On the same course on which he honed his game playing pennant as an amateur, Baddeley finished the 72 holes of regular play at 13-under par in a tie with Chopra.
After watching the Swede hole a testing three metre putt to force the playoff, Baddeley joined him in a ritualistic journey up and down the 18th hole.
The pair played the 18th five times for the day without Chopra once hitting the fairway off the tee.
Four times he hit the ball into the right rough and once in the left, one of his recoveries coming up well short of the green in a bunker.
Each time he messed up he produced a minor miracle - until confronted with the easiest putt of the playoff.
With Baddeley having performed his own piece of magic to get out of the scrub, onto the green and into the hole in four, Chopra slid a 2.5m putt past the edge of the hole to break the deadlock...
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I was really impressed with Baddeley's game this week and thought he thoroughly deserved the gold jacket. He has had a superb year on the US tour and I can really see him stepping up again next year. In an interview after the win Baddeley revealed he almost quit golf in 2000, but after this amazing year I think that he will be very glad he stuck with the game!
