Aaron Baddeley is back at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, the scene of his last US PGA Tour victory, confident his impressive recent form is good enough for a repeat performance.

The Australian is on a mission to get back to the Masters in April, having given up a great chance to secure a berth at Augusta National when his ranking slipped as he took family time around the birth of his third child late last year.

He has the perfect place to do it this week.

Two years ago, Baddeley claimed his third US tour victory at famed Riviera – a course which has proven Australian-friendly, with Adam Scott (2005) and Robert Allenby (2001) also hoisting the trophy while Steve Elkington won his US PGA Championship on the layout in 1995.

The Australian must win a tournament or find his way into the world top 50 by April 1 if he’s to play in the Masters from April 11-14.

Ranked 46th after the US PGA Tour playoffs last September, Baddeley is currently ranked 83rd despite starting his season in great touch with a tie for sixth at Torrey Pines and a tie for 12th last week at Pebble Beach.

“It’s nice to be playing well. The game is definitely right there,” said Baddeley.

“I was close to a really good week last week so I’m expecting a really good week this week.

“Every time you come back somewhere you’ve played well and won, you always have good memories of hitting good shots, of having the right feelings.

“That gives you a lot of confidence.”

Baddeley is trying not to focus too heavily on the Masters despite his itching desire to be back at Augusta where he was inside the top five early on Saturday last year before fading out of contention.

“The real goal is playing well because I feel like I’m playing well enough to win and, if I can get one of those, then everything else will take care of itself,” Baddeley said.

“I had one of the best three or four-month stretches of my life last year being there with the kids.

“I just loved it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

“The trade off is I dropped down a bit in the world rankings but a win would fix that pretty quickly.”

Scott, Australia’s highest-ranked golfer at world No.7, is also playing at Riviera along with Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Greg Chalmers, Marc Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden.