Hadwin discovers renewed confidence
Abbotsford native sets his sights on PGA Championship, and then Presidents Cup
Adam Hadwin is only human. The pride of Abbotsford has enjoyed a breakout season with his first career PGA Tour win in March, five top-10 finishes in 23 events, appearances in all four major championships and getting to experience the increased hype that accompanies those events, 13th-place in the FedEx Cup standings as of Wednesday and more than $3 million in earnings.
For all he’s accomplished on and off the golf course in 2017, getting married in the spring as well, the next few weeks on the PGA schedule still hold significant events for which the 29-year-old Hadwin has put himself in contention.
He’ll tee off Thursday in the PGA Championship, the final major of the year, from Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C. The FedEx Cup playoffs are next, beginning Aug. 24, followed by the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey at the end of September.
The top 10 international players in the Official World Golf Rankings as of Sept. 4 are eligible for the Presidents Cup team captained by Nick Price, who will then add two more selections to round out the remainder of the squad before it competes against the U.S. team.
Following his tie for fifth last week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, Hadwin moved up two spots into 10th place in the standings, with less than four weeks remaining until the cutoff date.
It seems all too common these days in professional sports for competitors to emphasize the importance of never thinking too far ahead, lest the task immediately at hand slip from their focus and potentially having a negative impact on the bigger picture.
Not quite three full years after he earned his PGA Tour card, what Hadwin faces now and in the coming weeks are events that can further elevate his status among the game’s best at the end of what’s already been a solid season for him.
It seems only natural for thoughts about his future to creep into his head.
“Certainly my mind wanders,” Hadwin admitted in a phone interview.
“When the Presidents Cup became a reality after I won and then played well at (the Arnold Palmer Invitational), it’s certainly something that I’ve put on my calendar, that I’ve wanted to be a part of. It’s very easy to think about that and think about what I might need to do, maybe where Nick’s head is at as far as picks.
“I’ve come to realize pretty quickly that if I keep missing cuts, things aren’t going to go my way.”
From late October through to late May, Hadwin had been a constant fixture during weekend play on the tour. In his last seven events, however, he’s missed the cut four times, including three consecutive tournaments capped by an early exit at the Canadian Open.
The driver, he said, had been a club he struggled with over the past several weeks. He currently ranks 79th on the tour in driving accuracy at 62 per cent for the year.
His performance last week at Firestone Country Club should give him a push back in the right direction heading into the PGA Championship.
Particularly pleased with the way he drove the ball off the tee, Hadwin was under par in all four rounds at Firestone, putting himself in contention on Sunday for the first time in months.
“It just kind of gave me this shot of confidence in that first round and I rode it all tournament,” said Hadwin. “I’m trying to do the same this week and into the playoffs.”
A consultation with his coach, Ralph Bauer, about two days before teeing off at Firestone also proved helpful.
“We talked about a few things, and probably for the first time in most of the year we actually worked on something technical,” said Hadwin.
“Usually it doesn’t take a hold that quickly, but for whatever reason I started hitting it a bit different on the range and it gave me some confidence. The next thing you knew, I was swinging well on the course.
“Certainly, it wasn’t a major change. I wasn’t overhauling anything. It was just a minor adjustment. I worked pretty good on it Tuesday and Wednesday. And I don’t even know if my swing had changed Thursday, but certainly the feeling I was getting during the swing had changed and it was producing a different ball flight.
“If I was to look at swings from the week, I’m not even sure if it physically would look any different than it did on Monday that week.”
Despite wet conditions at the Quail Hollow, Hadwin was able to play a practice round Tuesday. Weather could play a factor at this week’s PGA Championship, with the possibility of thunderstorms in the forecast for three of the four days of competition.