Much has been made about our rich crop of talented amateurs at the Emirates Australian Open this week. But it was two old rivals reunited that set the second round alight at Royal Sydney.
Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley were on course early with plenty of work to do to make the halfway cut in the championship. Under the pressure of an enforced weekend off, the pair seemingly fed off the good ball-striking and holed putts of the other as they ripped into the Rose Bay course in ideal scoring conditions.
Both bounced back from disappointing opening rounds, with Scott carding a seven under 65 to reach six under, while Baddeley signed for a six under 66 to get to four under. Scott now heads into the weekend just three shots from the lead, while two-time Australian Open winner Baddeley is five strokes adrift of NSW's James Nitties, who equalled Scott's 65 to reach nine under after 36 holes.
Hitting off the 10th tee, they were seemingly treading water despite offsetting their bogies with enough birdies to be out in 35.
Birdies then started flow. Baddeley made three on the trot from the 1st, as Scott bagged two of his own. The World No.7 rolled in a lengthy birdie at the par-3 6th to grab his third of the nine before heading to the reachable par-5 6th hole.

The duo found the fairway from the tee and then launched high, soft-sitting mid-iron shots into close range of the hole. Baddeley rolled his eight-footer in for eagle and Scott, from six feet, followed moments later.
Scott added another birdie at the 8th hole before parring the 9th to round his back nine in just 30 strokes. Baddeley had covered the same journey in 31 shots.
“I made a few putts which was nice,” Scott smiled. “I’m not even going to say I’ve got a sour taste in my mouth after 65. I’m very happy with 65, but I can always do better.”
The World No.7 said he felt better about his game once he got into red figures for the tournament.
“I then hit a lot of good shots. I played a solid last nine holes. Unfortunately, it took me 27 to get that kind of good golf out of me, so hopefully there’s 36 good holes coming up.” – Adam Scott
“I think momentum is such a huge thing out on the golf course and being over par is never a nice feeling, whether you’re playing good, bad or indifferent,” Scott said. “As soon as I got it under par, for the tournament, I just felt a bit better about myself.
“You feel like you’re playing well; not that it really matters. So, after birdieing the 1st (his 10th hole), I think I might have been under par then and maybe I relaxed a little bit more and started hitting some good shots."
With Baddeley, and the third member of the group Jhonattan Vegas (66), making birdies and playing well, Scott said it felt like they were feeding off each other’s good play.

“It happens occasionally,” Scott said “I think once someone gets going everyone sees it’s possible. It’s a lot easier playing seeing good shots and seeing good putts, it’s easy to feed off them and pick the right club once you see how they hit the shot and pick the right shot.
“It’s much easier than when we’re spraying it all over the place. It makes it look hard then.”
Scott admitted it felt a bit like days gone by playing alongside Baddeley – back to the days when they were the two best junior golfers in the country by a long way. He said it was good to see his old rival finding some good form and contending again.
“Aaron and I played a couple of practice rounds this year and it’s certainly been nice to see him bring his form back to where it should be, winning this year and generally playing quite well,” Scott said.
PIC RIGHT: Young guns: Scott and Baddeley during the 2000 Australian PGA. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Reflecting on how long they have been playing competitive golf together, Scott smiled and said: “I know he’s set pretty lofty goals for himself so, hopefully it’s not too late for us to keep playing high level golf for a bit, another … let’s say 10 years at least.
“And then after 30 years of playing together I think it’ll be enough for us,” he laughed.
Related Articles

Scott collapses to leave his major streak under threat

The Aussies at the U.S PGA Championship
