Baddeley, Mahan up by two with 18 to go
ATLANTA - Australian Aaron Baddeley and Hunter Mahan share the 54-hole lead at East Lake Golf Club after completing third-round play at 9 under par. The duo lead by two over another Aussie, Jason Day and South Korea's K.J. Choi. While Baddeley has a chance to win the final stop of the playoffs, his mind is on something else.On Monday, Baddeley spoke with the International team caption for the Presidents Cup, Greg Norman, and was pretty much told what he needed to do to be a captain's pick.
During a conversation that lasted three or four minutes, Norman told Baddeley he was going to watch this week's event with an eye on both he and John Senden.
"Yeah, definitely coming into the week, Presidents Cup was on the forefront of my mind," Baddeley said. "Talking to Greg on Monday, I knew I had to play well this week to impress him. So did a lot of work Tuesday and Wednesday, especially on my putting, and very pleased so far this week.
"He said just go out, play good, win the golf tournament," Baddeley added. "I said, 'alright.'"
So far, so good.
Mahan on the other hand, came into the week thinking of nothing other than trying to win. He thought he had no chance to win the FedExCup and the $10 million dollar bonus that comes with it. However, that may have changed a bit because, were the event to finish as it now stands, he would indeed pocket the extra dough.
"It's kind of sad for the TOUR Championship in a way because it kind of gets lost, and this is really one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year," Mahan said when discussing the event being recognized more for whom the big money winner will be, rather than a tournament that has the top-30 players from the season-long points list competing for a title. "It's 30 of the best players in the world playing this week, and the only thing people are concerned about is the FedExCup, who's leading that."
Well, that and the slate of games on the NFL schedule on Sunday.
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