*** Aaron wins the 2011 Northern Trust Open in LA ***

WHEN a young Aaron Baddeley famously won the second of his back-to-back Australian Open titles in 2000, the golfing world marvelled at his languid, natural swing. When the Melburnian saluted for his third US PGA Tour title at the famous Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles today, the rebirth of his "natural'' motion was all but complete.

Baddeley, 29, held off concerted challenges by crowd favourite Fred Couples to win the Northern Trust Open by two shots.

The win, his first since the 2007 Australian Masters, ended a four-year drought in the US but, more importantly, showed the work he has done in the past two years since reuniting with junior coach Dale Lynch was bearing fruit.

Just six weeks after Baddeley slumped to a decade-low world ranking of 285, he will likely return to the top 100 tomorrow and is now poised - and confident - for an unexpected assault on the US Masters in April.And all after he abandoned the controversial and highly technical "stack and tilt'' swing method that he adopted after leaving Lynch in 2001.

"It's definitely been a couple of long years, but it was worth every bit,'' said Baddeley, who grew in confidence after three closing birdies to tie for sixth at Pebble Beach last week.

"I felt like I've made more progress than what the scores have actually shown.

"But each time we'd make progress, we'd take a step or two back ... something would pop up and you'd have to fix that.

"Step by step, we just sort of put the pieces together, built the foundation, and ... the product today was being able to hit the shots that I needed.''

Ominously for his rivals in the lead-up to Augusta - his favourite course outside Australia - Baddeley says Lynch's changes have finally clicked.

"I'm starting to move it both ways how I want, and the game is getting fun again because I'm not just stuck in a one shot mode,'' Baddeley said.

"I remember as a kid growing up if I wanted to fade it, I'd fade it. If I wanted to draw it, I'd draw it.

"I wanted to hit all sorts of shots without thinking too much, and that's the sort of golf I wanted to get back to playing.

"These last few weeks is really working a lot on shot shaping, and around there (Augusta) you really need to shape your golf ball, hit fades and draws and highs and lows, so I'm excited to get back there. I really enjoy playing Augusta.''

Baddeley began yesterday one stroke clear, but found himself trailing Couples when the veteran opened with three straight birdies.

He regained the lead with a birdie putt from off the green on the par-four seventh, just as Couples suffered a double-bogey.

The crucial moment, though, came on the par-four 13th, a hole after a nasty double-bogey threatened to derail the Aussie's charge.

But facing a curling, downhill 8m birdie putt, "Badds'' showed his silky putting skills have not diminished as he regained control and became the third Aussie to win the event.

And for those who thought Baddeley would become another victim of unfulfilled potential, keep in mind that he now has one more win on the US Tour than Greg Norman at the same age.

Norman went on to win 20 top-tier American events and had 18 other wins worldwide by age 29.

But on a tour where putting is at a premium, it's tough to imagine Baddeley's blade not giving him at least a chance to contend for several more titles.

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