Call it a Canuck takeover.
British Columbia residents Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Roger Sloan will be there. So will Ontario’s David Hearn, Mike Weir and Brad Fritsch. And don’t forget about tour star Graham DeLaet from Saskatchewan.
In all, there will be six Canadians with regular status on the PGA Tour this season, with the seventh, Fritsch, from Manotick, Ont., seeing limited starts after finishing 143rd on the money list last year. The Top 125 gain fully exempt status (that includes Weir, Hearn and DeLaet), while Taylor, Sloan and Hadwin are making the jump from the Web.com Tour.
READ MORE: PGA Tour golfer Graham DeLaet’s star continues to rise, on and off the course
Never before, even looking back to the days when Al Balding, George Knudson and Stan Leonard were regulars on the PGA Tour in the late 1950s and early 1960s, has the tour seen such an influx of Canadians.
Six of the seven are in the field this week at the Frys.com Open in Napa, Calif., with only Sloan sitting out. The Frys.com is the kick-off tournament for the PGA Tour’s 2014-15 season that culminates with the FedEx Cup next September.
For years Mike Weir and Stephen Ames, who was born in Trinidad, but lived in Calgary, were the only Canadians playing regularly on the PGA Tour. That’s changed in recent years with the emergence of DeLaet as a breakthrough star, and Hearn, who has become a consistent performer.
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Each has their own goals for the year.
Hearn, from Brantford, Ont., is ranked 111th in the world, and made $1.13-million last year. Despite having a solid year—his tie for sixth at the Players Championship was a highlight—Hearn sees opportunities to improve his performance.
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For DeLaet, he’s changing his approach to the year. Regularly ranked among the Top 50 players in the world, last year DeLaet played in all of the World Golf Championship events, and golf’s four majors. Though his year was solid—he had seven Top 10 finishes—DeLaet felt he didn’t excel at the game’s biggest tournaments. That’s something he plans to change.
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The graduates from the Web.com Tour face different challenges. All three need to play well early to gain access to tournaments later in the year. For Taylor, the former top amateur in the world, and Sloan, a standout who won the inaugural Nova Scotia Open this past summer, it is their first time as regulars on the PGA Tour.
Hadwin has never had full-time status, but his performance at the 2011 RBC Canadian Open, where he finished fourth, meant he’s played occasionally on the PGA Tour in recent years.
Hadwin had a breakthrough season on the Web.com Tour last year, winning twice and finishing at the top of the tour’s money list. That came after a couple of years of near misses and struggles. He recognizes that his strong play will need to continue if he hopes to make his mark as a regular on the PGA Tour.
“I like to think I’m realistic about where I’m at and assessing the situation and understanding I can always get better, there are always things to improve on,” he says. “It is a humbling feeling that next year I’m getting to the next level that I’ve been working towards.”
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