Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hadwin shoots 67 to lead Valspar by 4
PALM HARBOR — Adam Hadwin of Canada made two long birdie putts on the back nine and had a 4-under 67 to extend his lead to four shots in the Valspar Championship as he goes for his first PGA Tour victory.
More than two big birdies, Hadwin kept a clean card on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook. He now has gone 31 consecutive holes without a bogey. His final stroke Saturday was a slick, 6-foot par putt that broke hard to the left and dropped into the center of the cup.
“Ending on that, it's a ton of momentum going into tomorrow,” Hadwin said.
He was at 14-under 199, four shots ahead of Patrick Cantlay.
It was the third time in the last four PGA Tour events the 54-hole leader was up by at least four shots, and all of them won comfortably — Jordan Spieth at Pebble Beach, Dustin Johnson at Riviera and Rickie Fowler at PGA National.
More than a big lead, there is not a lot of experience chasing the Canadian. Of the three players within six shots of him, only Jim Herman has experienced winning on the PGA Tour. Herman won the Shell Houston Open last year for his first victory. He had a 71 playing in the final group and fell five shots behind.
PGA Tour rookie Dominic Bozzelli had a 70 and was at 8-under 205.
British Open champion Henrik Stenson never made a move and struggled again getting his distance right in the wind, allowing for only a few reasonable birdie chances. He had another 71 and was seven shots behind, along with J.J. Henry (67).
Hadwin also had a 54-hole lead in the CareerBuilder Challenge when he shot 59 in the third round. He closed with a 70 and was runner-up to Hudson Swafford.
“I learned a ton,” Hadwin said. “I was right there the whole day and gave myself a chance to win. That's my mindset and will be tomorrow. If I can have a chance coming down the 18th hole, I'm going to be happy with the way I played.”
Cantlay was the No. 1 amateur at UCLA who swept all the big awards as a sophomore, and then shot 60 in the Travelers Championship the week after he was low amateur in the U.S. Open at Congressional. He played four PGA Tour events in summer of 2011 and never finished out of the top 25.
But at Colonial in 2013 as a rookie, he felt back pain. Doctors eventually diagnosed it as a stress fracture, and it took two years for him to feel healthy again. Turns out that wasn't his biggest setback. He was walking to dinner with Chris Roth, his best friend and his caddie, a year ago February when Roth was struck and killed by a car.
From such a dark period, Cantlay managed to get his head, his back and his game in shape.
“A few more low, highs and lows,” Cantlay said. “Gave me a little different perspective. At the time things were rolling so good all the time, I guess I didn't think they could go any other way. But life hit me in the face pretty quick. So it's really nice to be here playing, feeling good, and playing well.”