one of those guys that can crush it out there like a McIlroy or a Champ or something like that. He's very kind of straight, but obviously over the years he's gained distance through -- you see him now compared to when he first started, he's a lot slimmer, he looks stronger, he's put on a lot more weight, and that actually helps his distance, and then you couple that with really good short -- mid-iron and down irons and really good putting, and that's a formula for really good success. He's got unbelievable touch around the greens.
He's just in a really good spot right now. He's got a girlfriend that he absolutely loves. He's playing some good golf, the best golf of his life actually, just winning THE PLAYERS a couple months ago, and just everything in his life right now is really balanced it looks like from the outside looking in. That's nice to see. It's good to see him play well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports