The only blemish on Adam Hadwin’s first round at the Workday Charity Open was his first hole.
He missed a 5½-foot putt to make bogey on the No. 10 hole, then was close to flawless. Hadwin birdied five of his final eight holes to shoot a 6-under-par 66 and take the early lead.
The Canadian has three top-five finishes this year, including a tied for fourth last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“Obviously, I had a good week last week and kind of took that momentum into the round,” Hadwin said. “I was staying patient. It’s a golf course where you get too aggressive, it’ll sneak up on you pretty quick.
“You can be aggressive, but you can get yourself on the wrong side of the hole. Even though it’s sort of a tamer Muirfield Village than we may be used to, there’s still a lot of slope on those greens.”
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Workday works for Day
Jason Day lives in Westerville, and Muirfield Village is his home course. Tournament success at the Memorial has been elusive for the Australian, though, whose best finish is a tie for 15th.
He got off to a better start in the Workday tournament with a 69 on Thursday. Day bogeyed two of the par-5s but had a stretch in which he birdied four of six holes to get to 4 under.
Day’s world ranking has slipped to No. 63. He was once the world’s top-ranked player.
“I think the most frustrated that I am is more my attitude has been poor, and I need to work on my attitude,” Day said. “I don’t want to have that victim mentality and think that things are going bad my way because of this. I need to just get on with it and go play golf.”
Right at home
Hideki Matsuyama, the 2014 Memorial Tournament, shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday. “I don’t know why I like this course so much, but I do,” he said.
Matsuyama had five birdies and eagled the par-5 No. 15 hole. His only bad hole was a double-bogey on No. 13.
“I was able to hit it in the fairway and have many opportunities, so I was very happy with my round today,” he said.