HADWIN FEELS REFRESHED, READY TO IMPROVE GAME
Canada’s top-ranked golfer learning how to schedule his season to remain fully fit
Adam Hadwin spent his short off-season playing golf. That’s a good sign.
The 31-year-old Canadian is set to make his 2019-20 PGA Tour debut next week at the Safeway Open in Napa, just over a month since his playoff run ended at the BMW Championship.
Over the break, Hadwin spent time at home in Phoenix, visited family in Wichita, did some backyard fishing and went on a golf trip with his brother and two friends to Canmore, Alta.
“I didn’t end the season last year feeling fried out,” Hadwin told Postmedia. “Over the break I certainly wasn’t grinding by any means, but I was still swinging the club and playing every couple days. I didn’t feel sort of run down from golf, like I had in previous years.”
During his five weeks off, the Abbotsford, B.C. native put the clubs down for only one. It might sound simple, but Hadwin plays his best when he’s enjoying golf.
A month earlier, a Sunday 76 at the BMW Championship ended Hadwin’s chances of playing in the 30-man Tour Championship. It was the year’s biggest disappointment, but he described the 2018-19 season as a good one. He finished 52nd in the FedEx Cup standings with five top-10 finishes, including a tie for sixth at the RBC Canadian Open, earning US$2,039,012 along the way.
“There’s a few tournaments that I was in some good positions going into the weekend and didn’t have the weekend round that I would’ve liked, but I felt like I was a little bit more consistent,” he said. “I went into the playoffs in a much higher position than I had previously. So I think overall I kind of grew, I got a little bit better.”
Hadwin is working hard to find a balance between his life on the course and off of it. Hadwin’s good nature and easy smile seems to have replaced a fiery side that years ago had his father Gerry wondering whether golf was the right sport for him.
Hadwin credits caddie Joe
Cruz for helping to bring out the best in him on the course.
“You wouldn’t know if I was shooting 75 or 65 with him on the bag,” Hadwin said of Cruz. “And that’s exactly what you want in a caddy. Nothing changes, same routine every time and doesn’t matter the situation. That sort of attitude with me has been great. I know unfortunately he’s taken a lot of crap from me over the years.”
Off the course, Hadwin says his wife Jessica helps get his mind off golf. If he gets too obsessed with his game, it doesn’t take long before he needs a mental break. There were multiple times over the past five or six years where he’s had to put his clubs away in the middle of the season.
“If I’m not enjoying the game, haven’t played well recently, or any number of things,” he said.
It’s a work in progress, but Canada’s top-ranked golfer is optimistic he’s finding a balance.
“You know, my wife is great for that, to kind of pull me out of it sometimes and force me to go do some things that on tournament weeks I might not otherwise do,” he said.
From the Canadian Open in June until the playoffs began in August, Hadwin made a point to take a week off between events, and credits that scheduling for keeping him fresh, focused and ready to make a fall push to be a captain’s pick on Ernie Els’ International team at this December’s Presidents Cup. Hadwin played on Nick Price’s team in 2017.
“That’s kind of priority No. 1,” he said. “To get out of the gates and play well and make sure I make a strong case for captain’s pick for that. I had just an incredible time in New York a couple years ago.”
Hadwin, ranked 66th in the world, plans to play next week in Napa and the following week in Las Vegas. After a week off, he will play invitationals in South Korea and Japan. Solid finishes there could earn him a spot in the WGC HSBC Champions in China and help catch the eye of Els. Figuring out a way to finish last season as fresh as he did has Hadwin optimistic.
“If I can do that and be each and every year still excited to get back, and I don’t want to hang the sticks up and let them collect dust, I think I’m just going to continue to get better and better.” jmccarthy@postmedia.com
I didn’t end the season last year feeling fried out. ... I didn’t feel sort of run down from golf, like I had in previous years.