Jason Day: Chambers Bay will make for tricky US Open

Jason Day said he understands the criticism of the altering Chambers Bay course, but has no problem with it as he continues his chase for an elusive major title.

Day has twice finished second, or tied for, at a US Open, beaten by a rampant Rory McIlroy at Congressional in 2011 before finishing two shots behind Justin Rose at Merion in '13.

The Australian said he could understand critics of the alternating par scores on holes one and 18 at the Washington course, which are not the only aspects that will change over the four rounds.

"I can see the criticism in it," Day told a news conference.

"I can see that with the way they have the set-up currently.

"I mean, you take [hole] nine, for instance, it can play 37 yards downhill and two uphill on two different days. You're hitting across fairways.

"You're changing pars of the holes on different days, one and 18 become par-fours and par-fives and vice versa the next day. And it gets tricky with that kind of thing.

"But I think Mike [Davis] and the team at the USGA, I think they're going to do a phenomenal job, it's not their first rodeo.

"They're going to be able to set the course up to where I think it's very challenging but in a way that they're going to try and find the best player that's going to win around here.

"And I don't have any problem with it."

Given the alterations, Day said the course was more elusive to the European swoopers.

"You need creativity," the three-time PGA Tour winner said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a European Tour player or a bunch of European Tour players that have played a lot of British golf are up at the top of the leaderboard.

"But I think I'm still sticking to my guns, I think a long player is going to win it this week."

Day is paired with Masters champion Jordan Spieth and '13 champion Rose, two groups ahead of Tiger Woods.

He said the 14-time major champion just needed to land the ball on the fairway to be a chance of regaining his vintage form.

"I think that's the biggest thing for him right now is to really kind of get on the fairway. His short game looks pretty good," Day said.

"Who knows what's going on with Tiger right now. We're friends, but I don't get into his personal life and I don't want to.

"That's his stuff and he deserves his privacy. But when it comes to golf, it's very difficult because you could have all the tools in the world, but if you really don't want to be there or if there's something that's off course that's playing on your mind it's very difficult to win golf tournaments."