p145-146 SonyOpen/kh/ld
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2004 : THE YEAR AHEAD
SONY OPEN IN HAWAII Waialae Country Club (Par 72/7,060 yards) , Honolulu, Hawaii, January 12-18 Aaron Baddeley hits out of a bunker during the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Tee Talk COLOR BLIND In the early 1980s, Wilson Sporting Goods began producing orange or lime-green balls along with its traditional white Wilson Staff balls. Hale Irwin used a lime green model for a time, while Jerry Pate and Wayne Levi used the orange versions. In fact, Levi became the first player to win a PGA TOUR event with a non-white ball when he captured the 1982 United Airlines Hawaiian Open.
©DONALD MIRALLE, HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES, STAN BADZ/PGA TOUR
T
he old saying, “Youth will be served” could be the motto for the Sony Open in Hawaii.Traditionally, this early season event – the first full-field event of the season – attracts young players eager to make their marks on the PGA TOUR and, more precisely, the TOUR’s official money list. In 2002, for example, 22 of the TOUR’s 23 rookies were in the field. Seven made the cut (welcome to the real world of the TOUR) and four recorded top-25 finishes. Australia’s Aaron Baddeley (who was actually born in Lebanon, NH, and currently resides in Scottsdale, AZ) isn’t quite a rookie,
having played in 21 TOUR events coming into the 2003 season. But the 21-year-old served notice that he was ready to mix it up with the veterans by taking Ernie Els into a playoff. BADDELEY, THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF Wonders From Down Under, showed the poise that won him two Australian Opens (one as an amateur) in his dramatic – if sometimes comical – struggle with Els. On the 71st hole, Baddeley rolled his birdie putt three feet past the hole and marked his ball, which was very close to being on Els’ line. He asked if Els would like
him to move his mark to the side, but Els declined. Moments later, the South African pulled his putt, and his ball bounced off Baddeley’s mark and slid off line. “With apologies to all the amateurs out there, it was an amateur mistake,” said Els later.“I mean, he’s marking it with an English coin that’s about an inch high. I had to laugh at myself, and I’m sure he was kind of laughing inside, too.” Just as Baddeley was about to hit his par putt, a door on a nearby Port-O-Let slammed shut and Baddeley, who had oneputted 40 times in 70 holes, lipped out his putt and had to settle for a bogey and a share
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