It’s not often you lose a tournament by nine shots and leave feeling good but Aaron Baddeley’s late flurry at the World Golf Championship event in Ohia has him smiling.
Baddeley finished with a four-under 66 to bolt up 16 places on the leader board into a tie for eighth at 276, a sneaky top 10, but a top 10, none-the-less.
He ended nine shots behind winner Keegan Bradley but the Victorian’s third top 10 of the season comes as he heads to the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
The result was even more impressive considering he arrived in Akron late Wednesday due to an illness in his family and didn’t get a practice round, no doubt a contributing factor to a three-over-par 73 opening round.
“It wasn’t the ideal preparation this week but hopefully this finish is the start of a great preparation for next week,” Baddeley said.
“It was a good way to finish and I played pretty good overall. I drove the ball really well after changing a swing thought from Thursday to Friday.
“It gives me a good feeling heading into a major. Today I made some putts, which really helps the confidence.
“It’s nice to back up good shots with some nice putts and have a positive mental approach heading to Kiawah.”
Australia’s best chance, John Senden, started the day six shots back but ended it 10 off the pace after a poor two-over 72 dropped him to a tie for 16th at three-under 277.
It was always going to be a tough ask for Senden to make a run at the lead but the writing was probably on the wall at the first hole when he was unable to convert a six-foot birdie chance.
Senden needed his putter to get hot if he was to pose a challenge. With plenty of players making eagle and birdie on the par five second, Senden offered up a par and from there it was a bridge too far.
He made birdie on the third hole but bogeyed the eighth and ninth and 16th to drop out of the top 10.
Geoff Ogilvy (-1), Jason Day (+1), Adam Scott (+5), Marc Leishman (+5), Greg Chalmers (+7) and Robert Allenby (+12) head to Kiawah Island hoping for a better outcome.