Baddeley birdied the 18th hole at the Riviera Country Club in the chill of the morning to close out a second-round 69, then shot three straight birdies around the turn on his way to finishing at 10-under 203.
Now he just has to hold off a couple of guys nearly old enough to be his father.
The 51-year-old Couples made only one blunder when he chipped a shot too strong off the back of the 10th green for his lone bogey. He shot a 1-under 70 and still has a chance to become the oldest PGA Tour winner in more than 35 years.
One shot behind was Vijay Singh, who turns 48 on Tuesday and is trying to climb out of the worst slump of his career. He felt like the world’s best putter in the third round, finishing with a birdie on the tough 18th for a 67.
Singh last won a tournament in 2008 on his way to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup title.
“I’m really fired up for tomorrow,” Singh said. “I’m in a good position to win tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.” Na, who was born in South Korea and grew up in southern California, also finished with a 67 for the day.
If he gets his first victory on Sunday, it would be a special one. Na first came to Riviera with his father as an 11-year-old in 1995 and Couples was one of the players he wanted to watch.
Now, Na’s father is in South Korea receiving treatment for leukemia.
“My mother is going to Korea next week,” he said. “And hopefully, I can give her a trophy so she can give it to him.” The Australian-born Baddeley, whose career once held so much promise when he won the Australian Open as an 18-year-old amateur, is back with his old swing coach, Dale Lynch, and starting to see some results.
“It’s been a little bit of time since I’ve been in this position, so I’m excited for the challenge,” said Baddeley, winless in the last four years.
“These last few weeks have really been nice to start to put some scores on the board.” And there was one nice stretch in particular.
It started with a tough approach to the par-4 eighth, where Baddeley had to be careful not to be too aggressive and run off the slope on the other side of the pin. He put it to within 8 feet for birdie, then holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the ninth and another birdie on the 10th.
One of his few mistakes was a tee shot that landed in the trees on the par-5 11th. It looked as though he would escape with par when he hit a wedge out of the rough to 4 feet, but he missed the putt.
He finished with seven straight pars.
Ryan Moore (70) and John Senden (71) were at 6-under 207, while Stewart Cink (71) and Robert Allenby (71) were part of the large group another shot behind.
Defending champion Steve Stricker made the cut on the number, then had a 66, leaving him seven shots behind.
Stricker is still closer than Phil Mickelson, who struggled to a 74 and was at 2-over 215.
The gallery was behind Couples, who first won at Riviera in 1990 when his hair was brown and he exuded a California coolness. Couples still has the cool factor to go with his graying hair, and his game is still good enough to win.
He narrowly missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the opening hole. He made only one other birdie on the par-5 11th, and otherwise settled for pars except for his lone bogey. It was enough, though, to keep him close to the lead.
“I hung in there,” Couples said. “I didn’t hit the ball exceptionally well, but I hit it solid, which is what I said I needed to do. I just didn’t make enough birdies. So tomorrow I have to come out and fight and see what happens.”
