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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2011

Stuart Appleby

HONOLULU, HAWAII

DOUG MILNE: Stuart Appleby, thanks for joining us here after a 4-under 66 in round 2 of the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Obviously going to be a big day tomorrow, but as you head into it atop the leaderboard with Shigeki, just some thoughts on the round today and as I mentioned the long day coming up tomorrow.
STUART APPLEBY: Yeah, today got off to a quick start with a birdie on our first hole, being the 10th. Lots of pars coming in. Hit a poor tee shot on 17 that tugged into the stands and didn't get it up-and-down. Managed to birdie 18, which was very, very approachable today, so turned at 1-under. Pretty Plain Jane sort of nine, nothing special. I tugged it in the water on 2 so ended up making I guess a good bogey there. And lots of pars coming in, nothing super-special.
And then hit a very poor tee shot, another tugged shot again, 6-iron again actually, on 7, a really bad shot and managed to get really lucky and chip it in. And knocked it to probably two feet on 8 for birdie and then a two-putt on nine holing a three-footer for the birdie. So yeah, three birdie finish was good, nice finish to the day.
And then obviously tomorrow we've got a bit of a sprint, I guess, even though it's going to take all day, from daylight to what's left of the daylight. I think it'll take us all day.
A bit of a crap shoot. There's lots of guys in this tournament absolutely. So it'll be a very interesting finish.

Q. Do you think everybody has a chance tomorrow?
STUART APPLEBY: Don't really know. It's not a silly question. I don't know -- probably not. I mean, you're probably valid. It's happened before. The only time -- you're talking 60-odd guys, but theoretically you could have some guy go from let's just say 3-under and have, I don't know, two 7-unders. They're at 16-, 17-, 18-under could do it, yeah.

Q. When you face a long day early in the season like this, I mean, you guys play 36 all the time but you're probably not playing -- expecting to play 36 the first week of the season. What kind of strategy do you take in? Is it more of a mental challenge or a physical challenge?
STUART APPLEBY: Physically not a big challenge. I think no one will really have any problems. Players will have problems if they're a little bit injured and things need a rest. Obviously going 36 might be a little bit hard. I'm not sure how many players there are under that cloud. Absolutely mentally it'll be a good test. You'll have to certainly try and make the first shot you're thinking the same way or at the end of the day at least thinking better than you were when you started the day.
I think physically we'll be okay. Mentally you'll get your rhythm going. There's a lot of golf left. We're really only the halfway stage of the tournament.

Q. Most of the guys earlier talked a lot about trying to be patient, not get too high, not get too low.
STUART APPLEBY: Absolutely, I think that's very important any time. If you're playing poorly it is and if you're playing really good it's even more important to be a bit monotone in your feelings for sure and not play that roller coaster.

Q. Has it surprised you to see Shigeki up here at the top?
STUART APPLEBY: Well, it's not surprising. I'm not surprised to see his name here. This is one of the events you're likely to see him play. But great player. Shigeki has played well here for years. Well, on the U.S. Tour he's played well. Obviously his form has been lacking the capabilities that he probably wants it at, but no, if he shot 10-under here he obviously knows what he's doing. He's comfortable here. I'm sure he's got a couple more reporters around him than I have right now, probably at least 50 photographers. Just a normal day in Shigeki Maruyama's life I'd say.

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