9. AARON BADDELEY

WORLD RANK 28th

I knew Badds was going to drive it poorly on Sunday at Oakmont as soon as I saw that he would be paired with Tiger Woods. The problem is the stack-and-tilt swing — the flavor of the month in instruction — that Badds is using. The stack and tilt promotes such a descending blow that you're almost trapping the ball with the club. That's a great way to hit iron shots but not drives, especially under pressure. In my mind stack and tilt can't work. If you get quick, you hit either flares to the right or smother hooks. Badds, Dean Wilson, Mike Weir ... there's not a single stackand- tilt guy who's a great driver, and I haven't seen anyone using the method drive well under pressure. That said, I was impressed with how Badds shrugged off his Oakmont blowup. It must be nice to be young and confi dent.

LAST SHOT You don't necessarily hit a lot of drivers at the British. If Aaron could play his way into the final U.S. Open twosome, he can scramble his way to the top at Carnoustie.

Credit: Robert Beck/SI