[Photo: Getty images]
Jason Day burst into laughter and left a group of reporters howling when he hilariously misheard a question on Tuesday’s practice round at the 2025 Masters.
Day, one of five Australians in the 89th Masters field, had just finished a nine-hole practice round at Augusta National with countrymen Min Woo Lee and Cam Smith. Day fielded a reporter’s question about whether Day’s own advice about reaching world No.1 had rubbed off on Lee. Two weeks ago, the 26-year-old from Perth bagged his first win on the PGA Tour at the Houston Open. He is now Australia’s top male golfer at world No.23.
Reporter. He talked about the grind a lot last week. You talked about work ethic. Do you think the penny dropped? Do you think that’s the next step?
JASON DAY: Do I think what?
Q. The penny’s dropped?
JASON DAY: Did you say panties?
Q. The penny.
“Oh, [laughter]. Fair enough. I don’t drop many panties out there, mate,” Day said. “No, I honesty — it started at the Olympics last year [where Day and Lee were the men’s Australian golf team in Paris]. We got to spend a lot of time together. Karrie Webb was a huge part of that team … and just hearing what she did, how she went about things, her mentality [as a seven-time women’s major winner], and it kind of going off and rubbing on to Min [Woo].”
In all seriousness, the vibes were high as major champions Smith, the 2022 Open champion at St Andrews, and Day, a former world No.1 and 2015 PGA Championship winner, played Augusta’s back nine with Lee. The trio were laughing and striking the ball well as they studied the famed course which lost a significant amount of trees in October’s Hurricane Helene.
They are three of the five Australians in the field, with 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott and Cameron Davis rounding out the contingent.
Day and Smith during the practice round Tuesday. Photo: Getty
“I think it’s kind of good to keep it kind of lighthearted, I guess at the start of the week,” Smith said.
The practice round seemed to have a positive effect on Day, who drank from the fountain of youth as he traded jokes and advice with his younger countrymen. “There’s so much to look forward to every year, just the buzz of the place,” Day said.
Day, 37, is aware time is ticking in his Masters career with this edition being his 14th start at Augusta. He debuted in 2011, when he finished T-2, and he has three other top-10 results.
“I’m not sure how many more I’ve got of these [left]. I’m hoping I have a lot more but I’m definitely on the ’14th hole’ of my Masters [career] right now,” he said. “So I just try to soak in as much as possible with my family because it’s something that we enjoy every year that we come as a family.”
Day has had some heartbreaking close calls at Augusta, notably in 2013 when he birdied the 15th to take a two-lead into the final three holes that Sunday. He then bogeyed 16 and 17 while Scott became the first Australian to win the green jacket.
“Was it a two-shot lead? Thanks. Just rub it in,” Day said, laughing at being corrected from one to two-shots led by that day. “Then I bogeyed 16 and 17. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything because that really taught me a lot about like how to be able to handle the pressure and the stress.”
Day isn’t approaching each Masters as if time is running out. Although with almost 10 years passed since his maiden major win, urgency wouldn’t hurt. It just has to be measured, as Augusta National has punished many an impatient contender.
“Definitely not time is running out because obviously all good things end; at some point I’m going to be retired and watching these guys play and it’s going to be great,” Day said of his approach. “It’s more of I’m very blessed and thankful to be here.”
And being here at Augusta National, especially playing an all-Australian practice round, is great. But it’s even better if you can win the green jacket and fulfil the multiple major-winning potential everyone knows Day has.
