The Province

Canadian prospects on the upswing

Hadwin heads an impressive contingent looking to break RBC Canadian Open drought

- DAVE HILSON dhilson@postmedia.com twitter.com/dave_hilson

OAKVILLE, Ont. — It’s a year that is indelibly etched in the minds of many Canadian golf fans: 1954.

That year was the last time a Canadian golfer won our national championsh­ip, and if you really want to get picky about it, Pat Fletcher, the winner at Point Grey Golf and Country Club in ’54, was born in England. To find a Canadian-born champion, you have to go all the way back to 1914 and Carl Keffer, who also won it in 1909, both victories coming at the Toronto Golf Club.

To state the obvious: that’s a really long time.

There is hope. Over the past several years, there has been a growing sense that fans might not have to wait much longer for a homegrown champion at the RBC Canadian Open.

Canadians have been knocking on the door for a couple of years now, what with former amateur Jared du Toit creating a huge buzz in 2016 by making his way into the final group Sunday only to fall short and finish ninth.

And then there was 2015, when veteran David Hearn went into the final round as the leader but finished third behind eventual winner Jason Day and runner-up Bubba Watson.

One man who finally could break down the door is Adam Hadwin, one of three relatively recent PGA Tour winners from Canada in the field.

“I’d love to be the first guy to kind of get that monkey off all of our backs, kind of end that question for us. It would be incredible,” Hadwin said as he made his way toward the practice area before his pro-am round on a dull and drizzly day at Glen Abbey, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course that, beginning Thursday, hosts the national championsh­ip for the 29th time.

“It’s always nice coming home, playing in front of the home fans. We get incredible support throughout the year at every event, and this week is kind of indescriba­ble a little bit.”

The native of Moose Jaw, Sask., who grew up in Abbotsford, has been having one heck of a season. It’s hard to forget the third-round 59 he shot at the CareerBuil­der Challenge in January to become the ninth player in PGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round. He finished that tournament in second, but it wasn’t long before he went on to capture his maiden victory at the Valspar Championsh­ip in March.

Along with those two memorable events, the 29-year-old has four top10 finishes, just four missed cuts in 21 starts, and US$2.8 million in earnings.

Hadwin, the world No. 54, participat­ed in his first British Open last week. He missed the cut, but said the experience was unforgetta­ble.

“I really enjoyed it over there. I thought it was a lot of fun, a little different from golf over here, obviously,” said Hadwin, who sits 13th in the FedExCup standings. “I think I did a good job of adapting and learning a few shots. I didn’t execute when I needed to, but it was a ton of fun and a great experience.”

His result at the British Open was “kind of a continuati­on of the last five, six, seven weeks,” said Hadwin, who has missed cuts in three of his past five events.

“I’m hitting a lot of good shots, I feel like I’m playing really well — I’m just not getting it into the hole like I think I should be. I probably just get a little bit more discourage­d and down on myself a little bit quicker than I should. So I think more than anything, it’s probably just a little attitude thing. But we’re still in the middle of a big push right now, we’ve still got a lot of big tournament­s to play, and I kind of have to turn it around.”

Other notable Canadians among the 13 participat­ing in this year’s event are Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, who won the RSM Classic in November and is No. 26 in the FedExCup rankings, Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., who has been among the best Canadian golfers over the past several seasons, and Hearn, of Brantford, Ont., who has a game that seems to be on the upswing of late.

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor, du Toit of Calgary and former Masters champion Mike Weir will be at the tournament.

“This the strongest I think we’ve ever been,” DeLaet said of the Canadian contingent. “To win any golf tournament would be great, but obviously this one is special. It’s our national championsh­ip, it means a lot to me.

“We’ve seen guys come close, so I think we’re starting to see that it’s actually attainable and hopefully it happens this year.”

Joining the hopeful Canadians are world No. 1 and two-time runner-up Dustin Johnson, Watson, the runner-up from a couple of years ago, last year’s winner Jhonatthan Vegas, who is looking to become the first back-toback winner since Jim Furyk in 200607, and this year’s British Open runner-up Matt Kuchar.

Notably absent is Day, who is no longer with RBC, the main sponsor of the tournament.

“I’d love to be the first guy to kind of get that monkey off all of our backs, kind of end that question for us.” — Adam Hadwin

 ?? — GETTY IMAGES FILES ?? Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin, the world No. 54 player, could become the first homegrown winner at the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher won at Point Grey in 1954.
— GETTY IMAGES FILES Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin, the world No. 54 player, could become the first homegrown winner at the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher won at Point Grey in 1954.

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