Tiger on Baddeley’s tail at U.S. Open

OAKMONT, Pa. – The late-afternoon shadow of Tiger Woods had stretched across the 18th green at Oakmont Country Club on Saturday when Aaron Baddeley blew the U.S. Open a goodnight kiss.

From 13 feet above the hole in a tournament Baddeley led but Woods had begun to dominate, the 26-year-old Australian watched his birdie putt tumble into the cup and send him into the evening with a two-stroke lead over the most menacing force in golf.

It is a place Baddeley has never been – leading a major championship when the reckoning day arrives – and it comes with a stare-down this afternoon with Woods who, for all his accomplishments, has never won a major championship when trailing when the final round began.

Baddeley, who has shot par two straight days at unforgiving Oakmont Country Club, has more than just Woods filling his mirror.

Baddeley’s 2-over par 212 total was two better than Woods and three better than the foursome of Paul Casey, Stephen Ames, Justin Rose and Bubba Watson.

“Obviously, I’m going to deal with some emotion because I’ve never been in this position before,” said Baddeley, a two-time PGA Tour winner including the 2006 Verizon Heritage.

“But I’ve worked my whole life to be in this position. I’m going to embrace it.”

It was as if Baddeley was gently shaking the tournament and all those watching it when he followed a good par save at the 17th hole with his closing birdie.

After two days dominated by the golf course, Baddeley’s birdie felt like a reminder that he was leading the tournament, not Woods.

Baddeley, in fact, had taken command of the championship with three birdies in four holes starting at the dangerous 10th, but most of the attention had, as it usually does, centered on Woods, who single-handedly energized a tournament in need of a jolt.

Before second-round leader Angel Cabrera and Watson teed off in the final group Saturday, Woods had already made two birdies that hit Oakmont like a thunderbolt. The Open, a merciless survival test for two days, had come alive.

Woods’ flirted with Johnny Miller territory Saturday at Oakmont.

He was nearly flawless, hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation, missing only the last one after flaring his tee shot into a fairway bunker, leading to his only bogey on the layout where Miller closed with 63 in the 1973 Open.

On a course that has stripped the spirit of so many players, Woods looked graceful, striking pose after pose as he rifled iron shots into Oakmont’s wicked greens on the warm, sunny afternoon.

“If he had putted like I did, he’d have shot 66,” said Woods’ playing partner Nick Dougherty. “He was very clinical.”

And about four burned edges from having the lead to himself today.

“It could’ve been really low,” Woods said, while pointing out some of his shorter birdie putts forced him to play enormous swings of break.

The difference in Woods on Saturday from the first two days was his ability to keep his tee shots in the fairway, hitting nine of 14 while the errant shots stayed in the manageable first cut of rough.

Baddeley, meanwhile, continued to show why he’s regarded as one of the finest putters of his generation. He has needed only 85 putts through 54 holes, handling Oakmont’s sinister surfaces with a delicate touch.

Baddeley understands what he faces today, having chased a moment like this since his teenaged years in Australia when he unabashedly stated his intention to win major championships.

Baddeley backed up his audacity by winning the Australian Open as an 18-year-old while seeking out the game’s best players to test himself against them.

Baddeley’s game fell away for a time, but since changing teachers in late 2005 he has reinvented himself as a player.

Sunday at the U.S. Open is a different creature than Easter Sunday at Hilton Head where the deeply spiritual Baddeley won his first tour victory 14 months ago.

Asked about a leaderboard upon which he is the only major champion among the top six, Woods said, “They’re going to deal with emotions they’ve probably never dealt with before. It helps to have experience. I’ve been there before and I know what it takes.”

U.S. Open

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD

Par: 35-35–70

Today’s TV: 10 a.m., NBC

Inside

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