Jetting Out of Pebble Beach for a Monday Qualifier, Aaron Baddeley Hoping to Play in His Home Game

The Scottsdale, Ariz., resident didn't get a sponsor's exemption to the WM Phoenix Open, but will get a chance to qualify after being one of the few to finish at Pebble on Sunday.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Aaron Baddeley knew before the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am started that he needed to win to get into next week’s WM Phoenix Open.

Usually, the top 10 from the previous event get into the next event, but that doesn’t apply for designated events, of which Phoenix is this year.

Shooting a final-round 1-under 71, Baddeley was firmly ensconced in the middle of the field at T40 when play was suspended due to darkness, but more importantly he finished 72 holes and can go home.

A Scottsdale-area resident, Baddeley has played in 18 previous Phoenix Opens including a victory in 2007 after consecutive 64s on the weekend to win by one shot over John Rollins.

Since he didn’t win this week nor was he given one of five sponsor's exemptions, Baddeley will be on the tee at 1:20 local time at McCormick Ranch Golf Club in attempt to earn one of the three qualifying spots.

“Disappointed,” Baddeley said of not getting a sponsor’s exemption into Phoenix. “I felt like I was a past champion there. I'm playing well. Top 70 in the FedEx (standings), I thought I had a good chance to get invited.”

The Australian flew out of San Jose on Sunday night back to Phoenix, where he expected to be home just after midnight.

“Today I think I hit it inside 20 feet maybe 12 or 13 times and I think I made one putt,” Baddeley said. “If I putted well this week, I probably would have had a really good chance of doing positive things.”

What Baddeley meant by "positive things" was a good chance to win.

On the other side of the Baddeley team, caddie Pete Persolja will drive his rental car, a Toyota Tacoma, from Pebble Beach to Phoenix, which is at least 10.5-hour drive.

“I will stop if I need to and get three or four hours of sleep,” Persolja said.

Persolja, who has been on Baddeley’s bag since the season-opening Fortinet Championship in Napa, originally picked up the car at LAX after a T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Since Baddeley is playing in the past champion category, he is never sure when he will get into an event or not, so Persolja wanted to play it safe and drive from tournament to tournament.

With Baddeley feeling good about his game and Persolja working on very little rest, anything is possible on Monday.