Aaron Baddeley has sights on Masters place

Aaron Baddeley has set his sights on the top-50 world ranking he needs as a ticket to the major championships as he sizes up the Honda Classic in Palm Springs, Fla., this weekend.

Baddeley, who skipped last week's Ford Championship at Doral, is ranked 91st in this week's list, and is running out of time to push it high enough to force himself into the field for next month's Masters at Augusta National.

The Victorian probably would need to win either the Honda or the Bay Hill event in the following week to get to Augusta.

But his manager, Paul Galli, said a recent re-ranking of the first-year players by the U.S. PGA Tour had put him at No. 1, securing his card for the short term.

Baddeley was beaten by Ernie Els in a play-off in the tour's first event in Hawaii but missed successive cuts after that. His form returned with an 18th at the Chrysler Classic in Tucson, when he began the final day in contention but shot a fourth-round 72, allowing a string of players to overtake him.

Still, he is a creditable 21st on the money list with $566,550.

``His aims were a high re-rank in the first seven weeks and he's done that, plus a top-50 ranking overall, so that's what he's turning his attention to,'' said Galli. ``If he can get to the top 50, it opens up the majors for him.''

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