	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 12, 2016

Aaron Baddeley

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Tell us about your play today.
AARON BADDELEY: Today was a good day. A little frustrating not quite finishing it off, but overall, played really solid. Game feels good. Looking forward to the next three days.

Q. Can you give us the details of when you got the call and got here?
AARON BADDELEY: I got here Monday night. I thought first alternate was still a chance because someone could sleep funny, wake up with a sore back or something. So I had to come.

And then I was eating dinner here at about 7 o'clock on Tuesday night and then I got texted from the TOUR.

Q. The conditions today, how did it compare to other Thursdays here, obviously a bunch of people going low?
AARON BADDELEY: I think it's low because the greens are soft. Pretty surprising. I thought the greens would be a lot firmer coming in. I feel like when you have little wind at this place with soft greens, you're going to shoot good scores, because the greens are rolling perfect, the course is in great condition. So the soft greens with this TOUR, I mean, you give us soft greens and you shoot good scores.

Q. Were they soft in the practice rounds too or softer than you expected based on what you saw Monday and Tuesday?
AARON BADDELEY: No, they were soft in the practice rounds. They were marginally firmer today, but not a whole lot. I think that's why there's a few pins that you could sort of get at more than if the greens were firm you wouldn't be shooting at them.

Q. Would you rather the greens get firmer later into the week here?
AARON BADDELEY: I would, yeah, for sure. I think that puts a premium on a good ball striking and also just making par. Par's a good score. Right now, there's some birdies out there, so many short clubs that you feel you just got to keep making birdies.

I always like firm conditions growing up in Australia, we have firm conditions, so like this year like at Hilton Head the greens were like a rock and that reminded me of playing back home a lot. So my preference is to the firmer conditions.

Q. Can you talk about playing with Ernie. It was a pretty good round by him. Was there some momentum with him? You probably played a bit of golf with him.
AARON BADDELEY: He played awesome today. He really did. There was only a couple of tee shots that he didn't hit perfect. I was very impressed.

On 16, he hit his putt and it hit the, it hit my marker, which he didn't think my marker was in the way and it came up like a quarter inch short. And we were joking like back at the Sony Open years ago, he said that he hit my coin on a certain hole and or I got him back, I hit his coin and so I got him back. So we were joking about that.

But, no Ernie played awesome, it was good to see him playing well. And he hit it good, putted well, did everything well.

Q. Based on how your year has gone so far, how do you feel like your year's gone so far?
AARON BADDELEY: It's been good. Because last year was my worst year on TOUR. So this year coming out with four top-10s, playing on past champions status, playing part-time, already I'm close to locking everything up. So, I'm pleased, done some good work with Scott Hamilton. Feeling like my game's trending in the right way because I feel like my bad golf is so much better than what it used to be. It used to be I could play average and miss the cut by five and now I play average and I feel like I can still finish in the Top-20, top-10s.

Q. What have you done with Scott? You've been working for a year now?
AARON BADDELEY: It's been since July of last year. He's been awesome. Basically what I wanted was to get my full swing like my putting. In the sense of, with my putting, I putt pretty well week in, week out and I just do the same thing over and over. And always with my full swing's always, try this, try that, try this, try that, and could never figure it out.

Scott gave me -- like we worked on, I think, a total of four things, maybe five, maxi. And so now we have whittled it away where I've only got two things I work on and that's it. I wake up, do the same thing every day.

It's just fantastic. I can actually take time off golf now and relax with the family. Instead of taking time off, but instead keep thinking about it, trying to figure it out. So Scott's been really good at that. Just gave me the couple keys that I need to play good golf. So, he's been awesome.

Q. What's your situation early on in your career where you were an alternate here and stood out on the range all day?
AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, my rookie year I was first alternate and stood on range begging to get in because I was playing so good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297