Date: November 25, 2007
Author:

Badds joins the tradition

Aaron Baddeley has claimed his first-ever gold jacket, edging out Sweden&aposs Daniel Chopra on the fourth hole of a playoff to take the MasterCard Masters at Huntingdale. On a final day that had many twists and turn, five players shared the lead at one stage before Stuart Appleby shot clear in the final few holes before faltering. Chopra&aposs chip-in on the 15th and a birdie on the 16th looked to give him the edge but Baddeley birdied 17, while the Swede slipped up. Chopra made an eight-foot putt for a par at the last to force the playoff with both players locked on 13-under. Baddeley could have wrapped it up on the first playoff hole, missing an eight-footer for birdie, before both players also parred it the second time around. Chopra then made a difficult par putt on the third occasion to force it to the fourth hole. There Baddeley found trouble but scrambled a par and Chopra three-putted to hand the tournament to the Australian. Neither man had played their best golf during the afternoon, with Baddeley birdying holes six and ten, before bogeying 14 and his vital birdie at 17, only the 11th there for the day. Chopra had held the overnight lead but a bogey on four dropped him back. He would card back-to-back birdies on nine and ten, but again slipped up at the 12th. He looked set to dip out, but his chip on the 15th got his campaign for the gold jacket back on track. Appleby looked to have his first gold jacket at his mercy after a going clear with a birdie at the 12th. But his excellent round, which had been bogey-free through 17 holes, fell apart on the 18th. He took a double bogey and would finish third on 11-under, two shots off the pace. Peter O&aposMalley finished with a 67 for the second straight day to finish in outright fourth. The Australian veteran bogeyed the second but recovered with six birdies in seven holes from the fourth to end the day in the highest position he had been all week. Rod Pampling&aposs day looked promising when he shared the lead after going through the front nine in 33, but the back nine proved more difficult, as he dropped three shots to finish in equal fifth on nine-under. A similar thing happened to Kurt Barnes, who had a share of the lead on the 11th tee but dropped four shots. Dave Horsey&aposs second 65 for the week moved the Englishman level with that pair and Peter Lonard, who had a 70. Steve Jeffress, who put a 66 on his card after just making the cut on Friday, claimed a top ten finish, finishing eight-under while five players shared tenth at seven-under, Anthony Summers (71), Richard Finch (73), Robert Allenby (73), Andrew Tampion (69) and Marcus Fraser (70). England&aposs Simon Khan had earlier signed for a 66 to finish his week at six-under. Khan topped his week off with eight birdies and two bogeys to finish equal 15th with six others.