Major Champion Jason Day Talks about Self-Doubt

Ahead of the CJ CUP Byron Nelson Major Champ Jason Day chats with the media about defending his Championship at the Byron Nelson and the self doubt that creeps into the mind of a professional golfer.

like you said 5 years is a long time between wins um a little too long if you ask me but um it I don’t know it was kind of strange like I had a lot of good um finishes leading up to that event uh this event last year to to win um I just knew that something was good was going to happen around the corner and obviously it did so I I guess we live kind of in a fishbowl as players because we kind of we live week to week and then the guy person wins and then we’re talking about the next guy that wins and it kind of goes on from there so once the week happened um it was nice to be able to finally get that win after 5 years but like my mindset was like pretty much quickly onto the next tournament you know and it’s it’s unfortunate because you want to kind of wins you know especially these days um with how tough it is some guys make it look easy like Scotty but um uh it’s it’s very difficult to come by those wins yeah I mean it’s kind of weird like I mean just golf is a funny game you know not only physically but mentally as well and you see especially where I’ve been like you know I’ve been to the top of the mountain before and then to be where I was you know during that 5year span of like do I really want to push enough you know kind of push through this and and get through the the pain of it all but um it was it was great to to to finally see all the work that I’ve been working on pay off and I remember talking to someone about this and I said like I I keep projecting myself forward saying that I’m going to be talking about you know finally after so and so many years I finally got that win and it’s amazing how uh mentally tough this game can be um and I would always say to myself that if I can talk myself into a bad shot I can C myself out of a bad shot you know what I mean cuz it’s human nature to start to feel down and feel guilty for yourself so um I just kept on saying to myself it’s it’s only a short period of time even though 5 years is a long time in a career it’s only a short period of time it’s going to happen you got to just keep working through it and um ultimately it happened here last year which was fantastic you know at the time when I won it may have been a little bit more relief but I I don’t know I just like I’m so caught up in kind of building towards something you know I think at the time when I was right before you know last year and I was playing some nice golf I was kind of I was playing golf for the wrong reasons I thought um you know like I feel like looking kind of in the future and and and understanding that golf is like you know more of a marathon and like it’s a long career if you want it to be um kind of playing from more of a position of like love and passion of of the game is I think far healthier to play from than having like a chip on your shoulder because it’s easy to find motivation when you have a chip on your shoulder because like people are talking against you and and all that stuff there’s certain players that play really well with that but it’s I feel like that’s a short limited period of time that can happen when there’s guys that play from you know a a good position of of balance and love and you’re looking at you know Scotty Sheffer right now he’s playing some of the best golf that we’ve seen in a very long time probably since the tiger days he seems like a very well balanced person and that’s like very difficult to do um and for me personally I’m just trying to find that kind of balance in amongst professional life and and personal life business and everything that comes along with uh being a professional golfer so it’s it’s difficult but you know I feel like you know these days is I I mean this is not my first rodo I’ve been out here 17 years now um so I feel like you know I’m still learning and that and and I I’ll never stop learning it’ll always evolve and and I’ll try and get better at it