By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — As if watching a series of putts skirt the lip of the cup and stay out wasn't bad enough, Steve Stricker had to deal with a three-putt at the 17th and an oops in his swing at the 18th. Two closing bogeys -- and bogeys at three of the last five holes. A 71. And a share of fourth going into Sunday's final 18 holes. Stricker is tied at 207 with Jason Dufner, Davis Love III, Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald and Nick Watney -- all of them three shots behind third-round leader Graeme McDowell. "My goal today is to try to stay even keel,'' Stricker said. "Try not to shoot myself in the foot and be there with a chance going into the final nine holes.'' And the 18th. Stricker found the water on his approach -- "It wasn't a good transition in my swing,'' he said -- and he scrambled from there, making a 14-footer for bogey.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Aaron Baddeley had just finished stretching when the horn sounded at 1:02 p.m. He hadn't even hit a practice shot. So, for the next four hours he hung out in the locker room. He ate. He played a little ping pong. And when he finally got off the tee? He birdied the first two holes, hitting his approach at the first to two feet and making a six footer at the second, to jump onto the leader board. He gave two back at the fourth and fifth holes, but left the course when play was called Saturday just four shots off the lead. With 29 holes to go. "I feel good about my game,'' he said. "The long days have always been an advantage for me. I work hard at my fitness.''

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Anthony Knight, who caddies for Aaron Baddeley, won the annual "Bruce Edwards-Caddie Closest to the Hole Contest" on Wednesday at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass.

Knight hit what Baddeley later called a "cut-up" 9-iron from 130 yards to 9 feet, 11 inches. Ken Sanders, who caddies for Kenny Perry was second at 13 feet, 1 inch while John Senden's caddie Josh Cassell was third at 14 feet, 2 inches.

Knight won an Apple iPad donated by CDW.

"It looked great all the way," Baddeley said. "The best thing was he called it all day. He said it was his time. And the best bit is that he holed the putt for birdie."

Ricky Barnes didn’t waste any time moving into contention Sunday. He stuck his approach on No. 1 to set up this early birdie. Click here to watch

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

BARNES: The co-leader added to his score with this 22-footer for birdie. Click to watch

BRANDT SNEDKER: Snedeker capped his front-nine 30 with this birdie on No. 9. Click to watch

AARON BADDELEY: The Aussie chipped in for birdie on the par-5 second. Click to watch

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

HUMBLE, Texas -- Aaron Baddeley was one of those chasing Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank. For a while.

Baddeley got to 15-under for the tournament after a birdie at the 10th, but he was still trailing Verplank, at the time, by one. Then Verplank and Mickelson took off.

Mickelson birdied five holes in a row and Verplank birdied three of four to get to 19 under.

"I’m playing pretty well and thinking I should be getting closer," Baddeley said. "But noooo. I was hearing all the roars and looked at the board and seeing 17 (under), 18, 19. It was crazy."

Still, he heads to Augusta National with a share of fourth place, his best finish since winning the Northern Trust Open earlier this year.

"I played pretty good today," he said. "I hit a couple of loose shots down the stretch, but overall, I was pretty pleased."

AARON BADDELEY'S SCORECARD:

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DORAL, Fla. -- Aaron Baddeley, who ended a four-year victory drought earlier this month at the Northern Trust Open, has finally gotten untracked during the second round at TPC Blue Monster.

He's 4 under through 13 holes after rolling in a 20-footer at No. 10 and a 15-footer at the 12th. After opening with a round of even par, Baddeley finds himself currently tied for 11th and five strokes off the pace.

The Aussie, who turns 30 on St. Patrick's Day, was off last week. But it was hardly a restful one for Baddeley whose parents' home in Melbourne was destroyed by fire.

Earlier this week, Baddeley said his family was doing well. The fire appeared to have started in some faulty wiring and quickly spread up the walls into the ceiling. His family had about two minutes to get out before the roof caved in.

"The only things they had was their pajamas," Baddeley said. "The next door people brought clothes for them to wear that day." 

His father Ron will be on crutches for another three or four weeks after suffering second-degree burns on his foot. He stepped on some red-hot marble when he rushed out of the house after the gas barbeque exploded and woke everyone up. Right now, his parents are sorting through insurance papers and looking for a house to rent.

"I spoke to Dad the other day and he sounded great," Baddeley said. "He's at total peace about it all. He says, hey, we'll just start again." – Helen Ross

DORAL, Fla. -- The odds might be stacked against Hunter Mahan, who set the pace in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship with a 64.

The first-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win just two of nine stroke-play events on TOUR this season, Jonathan Byrd at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and Aaron Baddeley at the Northern Trust Open.

Meanwhile, in 11 previous Cadillac Championships, the first-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win the event four times – Tiger Woods in 2002, Woods in ‘06, Geoff Ogilvy in ‘08 and Phil Mickelson in ‘09.

BEST BALL-STRIKERS: Rory McIlroy (68) led the field in round one by hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation. Francesco Molinari (68) led the field with 12 of 14 fairways hit in regulation.

HOLE STATS: The par-3 fourth hole played the toughest during the first round with an average of 3.227. The par-5 first hole was the easiest at 4.303.

SETTING THE STANDARD: Rory McIlroy (68), Padraig Harrington (68) and Jhonattan Vegas (69) had the only bogey-free scores in the first round. But 47 of 66 players recorded par-or-better scores during the first round.

MORE FEDEXCUP: Complete Standings | Weekly Leaders A FIELD DIVIDED: This week, the PGA TOUR will be players will be split between the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. TOUR pros rated inside the top 66 in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the 64-man Match Play field. Being ranked that high comes with its benefits, as every player in the field at the Accenture Match Play Championship is guaranteed 22.5 FedExCup points – even if they are eliminated in the first round. One match victory will guarantee a player 46.56 FedExCup points, and two wins – a berth in the round of 16 – will net a player a minimum 68.25 points.

Accenture Match Play points breakdown

550 points – Win	101 points – T5 (loss in the round of eight)
315 points – Runner-up	68.25 points – T9 (loss in the round of 16)
200 points – Third place	46.56 points – T17 (second round loss)
140 points – Fourth place	22.50 points – T33 (loss in the first round)

Conversely, those playing in the Mayakoba will have to battle through four rounds to earn any points, with the winner adding 250 to his season total. To get the same 22.5 points guaranteed to all Match Play competitors, a golfer will need to finish solo 26th or better. To exceed the 46.56-point mark, they will need a solo sixth place finish and to beat a 68.25 point showing, they will need a solo fourth place finish. More on FedExCup point distribution can be found by clicking here. BEST NEW ARRIVALS: A pair of major winners (Ben Curtis and Retief Goosen) and one of the world’s best without a major (Paul Casey) made their debuts in the FedExCup standings this week in a tie for 115th with 56 points. The trio finished tied for 12th last week at Riviera Country Club in the Northern Trust Open. Goosen and Casey were making their season debuts while Curtis was playing in his third event after missing cuts at the Farmers Insurance Open and Waste Management Phoenix Open. Louis Oosthuizen and Robert Karlsson made their debuts as PGA TOUR members last week and finished tied for 62nd at Riviera Country Club. With eight FedExCup points each, they enter the standings tied for 184th. Casey, Goosen, Oosthuizen and Karlsson will tee it up at the Accenture Match Play Championship this week. BIGGEST MOVERS: Ryan Moore, who withdrew from his first start in 2011 and tied for 73rd in his second, vaulted 131 spots in the standings from 190th to 59th when he tied for fourth at the Northern Trust Open. In that fourth-place tie and also making a triple-digit leap was Robert Allenby, who moved from 173rd to a tie for 57th (116 spots). Also making large strides were Fred Couples (143rd to 61st), Cameron Tringale (119th to 175th) and Kevin Stadler (149th to 97th). NOTABLE DROPS: Nick O’Hearn and Kevin Kisner, who were both idle last week, each fell 17 spots in the standings dropping from 139th to 156th. Though still early in the season, it’s interesting to note that 10 golfers dropped below the 125-man cutline for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Falling the furthest were idle veterans Stephen Ames and Jesper Parnevik, who dropped from a tie for 124th into a tie for 139th in the FedExCup standings. MORE ON LAST WEEK’S WINNER: With his victory at the Northern Trust Open, Aaron Baddeley moved from 37th to 4th in the FedExCup standings. His best regular season finish in the four-year history of the FedExCup is 18th place. As he continues to get comfortable in his transition from the Stack and Tilt back to his more natural swing, Baddeley has made four cuts in five starts with his last two outings being a tie for sixth at Pebble Beach and a victory at Riviera. Badds is seventh on the TOUR in scoring average and 11th in greens in regulation in spite of the fact that he’s only hitting 53 percent of fairways. Baddeley will look to continue his strong play this week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Northern Trust Open champion Aaron Baddeley and Kevin Na, who finished third at Riviera on Sunday, made big strides in the Presidents Cup standings with their performances last week. Baddeley started the week ranked 76th in the International Team standings but was 25th after his victory. Not to mention, the Australian, who has never played in the Presidents Cup, attracted the attention of Captain Greg Norman, who sent an e-mail to PGA TOUR officials after the win. “Riviera has once again given up a victory to an Aussie, proving that the quality of players coming out of my homeland thrive on tough golf courses," Norman wrote. "Aaron has been very successful on tough, demanding and difficult tracks with his previous victories and this victory is no different, and one that is long overdue! He now catapults himself into a strong position to secure a spot on this year’s International Presidents Cup Team. "I have always been a fan of Aaron, and personally, I am proud of him and his victory at the Northern Trust Open. As captain of the International Team this year, I know he would be a very valuable asset to the team." Like most Australians of his generation, Baddeley grew up idolizing Norman. Making this year's Presidents Cup even more attractive to him is that the competition is being staged at Royal Melbourne for the second time. The International Team took a lopsided 20 1/2 to 11 1/2 victory the first time the Presidents Cup was held Down Under. Baddeley was 17 in 1998 and attended the matches at the historic sand belt course. "To play a Presidents Cup in Australia, that would be like an absolute dream," said Baddeley, who started the Northern Trust Open ranked 224th in the world but improved to 73rd with the win. "I remember watching in '98 going down there and seeing the guys, Freddie (Couples), seeing Jim Furyk, seeing all the guys down there, seeing Norman playing, all those guys. I wanted to play in Presidents Cups. So it's definitely something that I'm going to keep working hard towards to try and make that team." Like Baddeley, Na made a big jump onto the Presidents Cup radar screen with his third-place finish in the Northern Trust Open -- and making it more emphatic, he played the final round with American Captain Fred Couples. He started the week ranked 26th in the U.S. Team standings and climbed 10 spots. Na actually was born in South Korea but he moved to the United States when he was 8 years old and is an American citizen. He is eligible for the U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams for a variety of reasons --- the "preponderance of his golf skill" was developed in the States, he has never represented Korea in an international competition and his mother is a U.S. citizen.