He’s missed six cuts in six British Open appearances, but that won’t stop Aaron Baddeley from brandishing the one wood on the treacherous links of Royal Lytham and St Annes.
One of the finest putters in the game, driving has long been Baddeley’s Achilles heel and the dual Australian Open champion ranks 173rd for accuracy off the tee on this year’s PGA Tour.
That doesn’t bode well entering a major on a course packed with more than 200 bunkers and nasty rough to be avoided at all costs.
But Baddeley won’t die wondering when he tees off on Thursday.
“I’ll just play whatever the hole suits. If it’s a driver, it’s a driver. If it’s an iron, it’s an iron,” he said.
“But definitely it’s an advantage if it’s on the fairway. You’ll be able to control the spin and the trajectory a bit easier.”
Even more so an advantage for Baddeley, with the world No.50 ranking second this season in America for strokes gained with the putter.
The 31-year-old, though, has no plans on straying from his swashbuckling ways and he hopes a “good session” on Monday with coach Dale Lynch has ironed out his swing kinks.
“The results haven’t quite been what we want, but I feel like it’s been closer than what the results have been showing,” said Baddeley, who has still earned more than a $US1 million ($A980,000) in 2012.
“I felt a little bit like that the whole year. I’ve had a lot of 11ths, 12ths, 13ths, but just haven’t been quite able to get that last little bit.
“So we’ve just been sort of peeling back the layers a little bit, trying to just figure out that last little bit.
“It’s close to being there and hopefully it will be this week.”
Baddeley missed the halfway cut on his British Open debut at Lytham in 2001 and has only once broken par in five subsequent tries in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and last year.
“It hasn’t been great but now I feel like I’m back in control of the golf ball a little better,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve got more shots than I’ve had in the past so hopefully this week we can break that trend and be in contention come that last day.”
