Aaron John Baddeley (born 17 March 1981) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He was born in

Lebanon, New Hampshire Lebanon is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home ...

, USA and now plays on the U.S.-based

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

, he has joint U.S. and Australian citizenship and was raised in Australia from the age of two. He represents Australia in international golf.

Professional career

When he was in his late teens, Baddeley was seen as one of the most promising talents in the world of golf. He was the youngest player ever to represent Australia in the

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

and he won the Holden Australian Open as an amateur in 1999 and retained his title in 2000, by which time he had turned professional. He was awarded the 2000 Australian Young Male Athlete of the Year. In 2001, he won the

Greg Norman Holden International The Greg Norman Holden International was a men's professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It was founded by Greg Norman in 1993, replacing the Johnnie Walker Australian Classic on the tour schedule, and was held until 2001. It ...

in Australia. He won the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

's Order of Merit in 2000/01. However, in the following few years he came to be overshadowed by his Australian contemporary Adam Scott, who is less than a year older than Baddeley but reached the world top 10 in 2005. In 2002, Baddeley played on the second tier Nationwide Tour in the U.S. and placed tenth on the money list to earn a PGA Tour card for 2003. He had second-place finishes on the PGA Tour in 2003 at the

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian O ...

and 2004 at the

Chrysler Classic of Tucson The Tucson Open was a golf tournament in Arizona on the PGA Tour from 1945 to 2006, played annually in the winter in Tucson. It was last held at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort in late February, with a $3 million purse and a $540,000 winner ...

. However he struggled for consistency, and after a solid rookie season, when he finished 73rd on the money list, he only just retained his card in 2004, when he came 124th. In 2005 he moved back up the rankings to 78th and in 2006 he won his first PGA Tour title at the

Verizon Heritage The RBC Heritage, known for much of its history as the Heritage Classic or simply the Heritage, is a PGA Tour event in South Carolina, first played in 1969. It is currently played in mid-April, the week after The Masters in Augusta, Georgia. Th ...

. Baddeley won his second PGA Tour tournament in early 2007 and reached the top 50 of the world rankings. By September, he had entered the top 20. His career high ranking was 17th in 2008. Baddeley was the leader after the third round of the U.S. Open at

Oakmont Country Club Oakmont Country Club is a country club in the eastern United States, located mostly in Plum with only a very small portion of the property located in Oakmont, suburbs of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania. Established in 1903, its golf course i ...

on 16 June 2007 with a two over par score of 212 (72-70-70). He finished with an 80 and ended T-13. After a lull in form over the following few seasons, where he was finishing only in the lower reaches of the top-125 on the money list, Baddeley returned to the winner's circle when he won the 2011

Northern Trust Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He defended a one-shot third round lead over

Kevin Na Kevin Sangwook Na ( ko, 나상욱; born September 15, 1983) is a Korean American professional golfer. He was a member of the PGA Tour until June 2022, when he resigned in order to join LIV Golf. He won five tournaments on the PGA Tour between 20 ...

and veteran

Fred Couples Frederick Steven Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has competed on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. A former World No. 1, he has won 64 professional tournaments, most notably the Masters Tournament ...

, completing a steady closing round of 69 to beat another veteran,

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

, by two strokes. In October 2011, Baddeley was selected by

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

as one of his two wildcard picks for the 2011 Presidents Cup team. He was selected along with fellow Australian

Robert Allenby Robert Allenby (born 12 July 1971) is an Australian professional golfer. Early years Allenby was born on 12 July 1971 in Melbourne, Victoria. His father had emigrated to Australia from Leeds, UK as a young man. Professional career He turned p ...

to compete at Royal Melbourne in November. Statistically speaking, Baddeley frequently ranks as one of the very best putters on the PGA Tour. As of 2010, he has qualified for the Tour's end-of-season statistical rankings 8 times; of those, he finished among the circuit's top 10 in putts per

green in regulation The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs. 0–9 ...

five times, and among the top 15 seven times. The only qualified season in which Baddeley was not among the PGA Tour's top 15 putters by that metric came in 2004, when he finished 64th out of 196 players. Baddeley started the 2015–16 season playing out of the Past Champions category after finishing 157th in the FedEx Cup and failing to regain a PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals. He earned his first win in five years at the 2016

Barbasol Championship The Barbasol Championship is a professional golf tournament in Kentucky on the PGA Tour; it debuted in 2015 as an alternate event to The Open Championship in Britain in July. The first three editions of the tournament were played in Alabama at t ...

, beating

Kim Si-woo Kim Si-woo ( ko, 김시우; born 28 June 1995), also known as Si Woo Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2017 Players Championship to become the youngest ever winner of the event at age 21. Profess ...

in a four-hole playoff.

Personal life

Baddeley is a committed

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and has confessed that it was his faith that prevented him giving up professional golf on numerous occasions. Baddeley's wife Richelle, whom he married on 15 April 2005, sums up Baddeley's faith in God, saying: "It never faltered. He never asked, 'What are you trying to teach me? I want you to be the man you want me to be. I will go through these adtimes if that is Your will'." Richelle has also been pivotal to Baddeley's resurgence. "I had to learn the balance of letting him be alone when he comes home sometimes upset. It's sheer frustration from him. He's played his best, and it just hasn't happened," she said. Baddeley and his wife have six children: Jewell, Jolee, Jeremiah, Josiah, Jaddex and Jedidiah.

Amateur wins

''this list may be incomplete'' *1998

Victorian Amateur Championship The Victorian Amateur Championship is the state amateur golf championship of Victoria, Australia. It has been played annually since 1899, except for the war years. Two players have won the championship six times, Michael Scott between 1904 and ...

, Victorian Junior Masters *1999

Riversdale Cup The Riversdale Cup is the second oldest amateur golf tournament in Australia. It is a Golf Australia national ranking event. The event has been played since 1896 and is organised by and played at the Riversdale Golf Club in Mount Waverley, Victoria ...

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (4)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

European Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (2–0)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (4)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (2–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2014 U.S. Open – 2018 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

DQ = Disqualified
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

''* Through the 2020 season.''
''Note: Baddeley did not join the PGA Tour until 2003 so he was not ranked on the money list until then.''

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Australia):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played a ...

(representing Victoria): 1998, 1999 Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Australia):

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

(International Team):

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * * *
Aaron Baddeley player profile, Golf Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baddeley, Aaron American male golfers Australian male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from New Hampshire Australian evangelicals American emigrants to Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia People from Lebanon, New Hampshire Golfers from Melbourne Golfers from Scottsdale, Arizona 1981 births Living people