PGA Tour: Aaron Baddeley Wins Barbasol Championship
Aaron Baddeley erased a three-stroke deficit to win his first PGA Tour event in five years.
When you’ve gone five years without a PGA Tour win, getting back to the top is never easy. In the case of Aaron Baddeley at the Barbasol Championship, it required a five-under-par final round and a gritty four-hole playoff to break his winless drought that was set to reach 2,000 days next month.
The 35-year-old Aussie lurked in the shadows for the first two rounds, shooting rounds of 70 and 66 (-5) to make the cut by just three strokes. Meanwhile, Jhonattan Vegas was setting fire to the Grand National course to the tune of rounds of 65 and 60.
Vegas held a six-shot lead heading into the weekend, but it was erased after just a few holes on Sunday. The Venezuela native has really struggled on the weekends over the past few years.
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What was once Vegas’ tournament to lose became a shootout as the low scores continued to pour in, and several players had a chance to win on Sunday in Alabama. In the third round, Baddeley posted his best round of the week, a 64, to climb into contention.
The good times kept rolling for a guy best known for rolling the rock. After notching a few top 10s this season, Baddeley (70-66-64-66) took advantage of the soft conditions to post a final round 66. Si-Woo Kim (70-68-65-63) went out early on Sunday and posted a 63 to reach 18-under-par, a score that appeared to be good enough to win.
With three holes to go and perhaps still reeling from an untimely bogey on the 14th, Baddeley trailed Kim by two. His drought seemed destined to continue. Showing steely resolve, Baddeley caught fire and sunk a pair of clutch birdies on 16 and 17. He could not complete the turkey to win outright, but his experience paid off in the playoff.
In sudden death, Kim and Baddeley found themselves at a stalemate, each posting three straight pars. The drama came to a close when Baddeley finally broke through for a 24-foot birdie putt to earn his fourth career PGA Tour win, 300 FedEx Cup points and a healthy $630,000 winner’s check. As a result, Baddeley jumped 45 spots up to No. 41 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Though PGA Tour rookie Si-Woo Kim’s heroics were not enough to earn the victory, the 21-year-old has a lot of promise. In 2012, he became the youngest player (17 years, 5 months, 6 days) to graduate from the now-defunct PGA Tour qualifying school. In 2015, Kim won the Stonebrae Classic on the Web.com Tour. His solo second at the Barbasol was his third top 10 of the year, bringing him up to 45th in FedEx Cup points.
Michael Johnson (67-65-70-65) was another young player who showed us something this week. The 22-year-old Auburn graduate put on a show in front of his home fans, posting three sub-70 rounds in his professional debut to miss the playoff by one.
The aforementioned Vegas (65-60-72-72) only needed to complete his final 36 holes in two-under-par to win outright, but a pair of 72s on the weekend brought him down to a tie for fourth at 15-under.
Other notable finishers include: T8. (-14) Graham DeLaet; T11. (-13) Boo Weekley, David Toms; T20. (-12) KJ Choi; T44. (-9) Ben Crane; T54. Will Wilcox (-7); T62. (-5) Jason Bohn; MDF. Angel Cabrera (-1)
Next, the PGA Tour marches on to Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario for the RBC Canadian Open.
Next: Stenson shoots 63 to win Open Championship
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