Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin will have the opportunity on Thursday to do something for the first time as a PGA Tour pro: defend a tournament win.
Hadwin had a whirlwind of a 2017 that included carding the ninth sub-60 round in PGA history when he shot 59 at the Career Builders Challenge and earned his first win at the Valspar Championship, booking him a ticket to the prestigious Masters Tournament. Not to mention getting married to his now-wife, Jessica, purchasing their first house and postponing their honeymoon in order to participate at Augusta.
One year later, the 30-year-old is ready to defend his Valspar Championship title.
“This is my first chance to defend a tournament so this is exciting for me,” he told the PGA Tour during a live interview on the final hole of his practice round on Tuesday.
As the event’s defending champion, Hadwin is going to garner some extra attention playing alongside Tony Finau and Charl Schwartzel over the opening two rounds beginning on March 8. Especially considering the trio will be grouped up one hole behind Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth and some fellow named Tiger Woods.
“It’ll be a little busy playing in front of Tiger this week, but it’s exciting,” he said. “Those are the positions you want to put yourself in. You want to enjoy it and just kind of soak it all in.”
Hadwin positioned himself to pick up his first win after he carded his 59 in the third round of the Career Builders Challenge in January of 2017, but after shooting a 2-under-par 70 on the final day, Hudson Swafford swooped with a 67 to snag Hadwin’s elusive first title by a single stroke.
But it was learning moments like those that gave Hadwin the tools to finally lock down career victory No. 1.
“Anytime you’re in that position and you feel those nerves — you know hands are shaking a little bit or anything like that — when you’re able to pull off the golf shots, and you’re able top see the ball go in, and hit shots under those conditions, it helps,” he said. “Because you know when you get back in those conditions and you know what you felt, you know that you did it and you can convince your mind to hit the shots.
“You don’t let nerves or the anxiousness overtake everything.”
It’s never easy winning a tournament in a game as difficult and competitive as golf, but Hadwin is certainly playing at a level to do just that. He’s coming of a T9 (tied for ninth) finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Sunday after finishing T6 one week earlier at the Genesis Open, while playing on the notoriously tricky club at Riviera.
The experts certainly believe he has what it takes to survive the Copperhead Course and lift the paint-brush inspired trophy in consecutive years, as the PGA Tour has him ranked sixth in its power rankings.
However, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks regarding Hadwin’s game. It only matter what he thinks.
“I’m really excited where my game’s at right now,” he said. “Around a place like this it should fit perfectly.”
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