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.