The problem was his driver - and, incidentally, his irons. Baddeley was 137th in driving accuracy last year, and even worse in greens in regulation - 193rd. But oh, that putter! In that category he stood 11th on tour, and the putter made up for a lot of wild shots.
And this year, when he went to North Carolina to be best man at the wedding, guess what instrument he took along? You're right - his putter. And instead of goofing around drinking the punch and joking with his mates, he spent all his free time in the hotel room rolling golf balls.
And last week, he was first in the FBR field in putts per round and second in the putting average. Sound like a broken record?
In the four full-field events this year, three have been won by men who were major surprises. Paul Goydos at the Sony Open, Charlie Hoffman at the Bob Hope Chrysler and now Baddeley. Tiger, of course, won the Buick - as he's done every time he's chosen to play on tour since - oh, last July. You know Tiger Woods, don't you? Yeah, the last U.S. Amateur champion to turn into a big winner, he won the U.S. Am in '94-'95-'96.
Photo: © Stephen Dunn/Getty Images |
| Aaron Baddeley now has two wins on the PGA Tour. |
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Baddeley was something of a teen-age prodigy himself. He was just 17 years old when he won his home country's professional championship, the Australian Open, then repeated the feat the next year. Included among his victims was one Adam Scott, who back then wasn't in Baddeley's hemisphere as far as professional victories. Of course, since then Scott has matured into a world top-10 player while Aaron is still searching for the magic elixir.
Baddeley is 25 now and occasionally flashes signs of brilliance. This year he finished down at 27th at the Mercedes - a field which was limited to 33 players - and missed the cut at the Sony before his heroics last week. But maybe - just maybe - he has finally turned the corner.
"I feel like everything is going in an upward direction," he said Sunday. "I feel very comfortable with what I'm working on, understand it better, if I hit a bad shot, I understand where that came from more now, so I can fix it and hit it straight again."
He's been working with Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett for a year now, and he says he's hitting the ball much straighter. And his persona has changed, too - he KNOWS he belongs, he has much more confidence, even more so than when he won at Hilton Head last year.
Photo: © Kevin C. Cox/WireImage | | Aaron Baddeley gets a kiss from his wife Richelle after winning the Verizon Heritage Classic last year. |
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"The first one felt more of a relief, where this one is sort of more like, 'All right, now we're making headway to where I want to go.' It's sort of two totally different feelings. It's another steppingstone, whereas the first one felt more of a relief and just like taking the first step."
Baddeley disclosed that in 2000, one year after his Australian Open win, he was so frustrated that he was close to quitting the game. "But I think what happened during that period was my character was really developed," he said. "Through the tough times and through the difficult times, my character really grew where I was able to start to withstand more affliction, I guess you could say, where when things wouldn't go right, 'OK, keep being patient, keep doing this.' And the whole time my character was just being built to where I wanted to go."
He's still a long way from being there. But this is definitely another step. And how high does he want to go? Right to the top, to the best golfer on the planet.
"I mean, Tiger is the best for sure right now," Baddelely said. "And I think if I can just keep working hard, keep plugging away, in five, 10 years' time, I'm just going to keep working as much as I can, you know. I want to win major championships. Yeah, I mean, that's where I want to go.
"It's a long way to go yet, I know that, a lot of hard work to be put in. But I'm definitely setting my sights on that."
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