The Serve

U.S. Open final day: Baddeley v Tiger v The other guy

If you missed all the action from this mornings U.S. Open, heres a recap of what happened on the final day at Oakmont. The big shots, the bad ads, the even worse golf attire. It’s all here as we follow Tiger Woods and Aaron Baddeley in the final group.

Hole 1

Oh my goodness. A visually nervous Baddeley sprays his tee shot in the right rough. The approach is also right and well short. The next also misses the green. The chip for par is left well short. This is a nightmare. The folks in Australia who set their alarms are pondering whether it’s not too late to go back to bed for a couple of hours kip before work. It gets worse. Three putts later and Baddeley’s lead not only evaporates, it turns into a one shot deficit. Tiger is merely a bystander and merrily hits the fairway, hits the green, then two putts for par. Baddeley smirks walking to the second. Johnny Miller says Aaron looks like ‘a boxer that just got hit and is pretending it didn’t hurt’.

WOODS +4

BADDELEY +5

Hole 2

Baddeley hits the fairway! He watches Tiger drive through the green then calmly slots an iron down the middle. The approach is better, leaving a mid range putt for birdie. Hang on, there’s other players in this tournament?? Just seen Stephen Ames, who happens to be equal leader, play a stroke. Wasn’t that nice of NBC? Also got a nice image of Ames watching as the scoreboard attendant put up a triple bogey for Baddeley.

Tiger’s drive leaves him in a horrible spot but he scrambles for par. Baddeley hits a nice birdie putt but misses to the right.

AMES +4

CABRERA +4

WOODS +4

BADDELEY +5

Hole 3

If this was matchplay, we’d be all tied up. Both spoiled their perfect tee shots by overcooking the short approach. Baddeley followed Woods into the mire like he was trying to impress the coolest kid at school. From there the tenor of the group changed. Baddeley finessed his chip to within three feet. Tiger did not. Woods went on a tour of the green and came home with a double bogey. Baddeley must be feeling so much better. Ames is looking solid ahead.

STRICKER + 4

AMES +4

CABRERA + 5

BADDELEY + 5

WOODS +6

Hole 4

A 609 yard par 5. Baddeley hits two woods into the green but finds himself 30 metres away. He’s looking quite steady now with that disaster on one perhaps an aberration. He leaves himself a ten footer for birdie and can’t make it. Par. Tiger puts his second into the rough but recovers beautifully with a chip. An easy birdie.

Bubba Watson almost holes out on a par 3. Here’s a tip: Whenever a broadcaster shows a player they haven’t paid any attention to, it means he’s either stiffed it, or hit a fan on the scone.

Ames misses a short birdie putt but is now the sole leader. Don’t you hate it when you tell people the night before to watch out for someone, then don’t bother to put any money on them? Stricker misses a short par putt.

AMES + 4

BADDELEY +5

WOODS + 5 STRICKER + 5

CABRERA +5

Hole 5

Why are we being inundated with Big Brother commercials? Wouldn’t have thought the middle aged accountant demographic would be all that interested in what Billy or Daniela are up to.

Baddeley’s iron play is back near its best. A precise approach leaves him with an eight footer. A makeable putt but he hits it too softly -un-Baddeley like - and it breaks to the left. He looks exasperated with that miss. Tiger leaves his approach in the scrub but scrambles his way to par. Advantage Tiger.

There’s a new call for idiot American fans. Instead of ‘You’re the man’, or ‘Goooinnne the hole’, Stricker was met with an ‘Oh my God’ after a tee shot. Obviously that fan can’t believe Stricker is in the mix either.

CABRERA +4

AMES +5

BADDELEY +5

WOODS +5

STRICKER +5

Hole 6

Baddeley hits another terrific approach, again leaving himself an eight footer. He really needs to make putts, but right now he’s not making life difficult for himself. Since the first, of course.

Tiger drains a long par for the second straight hole. Out comes the fist pump. He’s not playing well but he’s a co-leader. Dangerous

Baddeley’s putt again is weak and left. 13 putts in six holes. Given this course, trouble can’t be far away.

Ames is in a dreadful problem up on the seventh. He’s still in a tie for the lead, but will lose a lot of ground by the time he’s done. Don’t you hate when you don’t back a guy you think might do something, then tell the world on the internet, only for him to fall apart?

BADDELEY +5

WOODS +5

CABRERA +5

STRICKER +5

AMES +5

Hole 7

NBC’s attempt at infusing rock into their little out-of-break jingles really seems odd. This is golf. Just play the piano and get on with it.

Ames ends the seventh with a triple bogey. Jim Furyk pars his ninth, and continues to lurk, trailing by one. If he was to win, he’d be the first to do it in a bowling shirt.

Bad drives from Baddeley and Tiger.

New American golf term: Graduated rough. Means the rough gets bigger as it goes further in. Would’ve have thought ‘increased rough’ would have done the job. Oh well, we need a label for everything, don’t we?

Baddeley goes from the more graduated rough to the rough’s edge after taking his medicine. His third is horrible, into the bunker on the left. This is the first hole all over again. Tiger picks his bunker approach clean, leaving a birdie putt and eventually making par.

Baddeley has a ten footer for bogey, again missing to the left. His body language is terrible, slumped over. There’s no pretend smile like after the first hole. 5 over in 7 holes.

WOODS +5

CABRERA +5

STRICKER +5

FURYK +6

BADDELEY +7

Hole 8

Cabrera makes a birdie on 11 to take the outright lead and make Baddeley’s already tough task even more difficult. That task is rendered just about impossible with a bogey. Another short-ish putt pulled.

Prediction: We will see very little Baddeley from our NBC friends from now on.

CABRERA +4 (11)

WOODS +5 (8)

FURYK +6 (10)

STRICKER +7 (10)

BADDELEY +8 (8)

Hole 9

The ‘Man Up’ golf ads are very funny. The first 59 airings anyway. Maybe it’s some sort of subliminal thing to hammer the audience when they’re sleepy. Allo Al.

OK, now we’re watching Bob Costas doing a sports update. I’m sure the Australian audience is enamored with Barry Bonds hitting a homer. Still better than Mark Allen in the Melbourne studio. How many majors did he play?

Baddeley’s name is still at the top of the manual scoreboards on course. That’s cute.

Tiger has a birdie putt that would have to go through what must be three swales. A terrific effort gives him an easy par. He is starting to look menacing, even though his iron play is not doing him any favours.

Par for Baddeley. He turns in 41.

CABRERA +4 (11)

WOODS +5 (9)

FURYK +7 (11)

VERPLANK +8 (14)

BADDELEY +8 (9)

Hole 10

If Furyk is going to get around in that horrible shirt, the least he can do is wear it untucked and lug around a hot dog and beer.

Cabrera has a birdie try at 12. Wasn’t he supposed to wither away and die once he lost his lead after the second round? Putt misses but a par is fine. Particularly with Tiger in the rough on 10. A good kick though helps Tiger within 10 feet. He’s going to make one soon. Not this time however. Par.

Baddeley is on the edge of the green for birdie. He goes way too hard and pushes it past by 6 feet. Betfair should open a market on his individual markets on his putts. I’d back him to miss the par putt at evens.

Oh dear. Bogey. Appleby is 2 shots off being leading Australian.

CABRERA +4 (12)

WOODS +5 (10)

FURYK +7 (11)

VERPLANK +8 (14)

BADDELEY +9 (10)

Hole 11

Let’s ask this question, is Baddeley really Australian? He was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and now resides in Scottsdale. It’s funny, that didn’t occur until he started crashing.

Cabrera snakes a long, long putt so close it guarantees par on 14. Tiger bogeys 11 and Argentina leads the U.S. Open by 2. Bowling shirt Furyk bogeys 12, but birdies 13 to stay within 3.

We don’t see any of Baddeley’s shots but he bogeys again. Let me guess, he pulled the par putt.

Cabrera lights up a smoke! He looks nervous but so does everybody else.

CABRERA +4 (14)

WOODS +6 (11)

FURYK +7 (13)

FASTH +8 (14)

BADDELEY +10 (11)

Hole 12

Cabrera almost holes out on the 15th! A gimme birdie and a three shot lead. He’s running out of holes in which to choke. Where’s Carlos Franco? What a shame we couldn’t have an all South American shootout. The moustache versus the smoker.

Tiger finds the rough with his approach to 12. The less said about Baddeley’s approach, the better. This tournament is long gone, but what is that going to do to his mindset in majors down the track?

Tiger pars.

CABRERA +3 (15)

FURYK +6 (14)

WOODS +6 (12)

BADDELEY +10 (12)

Hole 13

Cabrera is 3 under for the day. He may turn out to be Argentina’s greatest athlete since Maradona. Cabrera though has the advantage of not needing to have had a drug problem to get fat.

Furyk and his shirt birdie 15, his third in a row, to be just two back.

Tiger finally stiffs an iron, setting up an easy birdie putt. He misses, but gets a break when Cabrera bogeys the 16th.

CABRERA +4 (16)

FURYK +5 (15)

WOODS +6 (13)

BADDELEY +10 (13)

Hole 14

Now Cabrera is finding out what winning a major is all about. A skewed wedge off the green and a poor pitch leave him an eight footer for par on 17.

Tiger plays a poor approach to 14 from less than 100 yards. His long putt is credible but he needs to be making birdies now. Par.

Cabrera misses his par putt. Jim Furyk is now co leader and Tiger is just one back.

By the way, Baddeley has had pars on the last three holes.

CABRERA +5 (17)

FURYK +5 (16)

WOODS + 6 (14)

BADDELEY +10 (14)

Hole 15

I wonder if the makers of the movie Caddyshack have considered suing the USGA for using the gofer in their logo?

Bubba Watson drains a birdie to get within 2. If any person named ‘Bubba’ ever wins a major, this columnist will write on darts instead.

Tiger almost guiltily fades his approach to the right bunker. Furyk is having a nightmare on the 17th and bogeys at almost exactly the same time Tiger scrambled another par.

Cabrera finds the green on his last. Two putts from twenty-five feet would surely give him the title. It would also give him a 1 under 69. Anthony Kim has the day’s only sub-par round with a 67. Kim shot 80 yesterday.

Cabrera makes his par and the task for Furyk and Woods is simple. They need at least one birdie.

CABRERA +5 (18)

FURYK +6 (17)

WOODS +6 (15)

BADDELEY +10 (15)

Hole 16

Par 3. Big approach here for Tiger. Fifty feet away. Not a disaster.
Now the commercials are coming thick and fast. When Jim Furyk smiles in the Srixon ad he looks like he’s trying to swallow cough medicine.

Ahead on 18, Furyk fails to capitalise on a superb drive, finding the edge of the green. Two putts later and Tiger is the only man between Cabrera and the trophy.

CABRERA +5 (18)

FURYK +6 (18)

WOODS +6 (16)

BADDELEY +11 (16)

Hole 17

We must be near the end of the tournament, because our American friends are bringing out the poetry. What rhymes with Cabrera? Fairer? Sharer? Good luck NBC man.

This is the hole for Tiger. A drivable par 4. He goes for broke and rolls in the bunker short and right. The second is too long as is the third. He’s spent the whole day keeping his head above water and he needs to make a six footer just to keep the tournament alive. He does.

CABRERA +5 (18)

FURYK +6 (18)

WOODS +6 (17)

BADDELEY +11 (16)

Hole 18

If Tiger was to somehow birdie the nightmare 18th and take the tournament to a playoff and win, in many ways it would be his best major win as well as his worst. No birdies since the fourth hole and 1 birdie in 31 holes.

Cabrera is drinking water in the scorer’s tent, looking disappointed it’s not beer.

Tiger’s drive finds the edge of the rough. Only he could do something special from there. He nails a wedge, landing it pin high. The baked green takes the ball to the back, leaving Tiger a thirty footer to take it to a play off.

Baddeley hits a nice putt, from a similar distance, leaving it short. 80. A tie for 12th. He very quickly became a bit player on Sunday, didn’t he?

Tiger’s putt isn’t even close. Quite fitting given his day. His record is now 0 and 29 when trailing going into the final round of a major. This is now becoming a problem.

CABRERA +5 (69)

FURYK +6 (70)

WOODS +6 (72)

BADDELEY +12 (80)

So victory for Argentina and Angel Cabrera, who wins for the first time in America. Aaron Baddeley produces his best finish in a major by far, but surely will have many sleepless nights ahead.