Playing at home no longer a chore, says relaxed Baddeley  PGATOUR.com Correspondent SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The start of the 2007 season was nothing to write home about for Aaron Baddeley. In fact, the lean Australian was a combined 14 over par as he finished near the bottom of the pack at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii the following week.  Aaron Baddeley is excelling around the greens this week. (Stan Badz/PGATOUR/WireImage)
Such a beginning might rattle some, but not the laidback Baddeley. "It's just two weeks,'' the 25-year-old said with a shrug. "I played real nice at the Mercedes, really. Except for a four-putt on the last day, I would have had the low round of the day. I just didn't play good at Sony. Just one of those weeks, nothing you can do.'' With such an attitude, it's no wonder "Badds'' is playing really well this week at the FBR Open. "I'm just trying to really enjoy all of this,'' said Baddeley of his turnaround at the PGA TOUR's most boisterous and well-attended tournament. "It gets a little wild around here at the TPC (Scottsdale), especially at that 16th hole, but I'm OK with that.'' No kidding. Baddeley sits at 14-under-par 199 after Saturday's third round, and trails leader Jeff Quinney by two shots after Baddeley's 7-under-par 64 tied him for the day's best round. Like Quinney, Baddeley now lives about five minutes from the TPC Scottsdale at nearby Grayhawk Golf Club. Born in New Hampshire, Baddeley lived most of his life in Melbourne, Australia, but has resided in Scottsdale for the past seven years with an occasional trip Down Under. Baddeley said that playing at the TPC Scottsdale in what he now considers "my hometown'' has been a problem in the past. But not this time around. "I guess (the difference) this year is my wife (Richelle) really had everything organized,'' he said. "She had all the envelopes set out. All I had to do was go in and ask for a bunch of tickets, threw them at will call and that was about it. "Richelle did a great job of making a whole list of people we had to get stuff for. After that, all I had to do was play golf.'' He has done that quite nicely. Particularly impressive has been Baddeley's flat stick. He needed only 20 putts in the first round on his way to a 65. What was totally amazing about that performance was that he strung together nine straight one-putts on the back nine. Of course, Baddeley always has been a good putter. Where he has improved statistically is in the greens-in-regulation department, a stat in which he ranked no better than 193rd last season.
"I've been working with a couple of guys, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, for just over 12 months now, and I've really seen a big improvement in the consistency of my ball striking,'' he said of his Philadelphia-based coaching team. "My misses are getting a lot straighter.'' There weren't many of them in the third round, as he racked up seven birdies without a bogey. Even though he needed a few more putts this time -- like 26 of them -- there were some magical moments, like the 48-foot roller-coaster he canned at No. 12. Asked what has got him in the groove, Baddeley went back to his roots. "To me it feels like an Australian Open kind of thing because I'm playing in my hometown,'' Baddeley said. "I won the Australian Open back in Australia, in Melbourne where I live. "So it's got sort of that type of feel about it because it's being at home, got all your friends and family out there. It's pretty exciting.'' Baddeley won the Australian Open twice, and has a total of three victories there. Considering what a talented player he has become, Baddeley's second victory on the PGA TOUR might materialize Sunday. "I feel a lot more comfortable with where I'm at now than what I did at Hilton Head (where he won the 2006 Verizon Heritage)," he said of the state of his game. "To be honest, I feel like everything is going in an upward direction.'' Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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