Adam Hadwin didn’t leave the famed Augusta National golf course with the prestigious green jacket – the prize afforded the winner of the PGA’s Masters tournament – but he made the cut and finished strong, nonetheless.
The 29-year-old pro from Abbotsford – who lists South Surrey’s Morgan Creek Golf Course as his home course – carded a four-round score of six-over par when his final round wrapped up Sunday afternoon, but his fourth round was his most impressive.
Hadwin shot a two-under par 70 on Sunday, capping his first-ever Masters appearance with a wild, memorable round that included seven birdies – four in a row at one point – and five bogeys. And though he finished well back of tournament winner Sergio Garcia, who shot a nine-under par and beat Justin Rose in a playoff, Hadwin’s two-under score was impressive considering the Augusta, Ga. course is among the most challenging on the Tour.
“Seven birdies is exciting, especially around this golf course,” he told reporters after his tournament wrapped.
“Take away a few mistakes and I would have had a really good round. It is a special place, obviously has a lot of tradition and those sort of things here, but it’s a place I’d like to be back to every first or second week of April.”
Hadwin opened the tournament with a round of 75, then followed that Friday with a two-over 74 to make the cut. On Saturday, he shot a 75 again.
Hadwin had plenty of local golf fans glued to their televisions over the weekend, both on the Semiahmoo Peninsula and also in his hometown of Abbotsford. At Ledgeview Golf and Country Club, his father Gerry – a former Morgan Creek Golf Course pro who is now Ledgeview’s director of golf – hosted a viewing party, where they watched the Ledgeview product play his weekend rounds.
At the conclusion of Sunday’s round, the elder Hadwin still had trouble grasping what his son had accomplished.
“It took me two or three weeks to realize that my son had won on the PGA Tour (back in March), and now it’s going to be another week or two before I go, ‘Whoa, my kid played the Masters,’” he told Black Press.
“I talked to him on Friday night after he’d made the cut. I congratulated him on making the cut and his exact words were, ‘Dad, I didn’t come down here to make the cut.’ That just shows you that there was no way he was going to give up.”
Hadwin’s next PGA event will be this week’s RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C., and will be followed the next week by the Valero Texas Open. He has also already qualified for a second major tournament – the PGA Championship.
– with files from Ben Lypka