Though in his last event before heading home, and the one tournament Baddeley was looking to peak, he missed the cut in the U.S. The story goes Baddeley was successful in lifting $40 from Mickelson’s wallet. While in the States, Baddeley persisted with his urge to get close to the world’s top stars by managing to entice Phil Mickelson to arrange for him to play a practice round at Mickelson’s Grayhawk Golf Club. He also reached the semi-finals that same year in 1999 at the Western Amateur and secured third place behind Hunter Haas in the Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club. So with Player’s remarks tucked into his golf bag, Baddeley bided his time in the amateur ranks finishing second behind Jonathon Byrd in the Northeast Amateur at Rhode Island. Rose won the Low Amateur Medal at the 1998 British Open, turned pro with huge media interest a week later in Holland, but then proceeded to miss more than a dozen cuts. (Photo - However Baddeley resisted the urge to test himself in the play-for-pay ranks fearing a repeat of the same fate happening to English rising star Justin Rose. With Australian golf crying out for a successor to Norman, Player remarked: “Aaaron’s the best young player I ever saw was Jack Nicklaus, and I think this young man, and I don’t say this lightly, has the ability Jack Nicklaus had at the same age.”Īaron Baddeley looking pretty pleased with himself at this year's Shell Houston Open. In February 1999, organisers grouped Baddeley with Norman and Player for the opening two rounds of the Greg Norman Holden International at The Lakes in Sydney. Norman was so impressed he gave Baddeley his mobile number and said to call him whenever he felt the need for advice and guidance. “So I thought if I could ask someone like Greg Norman a question or three or four or 10 or 20 questions, it would be a huge advantage for me to prepare for the future.” “I always wanted to play against the best, and to beat the best,” Baddeley said at the time. Some months later, Baddeley qualified for the Australian Open but thought nothing of sending a fax to Greg Norman’s Great White Shark Enterprises office in Sydney asking to play a practice round alongside the double British Open champion. His parents, Ron and Jo-Anne had to borrow $11,230 on their Visa card to finance the trip to the States. Junior Open and runner-up by a shot in at the Junior World Open in San Diego. In 1997, and at age 15, he won the Victorian Open and also became the youngest player to make the cut in an Australasian Tour event.Ī year later and Baddeley was a medallist at the U.S. Well before clinching back-to-back Australian Open titles, the first as an amateur and then next as a rookie professional, huge expectation had been placed on the shoulders of Baddeley. It had been five years since he broke through to win the Verizon Heritage at Hilton Head and four years since capturing the FBR Open or former Phoenix Open. Aaron Baddeley with 2011 Northern Trust Open trophyĭespite overwhelming crowd support in favour of Fred Couples, and also chants of ‘Freddie! Freddie! Freddie!’ Baddeley prevailed to capture a third PGA Tour title.
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