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Teenager hailed as 'next Tiger Woods'
Baby-faced Baddeley (r) looked more like a caddy than a competitor |
An 18-year-old amateur saw off golfing greats Greg Norman and Colin Montgomerie to become the youngest-ever winner of the Australian Open.
Aaron Baddeley finished two shots clear of Norman and Nick O'Hern, making him became the first amateur to win the Australian Open since Bruce Devlin in 1960.
Baddeley finished with three-under-par 69 for a 14-under-par total of 274.
He led by three strokes at the turn and although he fell back to lead by two he went on to beat five-times champion Norman and fellow Australian O'Hern.
Montgomerie, playing with Baddeley, and McGinley tied for fourth place with New Zealander Michael Long.
Baddeley is congratulated by caddie Dion Kipping |
"This doesn't change anything," said Ron. "We've got a very specific plan to follow to get him to be the best golfer he can be.
"It's no difference to doing a university degree. You pick the best subjects at a university and we've picked the best tournaments to do the same thing because I believe what he's doing now is his education."
As an amateur Baddeley was not able to claim the $115,000 first prize, which will be divided up between Norman and O'Hern.
25 days in it
Baddeley, at 18 years 8 months and 11 days, beat the former youngest amateur, Ivo Whitton (18 years 9 months 5 days), who won the first of his five Australian Opens in 1912.
Norman rates Baddeley in the same bracket as Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia at the same age.
England's Steve Webster, a 24-year-old from Coventry working towards getting his Australasian Tour playing card, fired a new course record with a final-round 63 while Nick Faldo shot a superb 69.
Leading scores after the final round of the Australian Open on Sunday at the par-72 Royal Sydney course (Australian unless stated, (a) denotes amateur):
274 (a) Aaron Baddeley 67 68 70 69
276 Greg Norman 70 73 64 69, Nick O'Hern 68 68 70 70
277 Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) 72 67 67 71, Michael Long (New Zealand) 70 68 68 71, Paul McGinley (Ireland) 67 70 69 71
278 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69 65 74 70
279 Peter Lonard 73 66 70 70
280 Steve Webster (England) 73 72 72 63
281 Geoff Ogilvy 70 69 69 73
282 Paul Gow 64 72 70 76, Peter O'Malley 71 67 70 74, a-Scott Gardiner 68 73 72 69
283 Craig Spence 69 70 73 71, Jarrod Moseley 66 72 73 72
284 Greg Chalmers 74 65 72 73, Mathew Goggin 68 74 72 70, Stuart Appleby 72 70 71 71, Nick Faldo (England) 68 74 73 69
285 Brendan Jones 66 70 76 73, a-Brett Rumford 70 73 70 72, Robert Allenby 67 77 68 73 286 Scott Wearne 74 69 72 71
287 Adrian Percey 73 72 72 70, Craig Warren 73 69 76 69, David Howell (England) 69 72 76 70, Grant Dodd 74 67 74 72, Justin Cooper 71 74 71 71, Euan Walters 74 71 70 72, Lucas Parsons 69 72 72 74, Anthony Wall (England) 69 68 72 78
288 Craig Parry 70 74 71 73, Nathan Green 74 69 72 73, Wayne Riley 75 69 70 74, Jean Van De Velde 71 73 75 69
289 Adam Le Vesconte 72 73 74 70, David Bransdon 69 76 76 68, Raymond Russell (Scotland) 70 73 76 70, Brett Partridge 69 71 74 75, Stephen Scahill (New Zealand) 70 74 74 71, Stuart Bouvier 73 69 73 74
290 Andre Stolz 70 71 74 75, Marcus Cain 73 72 73 72, Stephen Leaney 72 72 73 73
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27 Nov 99 | Golf |
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