Aaron Baddeley fired a closing round 69 to finish 12-under-par at the Northern Trust Open at Pacific Palisades, winning the event by two shots over Fiji’s Vijay Singh.
Baddeley showed composure throughout the round, and found himself 3-under after the 10th. But a double bogey on the 12th threw a wrench into the works, opening the door for players like Robert Allenby, Fred Couples and Vijay Singh to mount a fight for the lead. But Badds slammed the door on the following hole, making a massive birdie on the 13th to reclaim a shot, and hold a two-shot lead. An up-and-down from the greenside rough on 18 was all Badds needed, and he drained the putt in style.
The win is Badds’ third PGA TOUR victory, and the third by an Aussie in 10 years at the event (Allenby and Adam Scott have also won.)
Badds netted a cheque for US$1,170,000, and also earned a spot in the field at The Masters in Augusta. With the 500 FedEx cup points, Badds moved from 47th to number 4 on the FedEx Cup rankings, and made a strong statement for possible inclusion in the Presidents Cup this November.
Allenby showed glimmers of greatness in the final round, starting off Eagle-Birdie. And for a short time, it looked like an Aussie 1-2 finish could be in store, but a bogey on 15 dropped Allenby off of the leader board, eventually finishing T4 with an 8-under final score.
A four-time winner of the Australian Golf Media Awards, including Best Photojournalism, Best Opinion, Best Column and Best Photographic Presentation, Inside Golf Group Editor Richard Fellner is the quintessential Golf Tragic, having played the game for over 50 years (but has never gotten any better!) He has played and reviewed courses all over the world, and has interviewed many of the great players of the game (including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Greg Norman). Richard is a member of both the Australian Golf Media Association and the Golf Society of Australia, and has been a featured guest on many Australian "sports talk" radio shows and networks, including ABC Grandstand, SEN 1116, Melbourne Talk Radio 1377, 2GB and others.
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