OUR FANHOUSE TOOLBAR INTEGRATES THE LATEST SPORTS NEWS INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER AND INSTALLS IN SECONDS.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE TOOLBAR HERE.

FanHouse AaronBaddeley

Latest AaronBaddeley Stories

Tiger Woods Isn't Dumping Hank Haney For Dale Lynch (for Now)

Whenever Tiger Woods struggles, Hank Haney's job security becomes a popular topic. It's been that way ... well, since they started working together in 2004, yet here we are, five years later, and they're still a team. And Woods' major championship winning percentage with Haney (.300) is slightly higher than it was with Butch Harmon (.286). This seems important.

Woods won for the fourth time this year at last week's Buick Open, and he's in position to do it again at Firestone. Still, the rumors remain. The latest -- that Dale Lynch, currently coaching Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley, was in line for the gig -- has been debunked by the Brisbane Times' Peter Stone.

Anthony Kim Held His Own Against Tiger Woods at AT&T

Anthony Kim has never scored better than Tiger Woods in any tournament in which they were both entered. That didn't change Sunday, when Tiger outlasted Kim, and held off Hunter Mahan, to win the AT&T National.

Kim began the final round tied with Woods atop the leaderboard. Tiger shot 67 and won, Kim signed for a 71, which was good for third place. Despite the outcome, though, Kim fared better than most of the young players slapped with the "next guy to challenge Tiger" label.

Off the top of my head, some (relatively) recent examples:

US Open Goes to Monday Finish, Ricky Barnes Clings to Lead

For 54 holes, Ricky Barnes was the best golfer on the planet. And then, in the few hours between his third and final round at the 109th U.S. Open, something happened. Maybe he finally realized that this was Bethpage Black and not some podunk Nationwide stop.

Or maybe his luck just ran out. It happens, especially to guys who have spent the previous six years trying to live up to expectations. After getting to 11-under early Sunday, and leading by as many as six strokes, Barnes came back to the field and begin his final 18 at 8-under, just one shot clear of Lucas Glover.

On No. 1, Barnes pull-hooked his tee shot into the junk, and bumbled his way to an ugly bogey. On the second tee, he hit his tee shot left again, this time a shank. And before he could make matters worse, the horn sounded, suspending play for the evening.


Accenture Match Play Final: Geoff Ogilvy Faces Paul Casey


Getty Images

It might not have been Tiger Woods against Phil Mickelson. Heck, it isn't even Ernie Els playing Vijay Singh, but the two professional golfers playing the best right now will face up against each other Sunday exactly 125 miles away from their home course.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who won this tournament in 2006 and was runner-up in '07, will take on Englishman Paul Casey in a 36 hole final to see who can claim title of Best Golfer During Tiger Week.

Rough Putting: Five Things To Watch In 2009


Golf season starts tomorrow, which means it is time to actually start thinking of the best game with dimples. While the giants take a nap, others will play at the Mercedes Championship, and golf will be around the rest of the year. FanHouse spent a couple of minutes thinking what is to come in 2009. Here is what transpired.

Which golfer will be the first to break through in the Majors?
A lot of the time this is overlooked, but look back a few years ago to Tiger's first full year on tour. The guy won his first-ever start in a major as a professional. With Tiger, the monkey never even had a chance to find a nice place to rest on his back. How long did it take for Tiger to win number two? Eleven major championships. Yeah, it isn't nearly as easy as he makes it seem now.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is that winning a major championship is really, really, really tough and as Sergio Garcia (and Phil Mickelson a few years back) can tell you, if you don't get one early, then the questions about "When will it happen?" start to stir around.

Garcia has gone 38 majors as a professional without a victory. That might seem like a tremendously long time until you think of some of the talented guys that took a while to win their first big one. Vijay Singh didn't get his until his 27th major. Fred Couples went 34 until he took the 1992 Masters. Tom Kite played in 67 majors before taking his 1992 U.S. Open crown.

Garcia is in panic mode but he's still young (in golf terms) and has enough talent to open the floodgates in the major championship sense.

Along with him, Anthony Kim is due to take one of these as a youngster, as well as Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas.

Interesting stat to close all this up and make it apparent how hard it is to win a major: Out of the top 10 in the Official World Rankings, five have won majors, five have not.

Winners And Losers From the PGA


Normally, the PGA Championship is the major reserved for a newbie. They call it "Glory's Last Shot" because seven of the last 14 have been first time winners. Normally the one that bucks that trend is Elderick Woods, who, unbeknownst to the golf world, has handed the title of major champion king to an Irishman with a quirky smile.

Oakland Hills gave us everything, from floods to hole-in-ones to a marathon finish that ended with a putt you almost knew had to fall. Here are the winners and losers from a great week of golf at the year's final major.

Winners

FanHouse U.S. Open Media Guide

The U.S. Open starts today, and because it's a major championship and none of the scribes here at FanHouse made the field, we are presenting a full report on every player in the field. From Michael Allen to Tiger Woods, and every potential Angel Cabrera that will have his name called Thursday morning, here is what we offer. This list gives you the player, their best finish in a U.S. Open and something interesting about them, anything from the way they play major championship golf to them throwing the deuces in their Facebook page. You know, hard hitting journalism. We will present them alphabetically, 10 excited golfers at a time.

For the complete list of players, check out the other pages:
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Here it is, your FanHouse Media Guide.


  • Michael Allen -- t-12 -- The definitive golf journeyman, Allen has had success a total of once at the U.S. Open, coming in 2001. He's never won on the PGA Tour, so I'm heading out on a limb and not taking him as my early favorite. Also, he'd be only the second "Michael" to ever win this tournament (Campbell) and the first with the last name Allen.

  • Robert Allenby -- T-7 -- The 36-year-old has never finished in the top-five of a major and hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2001, so maybe not the safest bet, but if the U.S. Open is ever hosted in, say Australia, look out (12 pro victories in his home country).

  • Stuart Appleby (above) -- t-10 -- You couldn't name this major as one of his favorites. Since his t-10 in 1998, the Australian has only made two cuts.

  • Stephen Ames -- t-9 -- Maybe not somebody that would come up in early "potential winner" conversation, but two top-10s in the last four years show he can play in the toughest conditions. Also, he's from Trinidad and Tobago, which, for some reason, makes me like him more.

  • Phillip Archer -- t-48 -- Archer is from England. He almost shot a 59 in the Celtic Manor Wales Open but missed the birdie putt on 18. That's about all Al Gore has provided us about Archer on the world wide web.

  • Woody Austin -- t-23 -- They say majors expose your weaknesses, and with a spotty short game, it's done just that. Interesting fact -- Austin was Rookie of the Year on tour the year before Tiger, even though he's 12 years older.

  • Eric Axley -- CUT -- This is the fifth straight U.S. Open Axley has qualified for, but he hasn't made the cut in a single one. USGA – 4, Axley – 0.

  • Aaron Baddeley -- t-13 -- The good news? Badds has been in contention at an Open, leading at Oakmont in 2007 after the first three rounds. The bad news? He shot 80 in the last round to finish in a tie for 13th

  • Craig Barlow -- t-26 -- I'll allow the articulate genius of Wikipedia to take over this one for me. "In 2006, he was partnered with golfing legend Jeff Sluman for the final round of the U.S. Open. On the par-4 18th hole, as Barlow was about to tee off, a cart rode by on a path running parallel to the hole. Sluman motioned to the cart driver to halt driving as a courtesy to Barlow, who might have been distracted had the cart continued." Wow, now that is deep stuff. Sucks for the author of that paragraph because I now have the premise for my Oscar winning sports screenplay.
  • Rich Beem -- CUT -- Yikes, Beemer is 0-6 in making the cut at the U.S. Open. That will never stop him from getting really excited around his birthday.


If You Thought the Green Jackets Were Bad...

If the Masters is a "Tradition Unlike any Other," the tournament that follows the Masters on the PGA Tour schedule is the equivalent of Spring Break after a bunch of tough exams. The Heritage, played just down the road from Augusta National at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina is worlds away in terms of atmosphere.

Usually, players -- after a grueling Masters week -- are able to decompress, enjoy the beach, and play a little golf while they're there. But unlike previous years, Augusta National has changed their eligibility requirements. Now, all PGA tournament winners automatically qualify for the 2008 Masters, which is good news regardless of whether you win the Memorial or the John Deere Classic ... or the Heritage. The strength of the field doesn't matter -- all that's important is leading the field after 72 holes.

The Heritage -- which, like the Washington Wizards home court -- has gone from being sponsored by MCI to Verizon -- is one of the Tour's shortest courses, but the tight fairways and ridiculously small greens made it the fourth-hardest test on tour two years ago.

In addition to the obvious benefits that go along with winning a PGA Tour event -- two-year exemption, a million-dollar pay day ... written on a really huge check, the aforementioned invite to the Masters -- a Heritage victory also includes maybe the best prize: a snazzy tartan jacket. Which, by comparison, makes Augusta's green jacket seem almost reasonable.

Featured Writers

Featured Voices