If professional golf is at war with slow play, one of the sport’s favourite couples, the Hadwins, has decided to fight it on the home front.
Jessica Hadwin noticed at the recent US Open at Los Angeles Country Club that her husband, Adam, was suffering from slow and indecisive play, and she thought it was crippling him on the PGA Tour and at the majors. At LACC, Hadwin began with a respectable even-par 70, but dropped 11 shots over the next three rounds to plummet out of contention. Jessica, walking in the gallery, pinpointed what she believed was the reason.
“[She said], ‘You look uncomfortable out there; you look like you’re deciding too much [and] taking too long,’” Hadwin said of his wife’s assessment. “[She added], ‘It’s not just me. The fans in the crowd at LACC, apparently, were calling me out for it too.’”
The talking-to has worked for Hadwin through three rounds at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, with the Canadian sitting at 19 under par and just one shot behind 54-hole leader Rickie Fowler (64). On Saturday, Hadwin fired a 63 to tie the tournament record.
“I’ve tried to be just a little bit more decisive this week; get a number, get a club, get in there and hit,” Hadwin said.
But does Jessica deserve all the credit? “Oh, no, no, no, I did not say that,” Hadwin told CBS’s Amanda Renner after his round. “She tries to watch as much [of my golf] as she can and she kind of gave me the gears a little bit.”
Translation, some credit. Jessica and Adam have a history of bantering on social media, including just a few weeks ago when she highlighted the fact he bounced his ceremonial first pitch over the home plate at a Toronto Blue Jays game.
Jessica was back on social media after the interview, delivering this tweet with a link to the Saturday interview: “Just doing my part in the battle against slow play in golf.”
Hadwin certainly was decisive on the par-5 14th at Detroit Golf Club on Day 3. He rifled a 227-yard second shot to 17 feet and calmly drained the eagle putt. He combined the eagle with seven birdies and no bogeys for the low round of the day. Asked what was working for him, Hadwin had a perfect answer.
“Everything; you don’t shoot 63 without a little bit of everything [working],” he said. “I kept the ball in play, started hitting my driver pretty well there towards the end [of the round], hit a few more fairways, and took advantage of the par 5s.”
Hadwin now has a great chance to grab a second career PGA Tour win six years after breaking through at the 2017 Valspar in Florida.
“I feel like I’m a completely different player than I was back then; I’ve gone through a couple different swing instructors and trying to do different things with my swing,” he said. “But certainly, the mindset that I had, and the patience I had, I can definitely look back to that and carry that through to tomorrow.”
He’s not the only Canadian high on the leaderboard in Detroit. One shot further back, at 18 under, is Taylor Pendrith. Pendrith seemed perhaps even more inspired than Hadwin, given the Canadian border lies just 11 miles from Detroit G.C. On the other side of it, the country was celebrating Canada Day. Pendrith shot a 67 while wearing his national colors of red and white on his golf shirt.
Should either win, they would be the fifth different winner from Canada on the PGA Tour this season, following Mackenzie Hughes (Sanderson Farms), Adam Svensson (RSM Classic), Corey Conners (Valero Texas Open) and Nick Taylor (RBC Canadian Open). The last time five or more different players from the same country outside the United States won on the PGA Tour in the same season was in 2013-14 (six, Australia).
“Yeah, I certainly don’t want to be left behind,” Hadwin said of his winning countrymen. “It’s a great group to be a part of. It will be a lot of fun tomorrow.”
