Baddeley bags second title

Australian Aaron Baddeley admitted his previous solitary experience of winning on the PGA Tour helped him secure his second victory at the £3m (€4.5m) FBR Open at the TPC of Scottsdale in Arizona.

The 25-year-old shot a final-round 64 to finish 21 under par and one stroke ahead of John Rollins.

Baddeley, a resident of Scottsdale, won the Verizon Heritage last year and drew on those memories when things got tense.

“I was definitely more nervous at Hilton Head,” said Baddeley.

“I was more comfortable today and comfortable with my swing with all the hard work I have been doing.”

Jeff Quinney, the long-time leader, finished two shots back in third and Baddeley admitted he was not sure he would be able to win with his rival holding a two-stroke lead over him at the start of play.

“I thought I would have to shoot a low one to win,” Baddeley added. “I knew I was going to have to make birdies because Jeff was playing so well.”

Most final-round fireworks usually begin on the back nine but the golfers on the first page of the leaderboard were firing at the pins from the first hole.

Bart Bryant, who finished fourth on 18 under, made birdie on his first hole and eagle on the third. Rollins started by making birdie on his first three holes, while Baddeley made an eagle on the third hole to be two-under through three holes and Quinney made three birdies in his first five holes.

“Obviously it didn’t end the way I wanted to, but all in all I’m pretty happy with the performance,” said Quinney.

“I was sleeping on the lead the last couple of days and it was a lot of pressure and I’m happy how I handled the whole situation.”

Quinney‘s lead was cut to one when he bogeyed the 10th and Baddeley made birdie and he briefly took a share of the lead with a nine-foot birdie putt at the 13th before Quinney also picked up a shot there.

Despite restoring his two-stroke advantage Quinney threw it away on the short par-four 17th when he drove into the water and made bogey on a hole where Baddeley had earlier made birdie – his third in a row – from 10 feet.

Another bogey five at the last ended Quinney‘s chances and let in Rollins to snatch second place.

England’s Justin Rose and Brian Davis struggled in the final round – Rose shot even par and finished tied for 39th at seven under while Davis closed a one-over 72 for a tournament total of six under, tied for 44th.