Jason Day hadn't bothered with a practice round, nor even glimpsed the Oak Hill course, but the weary if exhilarated Aussie feels going in blind to the PGA Championship is worth it to stay mentally sharp for his bid to regain the title.
Still tired following his first PGA triumph in five years at the AT&T Byron Nelson on Sunday, Day, having jetted in from Texas, reckoned he was happy to skip practice at the course in New York State to maintain the mental edge that drove him to victory on Sunday.
"I haven't played the course. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the course. I most likely probably won't see the course today," shrugged the 35-year-old Queenslander on Wednesday to some surprise, admitting on the eve of the event that it was hardly ideal preparation to try to reprise his sole major triumph in the 2015 PGA.
"I'm just not fighting anything, I just want to make sure that I'm mentally prepared and mentally ready for tomorrow," he said.
"It sucks to not be able to prepare the way I want to, but having mental tiredness out there won't do me any good.
"No matter how well I prepare - even if I go out and play a practice round - if I come in tomorrow tired and exhausted, it won't do me any favours. So I'm just going to try and take it easy."
Day, who had an outing on the driving range, said it wasn't the first time he had come into a major without the benefit of a practice round, but fancied his real test was going to be adapting to a completely different course to last week's win at TPC Craig Ranch.
"The difference is dramatically different," said Day.
"The grass is different. The sand is different. The playing surfaces are totally different.
"I won't be able to see how the greens are bouncing, coming in to approach play, and I won't really see how the greens are rolling typically out there.
"I know we have practice facilities here, but it won't give you the best preparation going forward unless you've seen the golf course.
"If I come in a little bit mentally tired and start making mental errors, it's one of those golf courses from what I know and what I've played in the past, that it's going to go downhill pretty quick from there.
"I've just got to be cautious, understand that I've come off a good week from last week, and with a win comes some expectations.
"But, also, I've got to not get too far ahead of myself and make sure that I listen to myself and listen to my body."
Day finished up with a dazzling final round of 62 to win the Byron Nelson, but felt that, given his patchwork preparations, "survival" could be the order of the day in Thursday's opening round.
"It's going to be more of playing to the centre of the green, putt to the pin locations, grab your birdies when you can and then just kind of survive," he shrugged.
