{"id":1111,"date":"2011-08-10T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2011-10-04T21:18:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T01:18:12","slug":"a-conversation-with-pga-golfer-aaron-baddeley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-pga-golfer-aaron-baddeley.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with PGA golfer Aaron Baddeley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aaron Baddeley (Photo by S. Badz for wireimage.com\/Courtesy of pgatourimages.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caught somewhere between the young guns (i.e. Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, etc.) and the old guard (i.e. Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, etc.), Aaron Baddeley, age 30, has experienced all of the highs and lows that routinely follow the pursuit of PGA glory.<\/p>\n

After exploding onto the Australian scene back in 1999 and 2000 with back-to-back Australian Open wins, Baddeley struggled to experience the same kind of success in the United States until finally breaking through at the 2006 Verizon Heritage. He has since added two more PGA titles to his name including the 2007 FBR Open and the Northern Trust Open back in February of this year.<\/p>\n

And in those times when Baddeley considered putting away the clubs for good, it was always his strong belief that the sport was more than a profession but rather a calling that kept him plodding away on the links.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Were you intimidated when you first started to play alongside some of your heroes?<\/p>\n

Baddeley: I can\u2019t say I was really that intimidated when I first came over because I had confidence in my ability to play the game. Phil Mickelson was a good friend to me early on. We used to practice together a lot in Scottsdale. I also played with Greg Norman when I was younger. I got to stay at his house in Florida, so that helped me get over being star struck. When I played in the Masters for the first time, I was paired up with Tiger (Woods) and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to go play. I wanted to show Tiger that I could play the game.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I read once that you almost the gave up the game.<\/p>\n

Baddeley: After I won my first Australian Open, about 10 months later I wanted to quit the game because I was playing terrible. I really got away from what I enjoyed doing and how much I loved playing the game. Then I got back to my goals and started focusing on what I wanted to achieve. Two months later I won the Australian Open again.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Do you see yourself playing the golf for a long time?<\/p>\n

Baddeley: For right now, I\u2019ve been called to golf. That\u2019s where the Lord\u2019s got me. Until He tells me otherwise, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to stay.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Your nickname is \u201cBadds.\u201d Isn\u2019t that a little ironic considering the high moral standards you\u2019ve set for yourself?<\/p>\n

Baddeley: My friends called me that nickname growing up. It\u2019s sort of catchy. But my life is all about following the Lord and doing what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Tell me about the dating vow you took when you were still single.<\/p>\n

Baddeley: God called me to give up dating for nearly six months. Through the six months I learned so much about dating and about myself, but most of all about my relationship with God. It really grew over that time and from then on I have been growing closer to the Lord always. The long term benefit was the obedience that was learned.\u00a0God asks us to be obedient to His call and His commands. Through the dating vow I learned the importance of obedience (to G0d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Caught somewhere between the young guns (i.e. Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, etc.) and the old guard (i.e. Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, etc.), Aaron Baddeley, age 30, has experienced all of the highs and lows that routinely follow the pursuit of PGA glory. After exploding onto the Australian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,386,382,5],"tags":[101,544,547,543,542,546,540,545,81,541],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-golf","category-qa","category-sports-features","tag-aaron-baddeley","tag-greg-norman","tag-masters","tag-nick-price","tag-pga-tour","tag-phil-mickelson","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-tiger-woods","tag-tom-lehman","tag-vijay-singh"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with PGA golfer Aaron Baddeley - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-pga-golfer-aaron-baddeley.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with PGA golfer Aaron Baddeley - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Caught somewhere between the young guns (i.e. Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, etc.) and the old guard (i.e. Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, etc.), Aaron Baddeley, age 30, has experienced all of the highs and lows that routinely follow the pursuit of PGA glory. 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Caught somewhere between the young guns (i.e. Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, etc.) and the old guard (i.e. Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, etc.), Aaron Baddeley, age 30, has experienced all of the highs and lows that routinely follow the pursuit of PGA glory. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1709,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/1709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}