Hadwin rough around the edges
Top-ranked Canadian misses cut at Glen Abbey, Vegas opens up on homeland
Adam Hadwin came into the RBC Canadian Open as the top Canadian on the PGA Tour, ranking 13th in the FedEx Cup standings. The only player in the field ranked higher was Dustin Johnson, the world No. 1. So it’s a surprise and a disappointment that Hadwin won’t be around for the weekend.
Hadwin shot a respectable threeunder-par round of 69 on Friday. But given the hole he dug with a Thursday 75, his even-par total wasn’t good enough to make the cut. That’s Had- win’s third straight missed cut, and his fourth in six tournaments.
“Yes, I’m struggling. No, I’m not having any fun doing it,” Hadwin wrote on Twitter after Thursday’s round.
“I will find it and I will be a better player than before.”
Countryman Graham DeLaet, the low Canadian after 36 holes, was asked about Hadwin’s woes.
“That’s golf, man. It’s tough,” DeLaet said. “It’s a lot harder when you’re inside the ropes than on the outside.”
If life on the PGA Tour amounts to an alternate universe wherein players are pampered beyond belief, 2016 Canadian Open champion Jhonattan Vegas is perhaps more in tune than most of his peers with daily real-world hardship.
Vegas, 32, hails from Venezuela, where a government apparently bent on dictatorship has defied months of street demonstrations with strong-arm tactics.
After a Friday at Glen Abbey Golf Club that saw him move to nine under par in his title defence, three shots off the lead established by Martin Flores, Vegas shook his head at the grim reality facing his homeland.
“It’s really sad to see what’s happening there. Obviously our government, it’s just not doing things right. It’s really an authoritarian government. They want to do things their way and that’s it,” he said. “As a citizen, it obviously hurts. I still have family there that are suffering trying to find food, medicine. Obviously being here and living in the States, it’s something sad to see.”
Fun scene at Glen Abbey’s hockey-themed seventh hole, dubbed The Rink. The hole, complete with a Zamboni, boards and a goal net, is attended by volunteers dressed in referee jerseys. One of those zebra-striped numbers was commandeered by Garrett Rank, the renowned Canadian amateur player who works in the winter as an NHL referee.
In a rare instance where the man in the stripes was roundly cheered, Rank promptly put his tee shot into the front bunker before getting up and down for par. Rank finished 11 over par for the tournament after shooting a Friday 81.