|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIPJune 21, 2014Aaron BaddeleyCROMWELL, CONNECTICUT THE MODERATOR: Aaron Baddeley in the clubhouse with a 12‑under 65, obviously in great position heading into the final round. With that just a couple of comments. AARON BADDELEY: Always love coming back here. This is always a staple on my schedule. Enjoy coming back here. Enjoy the golf course. I feel like it's an underrated golf course for being a good golf course. Today was a good day. Overall played well. Probably didn't hit it quite as well as yesterday, but today, just a very solid day overall. THE MODERATOR: Okay. We'll take some questions. We have a microphone here. If you'll just stick your hand up. Q. What was working well for you today? Hitting it in good position off the tee, putting, short game? AARON BADDELEY: I think today I hit a bunch of good iron shots. That gave me some close looks for birdies. Around here you feel like you should birdie every hole, you know. A lot of birdie holes out here. But you gotta be patient, you know. You feel like‑‑ there's a few holes you just gotta make your pars on. It's the sort of course where you just gotta be patient and keep hitting good shots, keep giving yourself looks, and the greens are rolling beautifully, so you're definitely going to make some putts. Q. Why do you think this is an underrated course? AARON BADDELEY: I mean when people talk about great courses on the TOUR, everyone says like Charlotte and Riviera, this one doesn't get mentioned that often, and it's one of the best courses. If you look at the golf course, especially the way it's playing now, firm, I've always said it's very‑‑ I love this golf course. You gotta hit both shots off the tees; you gotta hit fades, you gotta draws. It's got a good mix of long holes, short holes. Like 15's a great drivable little hole. You got 10's a great par‑4. 4 is a tough par‑4. There's a lot of good little holes out here, you know. And if you don't know the golf course, it can be a little tricky in spots, so I just feel like it's a very‑‑ like I said, I think it's an underrated quality golf course. Q. Does three years ago feel like a long time ago to you and what's been I guess the most difficult part of the stretch for you? AARON BADDELEY: Yeah. I mean it feels like a long time ago, yet it doesn't in the sense of the feeling of being in this position doesn't feel abnormal, you know. Probably the hardest thing is just like last year was just not knowing what was wrong with my golf swing. I wasn't hitting it very good and hitting it all over the place and not knowing. That was probably the hardest thing, you know. Where in October started working with Grant White and Chris Como, and those guys really were the first guys really to give me some true understanding what was wrong, why the ball wasn't going straight. And we started working and started making some changes and I feel like I've been close to playing really good for a while now. I've had glimpses of that, and definitely looking forward to tomorrow and getting out there. Q. What's the maybe one or two things you discovered? AARON BADDELEY: I'd say the way my right arm was working, it was working sort of back and behind and sort of getting back and behind me. And then I'd say that my wrist angle through the ball. I never understood that, never looked for that before, you know. And I was sort of seeing what good players did, or good ball hitters, guys that hit straight like a lot of them. And you look at what I was doing, I was doing the opposite. So it started making sense of why the ball wasn't going where I was wanting it to go. So it's been a steady progress of just improving like percent by percent day by day, and I feel like I'm getting really close to playing some really good golf. Q. Your track record here isn't great, so why is this always a staple and a place that you always want to come back to and make sure you play here? AARON BADDELEY: I think early on it wasn't that great. Last year I missed the cut because I didn't know where the ball was going. But I actually feel like I play pretty well here. I don't think I've ever been quite up there, but I always feel like I've been around a decent spot. So I just like the golf course, I like the look of it. I have a good feel around here. Like staying in downtown Hartford there where you can walk to dinner and stuff. Q. You made a nice par on 16 after hitting it over. You got up and down. Can you go over that hole and also just go over your birdies? AARON BADDELEY: Yeah. That was a good little save there. Just sort of pulled my 8‑iron a touch and just went a little bit too far. But another tough up‑and‑down. You hit it a fraction too hard and that thing is down the front, even off of the green. So I was really pleased to get up‑and‑down there. And then my birdies, hit a lob wedge on No. 2 to about eight feet and made birdie there. Hit 7‑iron on 4 to about 14 feet under the hole, made that. Where else did I birdie? Birdied‑‑ did I birdie 9? No. 10. 10, hit it pin high, about 25 feet, made a nice putt there. That was a bonus birdie there. That wasn't in the plan, but I'll take it. 11, hit a really good shot there, sand wedge to like five feet. 13, hit it just to the right of the green, like just off the edge and putted up to about four feet and made that. 15, hit it just to the left of the green and chipped and putted, about two foot. Q. Any added inspiration from all the other Australians who have won so far this year? AARON BADDELEY: I don't know about inspiration, but I always like to see my mates do good. And I can't say I was inspired, but I feel like‑‑ I feel like everything I was doing I was doing well, you know. And I was going to start playing well. And I was super pleased for those guys, you know. And even just like Bubba, he's one of my best mates, he and Martin Kaymer playing great, he's a good friend of mine, too. So to see these guys playing great, actually really happy for them. Overall it's just great to see your friends doing well. Yeah. Q. Tomorrow there's going to be probably a lot of guys within a shot of the lead, and you're going to be in one of the final groups. How do you keep your nerves in check and how do you keep from like sneaking peeks at the scoreboard to see what everybody else is doing? AARON BADDELEY: I think tomorrow you gotta peek at the scoreboard because this is a course where you can shoot a low score. Guys can come from behind and shoot a nice score. But again, it's getting back to that patience card. If I can got out there tomorrow and keep playing the way I'm playing; I'm playing very nice. So if I can keep the ball in the fairways, on the greens, keep giving myself birdie opportunities, I feel like I'm putting well and I feel like I'm a good putter. So the more opportunities I give myself, the more birdies I'm going to make. Q. Aaron, you obviously sound Australian and you've represented that country a number of times. Do you think a lot of people know that you're actually a New England native? AARON BADDELEY: No. No. Probably tomorrow on the first tee I think I should get that announced like that so then I get more guys on my side. Q. Do you have any relatives still in this sort of‑‑ AARON BADDELEY: No. No. My parents were over here working at the time, and I guess that's why we're‑‑ the closest relatives I've got is Canada. THE MODERATOR: All right. Well, Aaron, best of luck tomorrow. Thanks for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|