G'day has Badds positioned as a Down Under wonder

A stellar even-par 70 on Friday has Aaron Baddeley right in the thick of things at Oakmont. The young Australian doesn't want to get ahead of himself, but admits he'd love to follow countryman Geoff Ogilvy as U.S. Open champ.

By T.J. Auclair, PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

OAKMONT, Pa. -- It's amazing what two wins in less than 12 months can do for confidence. Case in point: Australia's Aaron Baddeley.

The 26-year-old was phenomenal in the second round of the 107th U.S. Open at Oakmont on Friday, needing just 29 putts -- he had 28 on Thursday -- to shoot a to-die-for even-par 70 on arguably the toughest track in the country. Baddeley's 36-hole total of 2-over-par 142 has him in serious contention for his first major title.

Unlike years past, Baddeley came to Oakmont this week expecting to play well. In two previous U.S. Open appearances, he "hadn't even sniffed the cut," and his best overall finish in 10 major championship starts was a tie for 55th in the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah. This time around -- as the Aussies say -- there are no worries because Friday was a g'day, mate.

"I think I've been going in that direction," said Baddeley, referring to his stronger play in majors. "So now I feel like I have the tools, I feel like I've got the game now to hit all of the shots that I need to hit to be able to play well to win on TOUR and then contend in a major. I feel that I'm taking the right steps, going in the right direction, so I feel that if I keep doing that, then everything will be OK."

The icing on the cake Friday was an outstanding sand save on No. 9 -- his last hole of the day -- when Baddeley drained a 7-footer for par to stay at even.

"I feel like sometimes the par putts are more important out here than some of the birdie putts just because you're going to have the putts and you've got to hole them just to keep some momentum going," he said. "And today I did that well. I made a nice putt on the last from about six or seven feet for par. I wouldn't say I've been putting any differently than what I have done in the past three months."

"Badds," as he's affectionately known, came to fame in 1999 when, as a teenager, he became the first amateur in 39 years to win the Australian Open over a field that included his childhood hero, Greg Norman. He successfully defended his title a year later.

Believed to have all the potential in the world, Baddeley turned professional in 2000 and didn't exactly blitz the golf landscape the way many had anticipated he would. He finally notched his first PGA TOUR win at the Verizon Heritage in April of 2006. Following a rather unimpressive remainder of that season, Badds has been sensational in 2007, with five top-10s in 13 starts, including his second TOUR win, which came at the FBR Open in February, just miles from his U.S. base in Phoenix.

Much like Brad Faxon, Baddeley was long regarded as an excellent putter but lacked in the ball-striking department, which made it difficult to contend week-in and week-out. With some serious work over the last two years, Baddeley has all the tools now.

"I would say night and day to be honest, absolutely," said Baddeley, talking about the difference in his ball-striking. "I honestly feel that my driving is actually one of my strengths now, where it was never like that."

The evidence might not show in the stats at Oakmont as he's hit just over half of his fairways, but the misses are a lot closer to the fairways than they had been in the past.

"The thing that for me, most of that is every shot I hit, I know what happened," he said. "When I do hit a shot like on the back nine today where I hit a couple of bad tee shots, I wasn't stressed because I knew what I needed to do. And on the front side, I don't think I missed a fairway. So I think it worked out well in that sense."

If Baddeley were to win the U.S. Open like countryman and friend Geoff Ogilvy did in 2006, it would be the first time in the history of the championship that Australians have gone back-to-back.

"That would be great to keep it in Australia and keep it at Whisper Rock (Baddeley and Ogilvy's home club in Arizona), too," he said. "That would be pretty cool. I've got to worry about tomorrow to be in position for Sunday so, I'm more worried about hitting my first tee shot in the fairway tomorrow and just going from there. But that would be pretty cool to be the second Australian in a row to win."