SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2021

Aaron Baddeley

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What was the difference between yesterday's round and today's round?

AARON BADDELEY: A couple tee shots weren't as straight. I hit some really good iron shots on the front nine. I hit it close, like a bunch of times. I was definitely a little bit nervous starting the day. Haven't been at the top for a while.

Just trying to be as free as I could out there. I mean, got a little unlucky on the back nine there with a bogey and double. I hit a good second into 13 and just goes along and then hit a nice tee shot on 13 but ran just through the fairway into a terrible lie. I was in an old divot with a big muff front of it. I had to get under a branch and just hit a bad bunker shot. Overall I'm pleased with where I'm at.

Q. Especially pleased with how you battled back after the bogey, double?

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, exactly. My caddie and I, we talked about being like 66, trying to be like even par. So through two days, I'm even par for what our goal was and when I made that double, all right, come on, let's get back to that even par number. Hit it close on the next and nice way to finish the round.

Q. Going back to being a little nervous today, how do you harness that or use that as fuel for playing good golf?

AARON BADDELEY: Just try and embrace it. You're going to be nervous when you play tournaments and you're going to be nervous when you play big events.

So you can't expect to be out there and feel nothing. You want to feel nervous because that means you want to be there. I remember Jack always saying that, like he liked to feel nervous. It's being out there and being able to freewheel it and trust the work that I put in.

Q. Do you remember the last time you were up in this position and felt those nerves?

AARON BADDELEY: It's been a while since I've been up near the top. Behind, there's definitely those times coming down the stretch trying to make the cut. There's that pressure, as well. So sort of being on the edge of -- that side of it more often recently.

Definitely have had those nerves and felt it, but overall felt like I did pretty decent today. Just a couple of tee shots weren't quite as sharp overall.

Q. You're overall a very positive person. When your golf hasn't been going the way you want to, is it tough to keep that positivity going?

AARON BADDELEY: That was the weirdest thing about this stretch. I never felt I was struggling. Like I can tell you one time, I was like, man, I really feel like I'm battling or I felt like -- always felt like I was shooting the highest score I could shoot.

Then starting to work with Butch, we had a real plan in place. Instead of going out to the course and it feels good, try this, try that, and with Butch, it was like, let's this and this, and that's it.

So every day, I go out, got the plan, I see it getting better every day. I mean, my driving is so much better, my irons are so much better and everything is just so much better and I'm able to free it up so much more. So that way when I do feel nervous, just feel like, hey. Trust the work you've done and free it up

Q. What can you lean on this weekend as you try to obviously keep climbing the leaderboard?

AARON BADDELEY: Just the work. Butch texted me earlier in the week and was like, hey, trust the work you've done. You've done some great work so just go play. That's what I'm trying to do, go out there and swing the golf club the way I'm swinging it. Definitely hitting some good shots and making some putts, which is nice.

Q. Talked to Butch yesterday and he mentioned you guys looked at some old tapes, putting I think it was.

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, some old stuff with the putting, trying to see if there is a difference from what I was doing and what I'm doing now. He gave me a great drill just to get the ball started on the right line. I feel like my aim was sort of going off. My body position wasn't right and once we put this ruler down, everything sort of straightened out and I was able to start the ball on the line. It was just a real simple but it was a great drill for me to get everything back in the right line.