SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2023

Aaron Baddeley

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Is this the best stuff you've seen? I think you shot 65-65 on the weekend.

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah.

Q. Is this the best you've played for a little while?

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, definitely played well in Bermuda there, as well. My goal this week was just to get a little bit better every day, and I did that. Ball hitting was pretty spot on today. I can honestly say I think I hit one shot offline today. I haven't done that in forever.

It was nice coming in because I didn't feel 100 percent comfortable starting the week. Wasn't quite right. It was a good little goal just to set, just to get a little bit better every day, and it was nice to do that and nice to make a few putts just to capitalize on some good shots.

Q. And played your way into next week?

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, as of right now. That would be nice. Yeah, keep top-10ing makes it easier.

Q. How hard is it to live that way?

AARON BADDELEY: It's definitely hard. It's probably harder on my family I would say than it is on me because it's like, oh, you try and make plans and then you either get an invite or you're top 10 or you Monday qualify or you don't Monday qualify and you get back home.

Yeah, I'd probably say it's harder on my family than it is on me.

Q. You've been doing it this way for six years or something, right?

AARON BADDELEY: No, not quite that long. Just maybe three years now maybe. But I've felt like the game is there. I don't feel like I'm trying to find anything. I'm not trying to -- it's just a matter of getting some starts, and I feel like my game will just take care of the rest. It's in that spot.

Q. Anything different in terms of who you're working with or anything --

AARON BADDELEY: Started working with Mike Adams like September 21, and he just really simplified my game and my swing and just made it where it was just really making sure my setup is in the right spot.

If I'm set up in the right spot I can just -- Arnold Palmer would say just swing your swing. If I can set up in the right spot, have my grip right, then I can just swing away and hit the shots that I need to hit.

Q. Is he a Florida guy?

AARON BADDELEY: He's in Florida in the winter and then New Jersey in the summers.

Q. How did you hear about him?

AARON BADDELEY: Used to work with someone else, one of his pupils, and then sort of knew about Mike through that. Watched a bunch of YouTube stuff with Mike and just sort of tried to see what he would work on before I went down and saw him, and then when I went and saw him, he made it even simpler than what I was expecting.

Just been a slow progression of getting better and better and really just trusting that I can hit the shots when I need to. I've hit it pretty crooked for a lot of my career, and to be able to stand up and just trust that I can just hit the shot and be comfortable with that, I feel like it really only comes with hitting the shot and having that positive feedback.

You can try and think as positive as you want and do that, but to actually see it and know it's going to go where it needs to go, that's the reinforcement that I can stand there and just swing away.

Q. He teaches out of where?

AARON BADDELEY: He was at the Medalist -- he was at the Medalist, but this year he moved somewhere else down in Florida, and I'm trying to think where he is up in New Jersey. I keep thinking Rattlesnake, but that's the street that it's on.

Q. Are you sending him video or actually working with him in person?

AARON BADDELEY: A bit of both. But like I said, he's really simplified it where I don't feel like I need to see him a ton. It's a matter of just keeping my setup in the right spot, and then I just have to just swing away.

Q. You and Pete started together when?

AARON BADDELEY: We started together the start of the fall. We Monday qualified together at Napa, and sort of been there ever since. We had poke together just randomly during the Korn Ferry finals and he's like, I'm not sure what I'm doing next year, see what my player does, who he's with, and then he didn't get his card back, so he just texted me and was like, hey, need someone for the Monday qualifier.

I was like, sounds good. So yeah, that's how it all happened.

Q. You Monday qualified --

AARON BADDELEY: Shot 7-under and got it in a playoff. Made eagle on the second playoff hole to get in at Napa.

Q. Auspicious beginning.

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, exactly.

Q. What kind of goal did you have coming into this week?

AARON BADDELEY: The main goal was just to get a little bit better every day. I felt like the golf -- obviously I want to win. A win sort of takes care of everything. That's definitely the number one goal. Next goal would be top 10.

Funnily, I've treated these a little bit like a Monday qualifier, just a four-day qualifier, and there's 10 spots instead of four. Today was just like a day sort of just trying to -- the wind was up, which was nice, so just sort of be patient and got off to a nice start and just made a bunch of pars, and then finished off with a few birdies there. It was nice.

Q. Knowing what you did this week, going into next week, do things in your mind change a little?

AARON BADDELEY: No, because it's still just playing golf. If I can just keep hitting it the way I'm hitting it and just swinging away and trusting it and making some putts, then the rest sort of takes care of itself.

The goal is always to win. Anytime I turn up at a tournament, I want to try and win. That's what we're here for. I'm not here to sort of make up the numbers. I want to get my wins. I want to get back in the top 50 in the world, and you've got to win to do that.

It's nice to know that I feel like I have the game to do that now, which is great.

Q. How would you assess your career? You're 41, right? How would you assess your career over the last 20 years?

AARON BADDELEY: I mean, if I was going to be honest, I'd say disappointing. Sort of coming out if I was 18, 19, 20, if you said I'd only won four times and hadn't won a major at 41, I would have said -- I would not have agreed with you.

But I can honestly say I feel like my best golf is in front of me, just with how simplified Mike has made my game, and to be able to come into a week like this not really hitting it very well to then having one of my best ball-striking rounds ever, that's pretty cool.

It's nice to know that he doesn't need to be perfect to start a week to have a good week.

Q. When you get to Palm Springs is the first thing you find is a laundromat?

AARON BADDELEY: I'll go home. I'll go home tonight and then drive down from Phoenix either Monday or Tuesday. I'm not sure yet. I'll be able to do my laundry at home, which is nice.

Q. Are you going to just keep going with the hair until it gets down --

AARON BADDELEY: I don't know. We'll see.

Q. You and Pete are kind of --

AARON BADDELEY: Pete just trimmed it up.

Q. Pete trimmed his?

AARON BADDELEY: He had a little trim. I haven't touched mine for a while. I couldn't tell you the last time I cut it. Probably about a year ago.

Q. What do the kids say about the long hair?

AARON BADDELEY: Mine is the shortest of the family. All my boys have got long hair. Yeah, it runs in the family. It's good.

Q. Pete got a little trim on Tuesday?

AARON BADDELEY: No, just before he came out here.

Q. Does he cut it himself?

AARON BADDELEY: I don't know. He just said he had it trimmed, so I don't know whether he went somewhere or...