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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 13, 2006

Stuart Appleby

HONOLULU, HAWAII

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart, good day today for you, 4 under par 66, you're just one off the lead and a lot of players still yet to finish their second rounds, but maybe some opening comments on a good day for you.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I didn't know what to expect compared to yesterday, I shot even par and was really as close to about as good as I was going to get out of the round. It was just tough conditions.

Today, putted well really, that was really the only thing that got me under par. I didn't have too many real chances to do much better. I didn't drive it great. Didn't really do anything great for two days except really scramble. That's the thing, getting up and down. I got up and down quite a lot and that really kept the rounds together and kept me going in the right direction.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Nice to get that first round out of the way after a win, and now you can focus back on the task at hand.

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I guess I'll be trying to play a cleaner type of golf for the next two days. I don't believe the wind is going to be as strong.

Q. How much does last week help this week?

STUART APPLEBY: How much does it help?

Q. Just having four rounds played.

STUART APPLEBY: It does help. I'm not sure how much sometimes. I've missed the cut the week before and come out and just played awesome.

I played well last week, very different conditions, except there is wind. But still, a very different golf course, smaller targets off the tee, smaller greens. Once you get on the greens, they are different, but there's some adjustments to be made. But the type of golf you need to play, the controlling the ball, controlling the flight is very, very similar.

Q. Do you like playing in the wind or would you rather it be calm?

STUART APPLEBY: No, the wind is fine. I guess if it's windier, I think I do better in wind in a percentage versus being still and then bringing more golfers in. I think that when it's windier, that's the type of conditions that I can play better in comparatively.

Q. The big difference between today and yesterday was the putting?

STUART APPLEBY: I scrambled well yesterday. I'm not quite sure where all of the differences were on paper compared to yesterday, but I did scramble well yesterday and I did scramble well today. Made a couple nice, lengthy putts today, which that saves you a couple of shots.

Yeah, just saved very well, just scrambled. I got up and down a lot, certainly more than normal. Not that you have to miss many greens last week because it just wasn't it was very difficult to miss the greens, and there wasn't as much scrambling going on. I think the year I won in '05, I missed two or three greens, and this was harder and I missed more greens. Basically my scrambling was the thing that saved me. I think it did a lot last week, too; a lot more, here.

Q. I'm sure Vijay was thrilled to be paired with you after Sunday.

STUART APPLEBY: Ask him, don't ask me. You should ask me, was I thrilled to be paired with Vijay. (Laughter).

Q. Were you?

STUART APPLEBY: I'm not answering that. (Laughter). You know I don't answer my own questions.

Q. What's he said to you the last two days?

STUART APPLEBY: Nothing.

Q. Nothing?

STUART APPLEBY: Not much.

Q. Were you thrilled to be paired with Vijay? (Laughter)

STUART APPLEBY: Don't ask a second question the second time. Don't say you didn't hear me.

Q. Just Aussie rules or something, right?

STUART APPLEBY: It's like Cambo's thing the other day, when we were tied and we had a putt on 7, same length, he goes, "Well, we'll toss for it." And I want to say well pick up your coin and toss it; he's already marked the ball. He says, "We'll do it with the tee."

So he grabs a tee and he's going to spin it in the air, and I'm thinking, well what's the answer? What is it? (Laughter) so he flips it and he goes, "Oh, that's mine," he goes, "because it's pointed at me."

But yeah, you flipped it back at ya. It was one of those weird rules.

I still don't get how it worked. I've been throwing tees around trying to figure it how out it works.

Q. Was he smiling at you?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, he said, "If it's pointing to me nearest, it my choice." It was all over before it was over and I ended up having to putt.

Yeah, I've played with Vijay a lot, so I know Vijay's game well. So he didn't say anything, didn't say anything derogatory or anything, you know.

Q. He kind of came down on you a little bit at the Presidents Cup when he was talking about place pace of play and he said, "My partner is not that swift, either."

STUART APPLEBY: That's history. I played pretty good golf there. I did what I had to do.

Q. Your relationship fine with him, though?

STUART APPLEBY: Oh, yeah. Probably as good as anybody's on TOUR. There's no no.

Q. You're not speaking in complete sentences here.

STUART APPLEBY: We just we tell each other things that you can't print in the media quite often. It's quite relaxed. (Laughter). Things that are only good on HBO.

Q. For example?

STUART APPLEBY: "Go (expletive) yourself." (Laughter).

Q. Were you saying that to me or is that an example?

STUART APPLEBY: And he said more than once to me. That's about the only time we talk. (Laughter). My caddie will vouch for that.

Q. I haven't seen your record here, have you typically played here well the few times you've played here?

STUART APPLEBY: I've had some decent performances, I finished second years back.

Q. Second and sixth.

STUART APPLEBY: So I do okay here, yeah. I've probably missed this two or three years at most since '96.

Q. Would it be anymore meaningful to leave Hawaii with trophies instead of one?

STUART APPLEBY: Absolutely. Love to win here.

Q. In the scope of the year?

STUART APPLEBY: Because it just keeps solidifying what you're doing at that time and that it works. There's no truer test in doing what you believe to be right and it's proven to be right coming into the week, and there's nothing more frustrating than doing something you think is right and it's not. That's the beauty of the game.

Q. Which tournaments are you going to skip on the West Coast?

STUART APPLEBY: I'm going to play and then the last two, so that will be L.A. and Match Play. So what's that, five out of eight, is that right? What have I missed?

Q. Phoenix, Pebble, Bob Hope?

STUART APPLEBY: Bob Hope is next week, isn't it. And Pebble, no.

Q. So you're doing Abu Dhabi or no?

STUART APPLEBY: No.

Q. I don't think you've had a multiple win year on this tour, have you?

STUART APPLEBY: No.

Q. Is that almost the next step?

STUART APPLEBY: I think I've had seven wins now, right where we are, it would be nice to get to eight, nine, ten. And then you start I think a lot you look at Vijay, a good example, late 20s, and I'm sure he's thinking, well, I should have won more or I want to win more.

So I don't think the number of gets never finishes. Vijay said yesterday, I was going down the 10th and what were we talking about one of the brief times we talked, he was talking about golf and retiring. And I said, "Only chance of you retiring is when they stick that last nail in the coffin; that will be the last time you stop playing golf."

He said, "I'll stop playing golf when I don't like the game, and at the moment I love the game." He'll play forever and he'll rack up piles. That's really the way I look at it, too. There's that whole window of years of golf that you can just play, play, play, and it's really about winning because there's no way to measure yourself any other way. And so I'd love to, by the end of this year be closing in on ten would be a nice number.

Q. When you look at your peers, do you have more respect for someone who has won twice or three times, multiple times in a year, or do they have to do it at least more than once?

STUART APPLEBY: Anyone who wins once in a year, it's a good effort. I'm not going to say anyone, but certain people think that's not enough. You win twice in a year, anymore than two times in a year, two, three times plus, that's a good year. And it wouldn't be more than three to six guys who would call that just an average year.

Q. You would call it a ... ?

STUART APPLEBY: I'd call it a good year.

Q. For you?

STUART APPLEBY: For me, I win twice in a year, I'd call that a good year.

I still think playing the rest of the year at a sufficient level that still moves in the direction that your game is going is relevant. No point missing 15 other cuts after that. You can say, hey, I won twice, best ever year winning, but shit the rest of the year. I think for me winning, that, would be a good goal, winning twice in a season, once is nice, and twice just get greedier as you get older.

Q. You talked before about how different the conditions are last week to this week, do you just change gears completely in your game, can you do that?

STUART APPLEBY: Everything feels more cramped and claustrophobic this course. The fairways are not even a third of the width, a fifth; the greens are a fifth the size. Everything is just so condensed. You couldn't fit nine holes of golf on this place on last week's layout; not even that, six holes if you're lucky and it is very claustrophobic and small. So you have to be more accurate. I haven't been accurate enough in tee shots and/or greens, but I've managed to hide that through scrambling.

Look, I don't mind doing that the next two days, but I would like to play a little bit better and keep everything just give myself more opportunities instead of trying to rely on the putter all the time.

Q. Is that a totally different mindset, too, for you? You can just rip, last week, right?

STUART APPLEBY: It's not totally different, no. It's very similar. It's just your margin of error is probably a little smaller. The ball is not going to get away from you as much but it's also going to be closer to the flag and stuck in heavy rough; last week, that wasn't going to happen. There's a slight difference, but you have to tighten up your accuracy.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Can we touch on your round briefly? You started on the back side.

STUART APPLEBY: Made a great par, great scramble on 10 over the green. Bladed a wedge down there about six feet and made it.

Holed a 25 footer on 11.

12, great up and down there from over the back of the green.

13, got up and down thereafter a good drive, but got up and down.

Next, 14, got up and down there from about six feet out of the trap.

15, not a good up and down, but I expected to get up and down there from missing the green.

16, made about a 20 footer there for birdie.

17, missed about a 12 footer for birdie.

18, 2 putted from about 35 feet on the par 5.

The first hole, 2 putted from about 30 feet.

Second, hit it in the water, left and had a great up and down out of the right trap that was from about maybe 30 yards, and I got up and down there from about four feet for bogey.

Next, 2 putted on the third.

Fourth, made about a 20 footer I guess, a good 20 footer.

Next, I made about a 10 footer there.

Next hole, good up and down from about eight feet.

The par 3, good up and down there from probably hold about a 12 footer there.

Good 2 putt from about probably about 50 feet on 8.

And 9, I hit a poor third shot, had a good opportunity, but poor third shot to about 15 feet and 2 putted.

Q. How far was that, 40 yard shot maybe?

STUART APPLEBY: About 55 yards. So I didn't really give myself a good chance there when I should have.

Q. If you hit the fairway there for you, that's probably what 5, 6?

STUART APPLEBY: Well, Vijay was in the rough. I hit a decent drive but Vijay was well past me and I reckon I had I would have hit a long iron in at least.

Q. Was the wind into you there?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, in on the left. That hole is still pretty long. If you hit an iron into that, you've hit it a mile.

Q. Can you scramble four rounds or does that wear on you at some point?

STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, I can scramble four rounds. You've got you're going to get up and down sometimes and sometimes you're not. I always felt like I had a good short game, so you know, you've got to use is, absolutely. You've got to use it around here, because you're going to make mistakes and then you've got to use it. Then when you get on the greens in regulation, you just see if you can roll them. But I'd like to hit more greens and just make everything a little bit easier and spend more time marking my ball for birdie chances and pars.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Stuart, thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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