Canadian Adam Hadwin looked like he was on the way to painting himself out of the picture at the Valspar Championship until he steeled his nerves and came through with his first victory on the PGA Tour. Hadwin entered the final round owning a comfortable four-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay and appeared to be on cruise control even after he threw up a bogey at hole No. 5 to see his lead drop to three strokes. The native of Moose Jaw, SK, righted himself by bouncing back as he made birdies at Nos. 8, 11 and 13 to withstand the furious charge Cantlay put together when he posted birdies at Nos.
9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 to pull nearer to the Canadian. Hadwin made it closer than it needed to be when he dissolved a two-stroke lead at No. 16 by dunking his tee-shot in a water hazard. Once again, he straightened himself out and made two pars on the last two holes to nudge Cantlay out of the winner’s spot while the American dropped a stroke at the final hole to come up one shot short.
Member of exclusive 59 Club
Hadwin, who is a member of the exclusive 59 Club (he shot a 59 during the Saturday round at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January), carded rounds of 68, 64, 67 and 71 on the Innesbrook Resort’s par 71 Copperhead Course to close at 14-under 270 and came away with the win. Hadwin scooted up the FedExCup standings into the fourth position from 15th and he is 98th in the world golf rankings.
Hadwin is now eligible to play in The Masters at Augusta National, but has some personal scheduling to figure out since he is getting married on March 24.
3 Canadians in The Masters
He and his wife-to-be were planning to honeymoon in and around the week of the first Major of the year. Hadwin became the third Canuck to qualify for The Masters along with Mackenzie Hughes who won the RSM Classic in November and Mike Weir who won at Augusta in 2003.
Americans Jim Herman and Dominic Bozzelli finished the Valspar Championship T3 at 12-under 272, Tony Finau of the U.S. was next in solo fifth at 11-under, and last year’s champion, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, landed in sixth alone at 9-under 275.
