Aaron Baddeley hopes the confidence he feels around Riviera Country Club can help him break a four-year US PGA Tour victory drought.
The 33-year-old Baddeley’s last win was at the Northern Trust Open in 2011 – when he ended another four-year win drought – and he returns to the event this week looking for history to repeat.
“It’s funny how you can be playing poorly but you can go back to a place you’ve won at, or always played well at, and you just continue to play well there,” said Baddeley, a three-time US tour winner.
“You get a boost just arriving here. You know you know how to play around the place.
“The old visuals and memories you have and the knowledge of your ability come back.
“I love playing here.”
Baddeley showed plenty of ticker for his win in 2011.
He started the final round with the lead, lost it early to crowd favourite Fred Couples but fought back and overcame a double bogey on the back nine to triumph.
“My game is close,” said Baddeley.
“I am having some really great patches – I just need the consistency.
“Hopefully this is the place to bring it out in me.”
The distinct Australian feel at Riviera has Australia’s other entrants also primed to continue the recent love affair with the historic Los Angeles course.
Steve Elkington claimed his lone major, the 1995 PGA Championship, at Riviera with a great final round and subsequent win in a playoff and since then Robert Allenby (2001), Adam Scott (2005) and Baddeley (2011) have claimed the Northern Trust Open trophy here.
Matt Jones, Allenby, Marc Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, John Senden and Steven Bowditch join Baddeley in the field this week.
Jones is fresh off playing in the final group at Pebble Beach where he finished in a tie for seventh.
Since winning in Texas last April, Jones had 20 starts without a top-10 finish before last week.
“It had been a while, and while I didn’t play as well as I would have liked on Sunday it always good to get those feelings again,” Jones said.
“I have a three-week break coming up so I am ready to give everything I have here.
“It reminds me of an Australian golf course.
“You feel like you can go super low but it doesn’t pan out that way with these greens so if you shoot three under every day you’d be ecstatic.”
