FBR Open round three: Baddeley the big threat to another rookie win

How religious is Jeff Quinney? I only ask because today he will need all the heavenly assistance he can muster against Aaron Baddeley, who never lets us forget in these situations how God sits at his left shoulder. While you can’t discount the likes of Brett Quigley and Bart Bryant, I see the Australian sitting two shots behind the leader as the big danger Sunday.

What is certainly heavenly about Quinney is his putting: a putts per GIR average so far of 1.5 is really something.

And a two-hole cushion going into Sunday is good going for this course as long as you keep your wits about you. So far Quinney has managed to do just that. But a look at his card shows how the bogeys were starting to creep in on Saturday, including the one at the eighteenth that had backers scrambling for the exit as his price went back over evens.

This is Quinney’s first experience as leader on ‘Wobbly Sunday’ so we can’t be entirely sure how he will react. J B Holmes last year (note the link is last year’s card) responded by monstering the course and leaving his rivals for dead, but Quinney hasn’t got the distance game for that.

And we know from the way he kept the likes of Jim Furyk at bay in last year’s Verizon Heritage how cool Baddeley can be under pressure. So, hand of God or not, he has the potential to exploit any weakness shown by Quinney.

Baddeley is one of those infuriating players whose game swings from the sublime to the ridiculous like a pendulum. Certainly there is nothing from his previous performances this season to suggest his present position. Sounds to me like the Good Lord is not giving the young Aussie his full attention.