Baddeley eager to get down to business in Scottsdale
By Mark Spoor, PGATOUR.com Coordinating Producer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Aaron Baddeley's been a busy man this week -- such is life for a defending tournament champion, especially on that is a bit of a hometown boy, as Arizona resident Baddeley is. There are appearances to make, hands to shake and good impressions to create.
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"Last night I spoke at an outreach, and then also have another speaking engagement at Highlands Church this week
"And trying to play this week," he chuckled.
"No, it's going to be a great week. I always look forward to this week. This year is going to be special being defending champion, and I just love playing here in Phoenix because it feels like my hometown."
On Thursday, however, the business starts, and recent history proves winning the FBR Open is business Baddeley is adept at. A year ago, Baddeley trailed fellow Arizona resident Jeff Quinney by three shots with four holes to go but birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to snag his second PGA TOUR victory.
"I pretty much played those holes exactly how I wanted to," he said. "On 15, I two-putted for birdie, hit a nice shot into 16, a little bit long but made a nice putt, about 25 feet.
"Seventeen, I pretty much got in the back left," Baddeley said. "I hit it just short of the green on the right side a little bit, hit a nice chip shot to about 10 feet and put the pressure on Jeff to make his par putt from about 4 feet.
"I played the last hole perfect. I hit a nice draw down the right side, hit a wedge on the green and two-putted. So I was very pleased at the way that I was able to execute every shot the way I wanted to."
So far this season, Baddeley's been executing a lot of shots the way he wants to. In three events, he has two top-15 finishes, including a T13 last week at the Buick Invitational.
"I just felt like I was trying to build on last year," Baddeley said of the past month. "I felt like last year was a good year. My consistency was a lot better last year than it had been in my previous years, and I felt my game was going in the right direction that I've been wanting it to go in for a while.
"I was just trying to build on how I played last year and also how I played towards the end of last year, winning in Australia and coming back here, gave me great confidence about my game."
Something else Baddeley expects to be the same as last year -- the scoring pace this week at TPC Scottsdale, even considering the wet conditions that canceled Monday's pro-am activity.
"Even if the rough is up you've got to shoot a good score this week," he said. "I mean, you're going to have to shoot 20-under probably to win.
"It's just go out there, play hard and hit it straight and make some putts," he said. "That's the key. It's making putts, really, because everyone is going to hit fairways, everyone is going to hit some greens, but it's making those putts to -- those birdie putts, yeah."
And staying cool on No. 16, the famous par-3 where the fans can turn on you in a heartbeat.
"It's definitely -- like it's the shortest, easiest, most intimidating hole in the world," he said, "because it's not a difficult hole, but when you've got 70,000 people ready to boo you if you hit a bad shot, it's a little bit intimidating."
Baddeley has first-hand proof.
"I remember last year in the third round we all hit good shots, 15 feet, 12 feet, 10 feet. I think Jeff (Quinney) hit his first putt, missed it, booed him. George McNeill missed his putt, they booed him. I missed my putt, they booed me. So we just hit good shots and they were cheering and now they're booing us.
"It's fun. I enjoy playing that hole."
Another thing Baddeley is learning to enjoy is American football. The native Australian says he'll check out the Super Bowl on Sunday with some friends. He says he's learning the American brand of football -- one question at a time.
"I always like to sit with someone who knows about the game so I can ask them questions about what you can and can't do," he said. "I'm definitely starting to enjoy the game a lot more than I did."
Particularly the play of one player who's also in Phoenix this week.
"I love watching (Tom) Brady play because he seems like he's always calm, cool and collected and knows exactly what he's trying to do every time," Baddeley said. "I enjoy watching good quarterbacks because you can kind of see how they sort of control the field."
Baddeley is confident he can control the field this week -- if things go right.
"Like I said, you've got to putt well. Some weeks the putts don't drop in and some weeks they just do."
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