Tag: Adam Hadwin

Photos: PGA Tour pros celebrate Halloween as Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Bob Ross and more

What a great day for the players and their families.

Tuesday was Halloween and plenty of PGA Tour professionals celebrated with their families, and had some pretty good costumes to boot.

Max Homa, dressing up with his son, Cam, for the very first time, wore NASA gear while Cam wore an astronaut costume.

Tony Finau and the whole Finau clan were Power Rangers, while Adam Hadwin and his wife, Jessica, may have had the best costumes of the day. Jessica dressed up as Adam, while the Tour pro was dressed as the security guard that tackled him after fellow Canadian Nick Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open.

Check out some of the costumes below:

Notable PGA Tour players to miss the cut at the 2023 John Deere Classic

The rising stars are in contention while some notable names are leaving TPC Deere Run early.

SILVIS, Ill. — As the PGA Tour season begins to wind down with the last major of the season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs on the horizon, the action is heating up at the 2023 John Deere Classic.

The Tour’s annual stop at TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities is known for putting rising talent into the spotlight and the young stars are shining after the first 36 holes. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a handful of PGA Tour winners and fan favorites who will be leaving the tournament before the weekend party begins.

Check out the notable PGA Tour players who missed the cut (4 under) at the 2023 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.

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Rickie Fowler survives three-way playoff for dramatic win at 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic

The win is the sixth of his PGA Tour career.

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Rickie Fowler buried a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win a battle with Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa in Detroit and end a four-year victory drought at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

“I knew it was just a matter of time with the way I was playing,” said Fowler, who notched his sixth career PGA Tour title.

It had been 1,610 days, or 4 years, 4 months, 29 days since his last win at the 2019 WM Phoenix Open, the longest victory drought of his Tour career.

Ten months ago, he was ranked No. 185 in the Official World Golf Ranking and barely qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Late last year, Fowler returned to working with his former instructor Butch Harmon and his game has made steady progress. He entered this week having finished in the top 20 in 12 of his 15 starts this year.

“It’s tough when you’re struggling for that long of a period of time,” said Fowler, noting that his play was building to this victory. “How I’ve played is some of the best if not the best I’ve felt about my game and on the course really ever.”

After inclement weather in the forecast moved up final-round tee times at Detroit Golf Club and forced the use of preferred lies, the field dealt with intermittent showers and muggy conditions. Three players looking to end winless droughts emerged in a battle down the stretch, setting up for a thrilling finish.

Fowler, who held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, shot 64 on Saturday to claim a one-stroke lead. But he was 2-for-10 in converting 54- hole leads and almost let this one slip away too. He made birdie on three of his first seven holes, including a 46-footer at No. 2, to stretch his lead to two but failed to capitalize on the par 5s and lost the lead late on the back nine. When it mattered most, the 34-year-old out of Oklahoma State stiffed his approach at 18 to 3 feet.

“Our back was against the wall,” said Fowler of his dramatic 72nd-hole wedge from 147 yards. He cashed in the putt for 68.

Returning to 18 for the first playoff hole, Fowler flared his drive right into trouble but he got relief from casual water and had a clean look at the green and knocked his approach to 11 feet, which turned out to be closest of the three playoff contestants.

Morikawa, who hadn’t won in two seasons and nearly two years – an eternity for the 26-year-old two-time major winner – shot a bogey-free 8-under 64.

“Playoffs suck when you’re on the wrong side of them,” Morikawa said. “You put everything you want into it and comes down to one hole, but that’s what golf is. You’ve got to perform, you’ve got to execute the shots.”

He erased a four-stroke deficit by making six birdies in his first 12 holes, and chipped close at the par-5 17th to become the first player to reach 24 under and grab the lead for the first time in the tournament. His birdie putt at 18 to tie the course record lipped out of the left side of the cup. His approach in the playoff airmailed the green and his birdie chip from just off the green came up short.

“I truly thought I hit the perfect shot and I just was a little juiced, went a little far,” Morikawa said of his second shot at the playoff hole.

Hadwin, 35, was seeking his first win since the 2017 Valspar Championship, a drought even longer than Fowler, something that wasn’t lost on Hadwin or his caddie Joe Cruz.

“I looked at Joe on I think 15 and said, ‘Why don’t we do this more often? This is fun,’ ” Hadwin recounted.

Hadwin, who shot a final-round 67, made it a three-way tie for the lead at 23 under with a birdie at 15 and tied Morikawa with a birdie at 17. His approach to 18 rolled off the green, but he got up and down to shoot 67 and join Morikawa at 24-under 264. Hadwin’s 22-foot birdie effort at the first playoff hole burned the left edge.

“That putt on the playoff there looked really good, just a little bit hard,” he said.

Fowler’s winning putt benefited from a free read from Hadwin, and he rolled it in and soaked in the moment.

“I was kind of just still and quiet and everyone was going crazy around me,” he said. “It was a nice moment just to kind of feel like the weight on my shoulders was finally off.”

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Slow play penalized at LIV Golf; Adam Hadwin’s wife calls out his slow play

Slow play penalties are rare on the PGA Tour. The last occurred at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah.

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The slow-play police finally handed out a ticket on Saturday.

England’s Richard Bland was hit with the first slow-play penalty on LIV Golf during the second round of the tournament at Valderrama Golf Club in Spain.

At the 217-yard, par-3 15th hole, Bland took too long to play his tee shot. Here’s the explanation via a statement from LIV.

“In round two, the group of Dean Burmester, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland were officially warned by a rules official after their 4th hole of the day (hole 8) where the group was out of position on the golf course as well as behind in relation to time par,” the release said. “After their 9th hole of the day (hole 13) the group, who had further lost position on the course, was officially timed by a rules official. In accordance with the LIV Golf League Pace of Play Policy, ‘A player has 40 seconds to play each stroke, with an additional 10 seconds if they are the first to play any stroke in the group.’

“On the tee of the 15th hole, Richard Bland, who was first to play, received a time of 84 seconds for his first stroke. This exceeded the allotted time per the policy. Bland was immediately notified by an official and assessed a one-stroke penalty. With the one-stroke penalty, Bland’s score of 4 on the par-3 15th hole resulted in a score of 5.”

Slow play penalties are rare on the PGA Tour. Jon Catlin, who plays regularly on the DP World Tour, was the most recent to be assessed one at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah. But it has been under the spotlight this season despite pace of play being the scourge of the professional game for years. PGA Tour veteran Adam Hadwin noted that his wife, Jessica, called him out recently for his own slow play.

“[She said], ‘You look uncomfortable out there; you look like you’re deciding too much [and] taking too long,’” Hadwin told CBS during his post-round interview at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “[She continued,] ‘It’s not just me. The fans in the crowd at LACC, apparently, were calling me out for it too.’”

Hadwin took note and on Saturday he tied the course record at Detroit Golf Club, shooting 9-under 63 to leap into contention for his second PGA Tour title.

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Adam Hadwin was mistakenly tackled by Canadian Open security in an attempt to celebrate with Nick Taylor

Ouch…

Talk about an unfortunate case of mistaken identity here for Adam Hadwin.

After Nick Taylor’s stunning 72-foot putt went in as he walked off the 2023 Canadian Open, Hadwin attempted to celebrate with his fellow Canadian. Alas, before Hadwin could get to Taylor — with champaign in hand, no less! — security from the Canadian Open mistakenly tackled the PGA golfer instead.

Seriously, the Canadian Open security got to Hadwin like Myles Garrett going after a quarterback. It was quite impressive, all things considered! Here’s hoping everything got sorted out in the end after this tackle, because it’s clear security thought Hadwin was a fan and not a fellow golfer.

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Watch: Adam Hadwin tackled by security guard after celebrating Nick Taylor’s incredible win at 2023 RBC Canadian Open

The win ended a 69-year drought for Canadians at their national open.

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After Nick Taylor made a 72-foot bomb on the fourth playoff hole to make history and win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, his fellow countryman and winner on the PGA Tour Adam Hadwin ran on the green, along with several other Canadian Tour players, to celebrate with him and shower him with champagne.

After all, the Winnipeg native had just become the first Canadian to win his national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954. However, a security guard – who was just doing his job, to be fair – didn’t recognize Hadwin in the moment and tackled him to the ground.

I don’t know who this security guard is, but if he’s a local I’m guessing he was one hell of an enforcer when he played hockey growing up in the greater Toronto area. But given how strong his form is, maybe he played football.

There was a flurry of different videos posted on Twitter and even Hadwin’s wife was commenting.

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How do PGA Tour pros who turned down the LIV money feel about the merger? ‘Do guys who stayed loyal just get a thank you?’

“We play for plenty of money, that’s not what it is, but is there a way to make guys feel like they are compensated for their loyalty?”

The shocking announcement Tuesday morning that golf’s civil war is over and that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF have agreed to merge has opened up a new can of worms. Among the questions: how will LIV players, who banked lucrative signing bonuses to jump ship while others turned down the Saudi lucre, be brought back into the fold?

“Do guys who stayed loyal just get a thank you and then guys who got money just get that money and get to come back?” a highly decorated player who received an attractive offer but declined to leave the PGA Tour said. “There’s a lot of questions out there.”

The joint news release that was issued this morning by the golf bodies stated, “the three organizations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission, consistent with each Tour’s policies.”

In a social media posting, DP World Tour commissioner Keith Pelley said, “There was always a route back, players were not banned. There was always a way to return to the DP World Tour.”

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But Monahan has consistently brushed off questions whether LIV players could return to the Tour and met with the media just last month and remained resolute that there wasn’t an established path to return.

“I think one of the big things will be moving forward is how are players re-integrated back into the system, if they are,” said Canadian veteran Adam Hadwin, speaking at a Tuesday press conference ahead of the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open. “I mean, again, we don’t even know if they will be. I mean, so that being one of the big talking points throughout this year and a half from the Commissioner about how these guys will never play on the PGA Tour again, it will be interesting.”

One way that LIV players may fit back in is to give them a chance to regain their status during the fall portion of the schedule along with the players outside of the top 70 who qualify for the FedEx Cup. Having some LIV star power competing while the Tour’s stars enjoy their well-earned off-season certainly would attract more eyeballs to those tournaments. In addition, LIV players likely will be forced to pay a reinstatement fee, which will escalate based on their world ranking at the time of their departure and their LIV payout.

“There will be a heavy reinstatement fee, what that looks like is still to be determined,” a source said. “They won’t have to forfeit the money but be required to pay a massive reinstatement fee.”

But what about those players who remained loyal and turned down obscene payouts to join the upstart Saudi-funded league?

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“Is there a way that guys who stayed loyal, not that we need any compensation because we play for plenty of money, that’s not what it is, but is there a way to make guys feel like they are compensated for their loyalty?” asked a top-50 multiple Tour winner.

The new for-profit LLC formed as part of the merger should allow some new flexibility to handsomely reward the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and others for their service. And while players may not like having been kept in the dark about the deal going down, they also realize that they have benefited financially from the turmoil in the game and they just want to play against the best field possible – and not just at the majors.

“I’ve dedicated my entire life to being at golf’s highest level,” Hadwin said. “I’m not about to stop playing golf because the entity that I play for has joined forces with the Saudi government.”

There are many questions to be sorted out and few answers at the moment but Monahan will have to face music at a player meeting being held at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Oakdale Golf & Country Club, site of the RBC Canadian.

As one player put it, “I wouldn’t necessarily want to be in his shoes.”

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A pair of Canadians aim for history, Rory McIlroy’s amazing fence shot, frost delay at 2023 WM Phoenix Open

Since 1983, no pair of Canadians golfers have been tied for the lead after any round of a stroke play event on the PGA Tour.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A pair of Canadians grabbed the early lead in the first round of the WM Phoenix Open on Thursday.

When play was suspended at 6:07 p.m. local time due to darkness, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin were the clubhouse leaders with a pair of 5-under 66s. Since 1983, there has never been two Canadian players tied for the lead after any round of a stroke play event on the PGA Tour.

“I’m really disappointed I didn’t get to 6-under because I saw Nick up there, and I wanted to hold it over him tonight,” Hadwin said.

Here are four more things to know from the first round at TPC Scottsdale.

Canadian snowbirds Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin share spotlight on first day of 2023 WM Phoenix Open

Both currently live in Arizona and Taylor practices at TPC Scottsdale often.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — From fans serenading Adam Hadwin with ‘O Canada’ on the 16th hole to Nick Taylor sharing the leaderboard with Hadwin, the first round of the WM Phoenix Open was strongly represented by Canadians.

With the day’s action delayed by an hour and 45 minutes due to frost, the golfers then had to deal with windy conditions. As much as it had affected some in the field, the two Canadian golfers thrived under the conditions.

Taylor and Hadwin each shot 5 under 66s. Since 1983, there has never been two Canadian players tied for the lead after any round of a stroke play event on the PGA Tour.

Thursday’s first round will be completed Friday morning. Both teed off in the morning wave when the wind wreaked havoc on performances, but both kept their cool. Taylor grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and played golf at the University of Washington, while Hadwin is from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

2023 WM Phoenix Open
Adam Hadwin tees off on the third hole during the first round of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Alex Gould/The Arizona Republic)

“I feel like a lot of guys that grew up in the cold, we get asked (if we’re used to these conditions) a lot,” Taylor said. “We did it a lot, but we probably prefer the heat now because we’ve moved south. I’ve played enough in it where I kind of know what to expect.”

Both currently live in Arizona and Taylor practices at TPC Scottsdale often, but dealing with the elements added a difference to the course.

“It’s definitely the tougher of the winds,” Taylor said. “I feel like, especially coming down the stretch. All those holes are playing a lot longer than typical. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of wind conditions, but this was one of the toughest stretches I’ve played out here.”

Taylor was off to a great start with an eagle at No. 3, but then slipped away with a double bogey at No. 6 and a bogey at No. 9. As he went on, he started to take the lead with four consecutive birdies in the back nine. With Taylor taking an early lead ahead of Hadwin’s group, Hadwin wanted to one-up his fellow Canadian. He came close after gaining momentum from a birdie with four holes to go, but he finished the rest on par.

“I’m really disappointed I didn’t get to 6 under because I saw Nick up there, and I wanted to hold it over him tonight,” Hadwin said. “But yeah, it’s fun. It’s a great group to be a part of, and we share a lot of laughs together.”

Hadwin and Taylor are joined in the field this week by other Canadians Corey Connors, Adam Svensson, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes.

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2023 WM Phoenix Open: Other than getting booed for a 3-jack at 16, Xander Schauffele continues to own TPC Scottsdale

Schauffele’s lone bogey Thursday came on the infamous par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – They enter through the tunnel to the 16th hole like gladiators entering the Colosseum.

“They open the gates and here come the slaves,” Gary McCord, who had a ringside seat for years as CBS Sports’ anchor of the hole. “It’s like the old medieval taunting days.”

The par-3, 173-yarder is unlike anything else in golf, a hole that is totally enclosed with skybox suites and handles upwards of 15,000 riotous fans.

They chant. They cheer. They boo. Relentlessly.

Just ask, Xander Schauffele, who hit to 50 feet while playing competitor Tony Finau drilled his tee shot to 1 foot, 4 inches.

“I was the big loser in our group,” Schauffele said. “It almost becomes white noise. I’d say 16 would almost feel creepy if it was like completely quiet, which is impossible. You’ve just got to enjoy the experience.”

Easier said than done after he took three putts and was heckled after missing from 4 feet for par.

“I was booing myself in my own head, too,” Schauffele said.

It turned out to be the lone bogey of the day for the 29-year-old from Southern California, who carded a 4-under 67 at TPC Scottsdale, just a stroke off the lead among the early finishers at the first round of the WM Phoenix Open on Thursday.

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Even on a day when the wind howled and low scores were rare, Schauffele continued to dominate in the desert. He posted his sixth consecutive opening-round score in the 60s, extending the longest active streak at the WM Phoenix Open and improved his career scoring average at TPC Scottsdale to 67.76, the best of any player all-time with 20 or more rounds at the Phoenix Open. Schauffele has finished in the top 20 in all five of his appearances at the tournament, including T-2 and T-3 the last two years.

“I’ve been knocking on that door for quite some time and I am ready to break that door down,” Schauffele said ahead of the tournament.

On Wednesday, the seven-time Tour winner added, “I think you just have to go and get it. I feel that’s the mentality. I think in every one of those moments where I had a close call, I didn’t get it. It’s one of those things where it puts a chip on your shoulder, one that’s already there, but it maybe adds another mark to it, and then you’ve just got to move on.”

Schauffele, ranked sixth in the world, was a stroke behind Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, a pair of Canadians, who both fired 5-under 66, when play was suspended due to darkness at 8:07 p.m. ET. Since 1983, there has never been two Canadian players tied for the lead after any round of a stroke play event on the PGA Tour.

“I’m really disappointed I didn’t get to 6 under because I saw Nick up there, and I wanted to hold it over him tonight,” Hadwin said.

Morning frost in the Valley of the Sun delayed the start of the tournament for an hour and 45 minutes. Taylor, who lives not far from TPC Scottsdale, said it was the most difficult conditions in his nine appearances in the tournament, especially due to the wind blowing from the northeast. Hadwin, who also is a Scottsdale transplant, found the strength of the wind an intimidating factor.

“We just don’t often see 15-mile-an-hour gusts to 20 out here,” he said. “Usually we’re playing inside of a dome.”

The weather and the wind determined how aggressive or defensive a player could be. Schauffele noted that holes that typically set up for birdie chances, or as he put it, ‘Go holes,’ became places where par was a good score. But not for Taylor, who reeled off an eagle and four birdies in a row starting at No. 10. Hadwin did his best damage with his putter, holing a 34-foot birdie putt at 18, and leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting.

Taylor made his longest putt of the day at the iconic 16th, a 14-footer for birdie at the hole that Hadwin uses a hockey reference to describe.

“It’s like being in a hockey arena,” he said, “and then the fans are right on top of you.”

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