Adam Hadwin picked a good time to find his game and some confidence, firing a first-round 65 to take the lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
The Canadian battled through extremely windy conditions at the Port Royal Golf Course, in Southampton, Bermuda, making four birdies on the front nine and three more on the back. The only blemish on his scorecard came on the 15th when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
“I hit a lot of really good quality iron shots today,” said Hadwin. “I gave myself a lot of chances. Made some, scrambled a little bit when I needed to, never really got into too much trouble.”
The 38-year-old played especially well on the course’s difficult par-3 holes, making birdies on the eighth, 13th and 16th. The latter is the course’s signature hole, and requires players to hit a nervy shot over the ocean to the green that was being buffeted by heavy winds on Thursday. Hadwin hit a wind-cheating five-iron onto the putting surface and calmly rolled in the putt.
It was a solid start for the Abbotsford, B.C., product. He comes into the PGA Tour’s penultimate event needing a big finish. He’s currently 147th in the FedEx Cup standings and will need to end up inside the top 100 to retain his playing privileges for next year. Likely only a win or a runner-up will be good enough to make that move.
It’s a steep fall for Hadwin, who has never failed to retain his PGA Tour status since first joining it in 2015. The last two years, he’s been inside the top 50, meaning he’s had access to all the big-money signature events.
If he fails to stay inside the top 100, he’ll be relegated to limited status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season.
“It hasn’t been a good year,” said Hadwin, who has never been afraid to speak the truth. “I’m on the outside looking in. I’m looking at all the Canadians playing well and making signature events and all that. So I do feel a little bit of freedom in that I’ve really got nothing to lose this week. I’ve got to basically win or top two this week or next. But also, I’ve still got to hit golf shots, I’ve still got to get the ball in the hole.”
Hadwin’s fall stemmed from some swing changes he adopted at the end of last season. They’ve never really taken hold, and his comfort level on the course this season has been lacking. The harder he’s tried, the more difficult things have become to the point where he finds himself in a difficult position.
“A bit of the shock to the ego, not going lie,” Hadwin admitted of his current situation, “and I think that it might have hindered me a little bit through the season as I continued to struggle a little bit. I reached a point, probably too late, probably July, August where I kind of accepted where I was at, just needed to battle through.
“I do truly believe that I’ve got my best golf is still to come, I’ve got a lot more in me and then I’ll be a better player once I get through this. It was just a matter of when I got through this and today’s a good start.”
A win for Hadwin currently has him projected to jump to 71st on the FedEx Cup standings but that is still three rounds away.
Two other Canadians in the field were further down the leaderboard. Adam Svensson shot a 73 and is tied for 68th, while Ben Silverman was three over and in a tie for 84th.
