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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

LEMONT, Ill. -- The rain came down with a vengeance Friday morning, particularly for the first 30 minutes or so. Nearly three hours later, the second round of the BMW Championship was finally able to resume.

Few were as glad to get back out on the soggy Dubsdread Course as Aaron Baddeley, who returned to the 14th tee to begin a run of three straight birdies that sparked a round of 65 and earned him a share of the lead at the $7 million event.

Aaron Baddeley is enjoying a career year, which includes a win in Phoenix. (WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

AARON BADDELEY THRU 36 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 13 1 Pars 19 T62 Bogeys 4 T32 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 60.7% T43 Driving Distance 291.3 yds. T28 Greens in Regulation 77.8% T5 Putts per Round 28.0 T10 Putts per GIR 1.571 T1 Sand Saves 33.3% T56

• Aaron Baddeley Player Page

"I was very pleased to start like that," the young Aussie, who is tied with Jonathan Byrd, said in understatement.

Unlike some of his peers, Baddeley didn't come to Cog Hill worried about whether he would make the field for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. He solidified his spot in the final event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup with a fifth-place finish last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Baddeley moved 10 spots in the standings to 11th in the FedExCup rankings and assured himself that he would be among the 30 playing at East Lake. He'd sure love to go to Bobby Jones' home course riding the momentum of a win, though.

Baddeley is in the midst of a career year on the PGA TOUR. He captured his second title earlier this year at the FBR Open where he birdied three of his final four holes to beat Jeff Quinney by one stroke.

Baddeley had a chance for an even bigger prize at Oakmont in June. He led Tiger Woods by two entering the final round of the U.S. Open only to close with an 80 and fall back into a tie for 13th. Turns out, Angel Cabrera passed them both.

Admittedly disappointed at the time, Baddeley has been able to take the positives from that Sunday. Ditto for last week, when the 26-year-old was in a three-way tie for the lead through 36 holes at the TPC Boston.

"I would say it's a confidence booster when you're playing that well," Baddeley said. "You always like to go ahead and finish off the week with a win, but as I said, the more often you're in that position, if you keep giving yourself opportunities, you're going to win your fair share of events, just because you're in that position all the time.

"Last week I felt like I played well, just couldn't quite make enough putts on the weekend."

Baddeley has given himself plenty of opportunities over the first two rounds at Cog Hill and converted 13 of them. His birdie putts on Friday came from 7, 9, 8, 14, 6 17, 4 and 14 feet.

A major contributing factor has been his stellar iron play as Baddeley, who entered the tournament ranked 184th in greens in regulation, hit 28 of his first 36 putting surfaces. And three of those misses were just on the fringe.

"I've been hitting the ball better all year, and my misses are getting straighter... so I'm hitting the ball very nice," Baddeley said. "I feel like I have very good control over the trajectory and the shape of the shot. I feel very comfortable with my golf swing."

Baddeley has painstakingly revamped his swing under the tutelage of Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, a pair of Philadelphia-based instructors who now work with more than a dozen TOUR pros. Their work is featured in the current Golf Digest.

According to the article, written by Peter Morrice, the two call their geometry based swing the "Stack & Tilt." They teach their students to center over the ball, tilt to the left on the backswing and spring up with the lower body through impact.

Baddeley began working with Plummer and Bennett last fall. The three spent six hours talking before he ever hit any balls. Two weeks after he committed to the new technique, Baddeley finished fifth at the Australian Open

"I'm very analytical. That's the way my brain is wired," he said. "Everyone teaches you how to take the club outside on the way back, then they say take it inside, then they say stay centered. Everyone else teaches to go back to the right side, all these different things.

"I understand the reason behind it. ... So then when I went out and practiced and worked on it, it really didn't take that long because I already understood the reason why we're doing it and had a very good image of what I was trying to work on. ...

"It didn't take me long to see improvements, it just took a little bit of time just to be totally comfortable with it, to understand it more and more, where now I feel like I know it well enough to where I totally understand every shot that I hit and know what causes if I mishit a shot, I know what the problem is."

Not that there have been many mistakes this year. Baddeley has won more than $2.5 million to rank 16th on the money list. He has five other top-10s in addition to that win in Phoenix, as well.

And a victory on Sunday could thrust Baddeley in the thick of the race for the $10 million bonus that goes to the winner of the FedExCup.