Date: April 21, 2008
Author:

Baddeley held at bay

A consistent Aaron Baddeley has fallen three strokes short in his bid for victory at the Verizon Heritage, finishing second to American Boo Weekley. The Australian closed with a final-round 69 to finish 12-under-par for the week, but it was not enough to catch winner Weekley. Weekley, who made it back-to-back victories at Harbour Town Golf Links, held off Baddeley and fellow American Anthony Kim (71) courtesy of his even-par 71 on the final day. The defending champion set up the victory with an incredible 64 on the second day of play, which was followed by an impressive 65 on moving day. Baddeley was a model of consistency throughout the week, bookending a couple of 67s with 69s at either end of the tournament. His final round was relatively incident free on the front nine. Only a birdie at five punctuated a run of nine pars. Things got interesting after the turn, however, when Baddeley bogeyed the 10th, birdied 11 and dropped a shot at 14. Birdies at the 15th and 16th weren&apost enough to put Weekley&aposs title charge in any great danger, although the front-running American did wobble late. He bogeyed the 16th and final holes on a day when he mixed five birdies with as many bogeys. Of the remaining Australians in the field, Robert Allenby (71) was next best in a share of 14th, nine shots adrift of Weekley with Matthew Goggin (72) another stroke back. John Senden (67) shot one of the more impressive closing rounds to leap into a tie for 23rd while Nathan Green (71) was the only other Australian to finish the tournament under par. Final Round Scores from the Verizon Heritage, Hilton Head Island, S.C. -15 Boo Weekley 69, 64, 65, 71 -12: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 69, 67, 67, 69, Anthony Kim 67, 67, 67, 71 -11: Jim Furyk 68, 68, 68, 69, -10: Cliff Kresge 69, 66, 68, 71 -9: Jason Bohn 70, 66, 67, 72 -8: Michael Letzig 68, 73, 70, 65, Camilo Villegas 67, 71, 71, 67, Matt Kuchar 71, 70, 68, 67, Stewart Cink 67, 68, 70, 71, Lucas Glover 66, 66, 73, 71 -7: Fredrik Jacobson 70, 67, 73, 67, Charles Howell 111 67, 71, 69, 70 -6: John Rollins 67, 71, 71, 69, Billy Andrade 69, 72, 68, 69, b>Robert Allenby (Australia) 70, 66, 71, 71 -5: Briny Baird 68, 69, 76, 66, D J Trahan 68, 70, 75, 66, Kevin Na 71, 67, 73, 68, Justin Leonard 66, 71, 72, 70 Also: -3: Tim Wilkinson (Australia) 68, 69, 71, 73 -5: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 70, 67, 70, 72 -4: John Senden (Australia) 74, 67, 72, 67 -1: Nathan Green (Australia) 74, 69, 69, 71 3: Peter Lonard (Australia) 68, 72, 74, 73 7: Nick Flanagan (Australia) 73, 70, 74, 74 11: Matt Jones (Australia) 74, 69, 77, 75