Jason Day is relaxed and loose. The 2015 PGA Championship winner should be, because he has the shortest commute to the course.
Tiger Woods brought his yacht and Day is camped outside in an RV.
“I think a lot of people have been struggling with traffic coming into it, and I’m 30 seconds away from the parking lot, which is nice,” he said. “I’ve been doing it since 2010. So to be able to — I feel — so when I was growing up, I played junior tournaments, and I could just drive to them or my mom would drop me off at the tournaments when I was a kid, and I feel like I’m better feeling like I’m staying at home. And when I’m on the bus, it feels like home because I’m sleeping in my own bed. You got your own stuff in there. So it’s just a moving house, really, to be honest.”
He’s got to be doing something right, because he is now joined by Bubba Watson in the RV community.
“Bubba just got one this year, and I’m very kind of more private, and he’s — he’s — yeah, he’s a little bit more outgoing, and I think we’re at Augusta,” he said, “and he walks under my bus, and he’s like, hey, man, what are you doing? I’m just sitting in the bus watching TV. He’s like okay. And he’s standing there. And I’m like, do you want to come inside? And he’s eating a burrito, and he decides to come in and talk to me for about 30 minutes. He gets his burrito all over the ground and then just leaves.
“Actually, it’s nice to have people like that around, you know, to mess your bus up when you need them to.”
And when he’s on the course, Day tends to pal around with Tiger, who he says is the story of this US Open. Of course Woods was here 14 years ago, the last time the Open was in Shinnecock and Day thought he looked quite different.
“I texted him the other day. I sent him a picture,” Day said. “It was him at this event in 2004, and he had, looked like, MC Hammer pants on. I’m like, hey, man, look at these pants. They’re terrible. He had plates on them and everything. It was like the old school stuff. And he didn’t text me back.”
Well, Day is looking for his first US Open title after finishing twice in the major. With the way Shinnecock is now set up, he thinks he is suited for this tournament.
“It’s more so the mentality part for it,” he said. “I mean, when you come into an event like this, I was just saying earlier that usually, you hear guys moaning and groaning about the setup or, you know, the course we’re playing on, how tight things are or the healthy fescue or something, you know what I mean? There’s usually something guys complain about. This week, there’s none of that.
“You can kind of write people off straight away if they’re complaining. When it comes to the U.S. Open, you have to — it tests every part of your game and the mental side as well. So whatever you get, you get. I mean, you just got to kind of suck it up and just keep going.
“I like the stressful part of trying to win a tournament, and I like the stressful part about just being in amongst, playing a tough tournament in front of a lot of people and trying to win a Major.
“So I think if you can just keep grinding, that’s my biggest thing. I’m not a mud runner, but like to a certain degree, I enjoy tough conditions because I feel like I thrive better under those conditions than, per se, an easier course where everyone can come in and play.”
We shall see if he’s right.
At least he doesn’t have to go very far.
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