Badds earns crack at Masters
SEVEN years after Tiger Woods rated Aaron Baddeley a better player than what he was at 19, the Australian is set to return to Augusta National.
Baddeley’s flying start to the 2007 US PGA Tour, No.35 on the world rankings and No.5 on the US PGA Tour money list, will catapult him into the elite field for the Masters from April 5-8.
The top 50 world-ranked players and top 10 on the money list after the Houston Open, a week before the Masters, are added to the field and Baddeley is certain to become the seventh Australian at Augusta this year.
Already qualified are Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick O’Hern, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby and Rod Pampling.
“I’m setting my sights on it,” said Baddeley. “I want to win Major championships. That’s where I want to go and I’m aiming for Augusta.
“It’s definitely taken me longer to be in this position than I thought it would,” he said. “But it’s been a good journey and I’ve learned a lot about my golf game. There’s been some frustrating times, but a lot of golfers haven’t been through the things I’ve been through.
“There’s way more positives than negatives.”
Baddeley burst on to the world scene at the 2000 Masters where he missed the cut by one stroke as reigning Australian Open champion. He played a practice round with Woods and partnered him for the opening two rounds.
“I was never that good at his age,” Woods said. “I could never dream of being that good at 19.”
