‘The Canadian fans are incredible’

Continued from B1

Hadwin had at least one lighter moment on Sunday when fans serenaded him with O Canada at the third hole.

“Obviously, the Canadian fans are incredible,” he said. “The support we get, not only myself but every Canadian, whether we’re playing well or playing poorly.” A REAL U.S. OPEN Don’t tell Hadwin this wasn’t a real U.S. Open. The Canadian had great things to say about Erin Hills and believes it’s a fantastic venue for a major championship.

“I absolutely love this golf course,” he said. “To me, what makes a great golf course is you can shoot 66 and you can shoot 78 just as easily. I love that about Muirfield Village which I think is a great example as well.

“What people saw for the first three rounds was not indicative of what this golf course can be like.”

The heavy winds on Sunday gave players and fans a taste of the type of test Erin Hills can offer. Aside from the wind, Hadwin said that the course would be very different if it were firm and fast as well.

“In some people’s minds they just want to see just flat out carnage at a U.S. Open,” Hadwin said. “To me, as long as you have the best players in the world and you have a difficult golf course, everybody has a fair shot at it.”

Hadwin noticed some people on social media saying this week didn’t feel like the U.S. Open because the top three players in the world — Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day — all missed the cut.

“I think that does a huge disservice to the guys still here and how they’re playing,” Hadwin said. “Just because some of the big names didn’t have their best game doesn’t mean that it’s still not a great championship. The best players are at the top of the leaderboard for a reason.”

CHA-CHING! Any time you go home from a golf tournament with a million-dollar cheque there’s usually a trophy to go along with it. Not this week at the U.S. Open, where the second-place prize at Erin Hills was US$1.3 million. The winner will walk into his bank with an oversized cheque for $2.16 million.

If you need me next week, I’ll be in a chair.

A week before the U.S. Open, Postmedia spoke to one of the designers of Erin Hills, Dana Fry, and he explained that the sprawling 652-acre golf course is by far the biggest site a major has ever been held on. One criticism Fry thought the players might have is the long, gruelling walk.

Justin Thomas weighed in on the hike after his record-setting 9-under 63 on Saturday.

“It’s up there with Kapalua (in Hawaii) as the hardest walk, I know that,” Thomas said. “It’s long and there’s lots of terrain, but it’s such a cool course standing on the tee.”

Heading into Sunday’s final round, yours truly had trudged 97,527 steps this week.

Without making a single birdie. Adam Hadwin of Canada during the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills on Saturday.