CHANGE OF PLANS
Hadwin qualifies for Masters with first victory on PGA Tour
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Adam Hadwin is declining his first invitation to a World Golf Championship and asking for a refund for his honeymoon to Tahiti, but he couldn’t be happier.
Seven weeks after he shot a rare 59 on the PGA Tour and two weeks before his wedding, Hadwin added another eventful chapter to his amazing year.
He threw away a two-shot lead with three holes to play by hitting a tee shot into the water, kept his wits, then closed with two strong pars for a par 71 to win the Valspar Championship by one shot over Patrick Cantlay (68) on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.
Jim Herman (68) and PGA Tour rookie Dominic Bozzelli (67) tied for third, two strokes behind Hadwin.
“You’re never quite sure when you’re going to get the job done,” said Hadwin, who finished at 14-under 270. “I just went there today and stuck to what I do best, just hit some quality golf shots and really made the game super easy outside of hole No. 16. I feel a little fortunate after that hole to be sitting here, but I’ll certainly take it, and I can’t wait for everything that comes with this win.”
The victory moves him to No. 51 in the world and makes him eligible for the Dell Match Play — except that he’s getting married that week. It also sends the 29-year-old Canadian to the Masters, meaning he will have to postpone that honeymoon to French Polynesia. Instead, he’ll be preparing for Augusta National, which he called the “greenest place on Earth.”
Hadwin’s fiancee, Jessica Kippenberger, made the wedding date for March 24 because that’s when the venue was available. Hadwin checked the schedule and figured it worked out beautifully.
“I looked at it as, ‘Hey, we picked the week of Puerto Rico,’ not we picked it the week of the WGC,” he said with a laugh.
The honeymoon deposit was only for the hotel. He booked refundable airline tickets with the Masters in mind.
Even with a four-shot lead going into Sunday’s final round, all he wanted was a chance over the final few holes. The trick was reminding himself he was right where he wanted to be.
Hadwin twice holed big birdie putts on the back nine at Innisbrook as Cantlay was in close for birdies of his own, a 25-footer on the par-5 11th and then a 55-footer on the par-3 13th to keep a two-shot lead.
But it all changed on the 16th, the start of a tough three-hole finish at the Copperhead Course. Hadwin’s 3-wood peeled off to the right and never had a chance, and he walked off the hole with a double bogey and a tie for the lead.
From the 18th fairway, Cantlay blinked first.
The former No. 1 amateur in the world, playing for only the second time after missing two years with a stress fracture in his back, leaked his approach into a bunker. Hadwin’s approach went just over the back against the collar of the fringe, leaving him a belly wedge down the grain that came off perfectly and settled two feet below the cup.
Cantlay’s bunker shot was well short — he was 1-for-6 in sand saves at the tournament — and he
missed the 15-foot par putt to force a playoff.
The consolation prize for Cantlay was a runner-up finish that paid $680,400, more than enough for him to secure full tour status for the rest of the year.
“It doesn’t really feel like much consolation at the moment,” Cantlay said. “I didn’t finish the deal.”
Even in loss, it was a bright return for the UCLA star, who wondered if his back would ever allow him to regain his form. While still in college, he shot 60 at the Travelers Championship in 2011, was low amateur in the U.S. Open and didn’t finish out of the top 25 in his four PGA Tour starts that summer.
He endured a far greater burden than his injury-induced golf absence when his best friend and caddie, Chris Roth, was struck and killed by a car as they were walking to a restaurant for dinner in California in February 2016.
But on Sunday, Cantlay looked like he was never gone from the game. Trailing by four shots with 10 holes to play, he ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch that put enormous pressure on Hadwin.
“I was just trying to catch him,” Cantlay said. “And I caught him and gave it to him in the end.”
Tony Finau closed with a 64 to finish alone in fifth, though that likely will narrowly keep him out of the Dell Match Play in two weeks. Finau only moves to No. 70 in the world, and as many as five players are likely to withdraw.
Jason Dufner qualified for Match Play after he birdied his last two holes for a 67 to tie for 11th at 6 under in a group that included Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell (68), who had to qualify to make the field at Innisbrook.
Two other former Baylor standouts also made the cut, with Luke List (70) and Harris English (71) among those tied for 27th at 2 under.