SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 15, 2004

Aaron Baddeley

JOHN BUSH: Aaron, thanks for coming by. 4-under par, 66. A nice start to the tournament. A little hiccup on the last hole, but talk to us about your round as a whole.

AARON BADDELEY: I played good. I played pretty good. There was a couple of indifferent shots in there, but overall I was very happy with the way I played. I putted very well.

Yeah, except for the last hole, I was very happy.

JOHN BUSH: Let's go through your round, starting with the birdie on No. 3.

AARON BADDELEY: I just hit 2-iron, pitching wedge to about eight feet.

5, I hit pitching wedge to about a foot.

Bogey on 6. I hit it left. I hit a 6-iron just left of the green and chipped down, 2-putt.

Bogey on 8. Hit it in the bunker, plug lie and didn't get it up-and-down.

9, I hit in the bunker with a 4-iron and splashed it out to about 15 feet.

15, I hit 3-iron, wedge to about five feet.

16, I hit 6-iron just off the back edge and chipped in, about 20 feet.

17, I hit 4-iron to about 25 feet.

Bogey on 18. I hit it through the fairway into an average lie; went right into the rough in a worse lie. It came out really good, went long, 40 yards over the green to be exact, and then had to drop it and dropped it long, chipped up, missed the putt. It was an eventful last hole.

Q. How far was the bogey putt?

AARON BADDELEY: Eight feet.

Q. When you look back on last year, good thoughts, bad thoughts?

AARON BADDELEY: Good thoughts.

Q. All good thoughts?

AARON BADDELEY: Except for one putt.

Q. Your putt or Ernie's putt?

AARON BADDELEY: Okay. Two putts.

I played great here last year. It was my first event as an official member. Played great. I came back here with a lot of positives, knowing that I played well here, putted great on these greens and I took that into today. I'm thinking I played well here before; I can do it again.

Q. Does it suit your game?

AARON BADDELEY: I like playing the golf course, yeah. This year there's more rough, a lot of bermuda greens, and, I don't know, it just very -- I feel I can just get it going around this track. I feel very comfortable playing this golf course.

Q. 18, was that the flyer of all flyers or what happened there?

AARON BADDELEY: Yeah, it looked like it was actually going to come out soft. So I took an extra club.

Q. What did you hit?

AARON BADDELEY: 9-iron from about 135 yards, and the thing came out really good. It was just one of those things.

Q. Last year, you said driving accuracy was the weak link of your game; how was it today?

AARON BADDELEY: It wasn't too bad. The stats probably don't show it, but I hit like five in the first cut of the rough. So that doesn't really make any difference with how I played the second shot.

I thought I drove it reasonably good today. I guess a couple of average ones.

Q. Do you think your year would have been any different had you won here? Hard to say?

AARON BADDELEY: Hard to say. I mean, if I did win, I probably wouldn't have hurt my ankle because I would have been at Masters.

It doesn't bother me. I don't look back at it in regret at all. I look back as it as what happened was a positive and I'm only taking it as a positive and moving on.

This is a new golf tournament. This is a new year and I'm ready to go.

I saw Ernie out there on Wednesday. I said, "I'll see you Sunday afternoon." He laughed.

Q. You can't get out of here without assessing you about Michelle. Have you played with her or seen her game?

AARON BADDELEY: I've seen her hit balls on the practice fairway. She swings it very nice. Very nice.

What score did she shoot today?

Q. 2-over.

AARON BADDELEY: That's pretty good. She's going to be good. She swings it great. Obviously, she's very big for her age. But I think for Michelle, if she's just patient and just let's it happen, she'll be more than fine.

Q. As someone who had a lot of success at a very young age yourself, maybe not quite that young, you weren't really patient; you came out expecting to win right off the bat.

AARON BADDELEY: No, that's completely different. That's completely different as in, being patient as in -- it's fine setting goals to win and to want to win.

But being patient, as in making sure that you don't rush things. So you don't, like as a 13-year-old, don't go and make rash decisions and maybe turn pro maybe a year or two too early just because. So being patient, just bide your time and just let her game mature and from that point, then she'll be a very good player. So that's what I mean by patient.

JOHN BUSH: Aaron, nice start. Thanks for coming by.

AARON BADDELEY: Cheers.

End of FastScripts.