SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2021

Hayden Buckley

Country Club of Jackson

Quick Quotes

Q. Opening round 5-under. Tell me about your day.

HAYDEN BUCKLEY: Didn't look as pretty to start. I think it was a little tougher this afternoon, looked like storms were coming in, I don't know how we dodged storms the whole day. I was 1-over through 10, I was hitting the ball well, hitting a lot of fairways, I think that's a big key out here just seeing the holes I missed the fairways on how tough it was. And I think I put together five of the last seven or five of the last eight there or six of the last eight, sorry, just got the putter rolling. Felt a little uncomfortable on the greens early, saw a couple of that typical, a week off, coming back into a tournament, a couple of the typical shots that I've seen in my career, just the way I play. So we made adjustments and got balls inside of 20 feet and made some putts. So obviously happy with it after being 1-over through 10. But there's a lot of good scores out there if you hit the fairway. So I like how I'm hitting the driver, I think if we keep hitting the driver like we are we'll have plenty of opportunities.

Q. Birdie streak like you said at the end, what confidence do you take away from that heading into tomorrow? What was clicking?

HAYDEN BUCKLEY: It was huge, just something, I made a little adjustment in my grip with the putter, I do this a lot when I struggle, which who knows if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but there's times on the Korn Ferry last year where I would play nine holes of golf and not feel comfortable with the putter and make one little adjustment in the grip, whatever that might be, and I'm not going to tell anybody what that is, but make a little adjustment, just to feel something different.

It's one of those where if those putts didn't go in, at least if I felt better about it and then confidence is everything. So I was kind of lacking that confidence through 10 holes, the ball wasn't coming off like I wanted and just made a little adjustment.

So we really -- I think the whole round was number 11. Making bogey on 10, stepping up there on 11, hitting the green in two, making a birdie, really gave me a little bit of momentum just to kind of get back in it. I was kind of, not tired, but feeling a little defeated after 10 holes, I thought I played a lot better than 1-over, but it gave us a little bit of confidence and just a little bit of a kick in the butt to kind of just push through that last eight.

So the weather helped, it got a little calmer in the last few holes, so just nice to see putts go in. Something that's been a big difference for us the last six events on Korn Ferry was just seeing balls go in the hole. So hopefully we can keep it rolling.

Q. No stranger to this event, played in it a couple years back and also I believe second round here you got a 67, as you did today. What about this course just lines up with your game?

HAYDEN BUCKLEY: I grew up playing it, I played a lot of junior tournaments, high school tournaments. I think now I'm, more than ever, the ability to hit fairways is so big. I mean, you just watch guys all day not be able to access the pins really hard to make birdies if you're not in the right spot in the rough. So I feel like it just, the first seven or eight holes really sets up for the fade that I hit with a driver. Really I think the whole course besides maybe one or two set up great for a fade off the tee. So I really like it, I've got a lot more length this year than I did three years ago, thankfully, I wasn't able to get to any par-5s in two I think three years ago, so having that ability, having a 5-wood in the bag that's what I call the best club in the bag from anywhere from 250 to 260, it really makes a difference. Making it easy on myself getting to 2-putt for birdie is huge for me. A couple years ago in Canada I played the par-5s almost at a 4.0 for the year. So the par-5s are really my strength and unfortunately I haven't been playing them well so it's nice to at least get out there and play them well today.

Q. We talked yesterday this kind of being a home event for you. What was it like having family and friend out there, especially cheering you on when those birdies were going in?

HAYDEN BUCKLEY: You don't really see a lot of people out on Thursday usually but it's so nice. I have family 30 minutes away from here, obviously I grew up just under three hours from here and it's nice to just have people to see what you're doing, there's so many people that follow us on line, thankfully we got pretty detailed shot tracking this year so it's nice. But so many people get to see what I'm doing, what I work so hard every day moving down to Florida, moving away from family, and pursuing my dreams they get to see it in action which is awesome. There were some roars coming down the stretch I think the three or four into row there were some roars because they weren't short putts, so it was nice to hear that obviously Friday tomorrow I think tomorrow and if we're in the weekend then a lot of people are showing up hopefully can get off work and come out in the morning and it's just so nice to have people in Mississippi just supporting golf.