Every week on Globalnews.ca Canadian golf stars Graham DeLaet and Adam Hadwin take readers behind the scenes of the PGA Tour, providing insights, perceptions and observations as they battle at the game’s biggest tournaments.
It is hard to imagine my rookie season on the PGA Tour is now almost half over.
People have asked me how different it is from playing on the Web.com Tour, where I’ve been for the last couple of years. The truth is it really isn’t all that much of a change.
You travel from city to city and try to compete the best you can, week in and week out.
Sure, the way you get treated on the PGA Tour is fantastic, with a courtesy car at every tournament. And all the volunteers that are there to help you out is amazing. But it still comes down to the competition. I view this as a job and I’m very fortunate to do what I do and get to play.
Maybe I’m being critical, but there haven’t been that many highlights on the course for me this year and the big one came early when I was in the Top 10 at the tournament in Las Vegas, my second event of the year. It was one of the best ball striking and putting weeks I’ve had all year, which probably led to the strong finish.
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If there’s something that’s disappointing, I’d say it is that I haven’t put too many weeks together where my putting and ball striking was good at the same time.
Putting your whole game together gives you the chance to win. I’ve had rounds where I saved it with my short game and putter, and rounds where I hit it well, but didn’t putt well. There were rounds, like the third round at the Puerto Rico Open, where I was playing well—six under par through 15—but I haven’t gotten on many rolls.
But there’s still lots to be positive about, especially tournaments like Torrey Pines, Riviera, Honda and Puerto Rico, where I had essentially Top 30 finishes without playing my best golf. I just got the ball around and did what I needed to do. I take that as a positive.
I’m still waiting for things to click, not just over a round, but over four rounds. If that happens, I know I can creep into the Top 10 and have a shot at a win.
That said, I’m always my biggest critic. No one will put more pressure on me than I do. And that’s why I don’t try to focus too much on missed opportunities.
I had one strong opportunity in Puerto Rico about a month ago when I shot 68 in the third round and had a good chance on Sunday. I knew I was playing well and I knew I put myself in a position to win, though I would have to have a great day to get into what turned out to be a large playoff. But I’ve done a good job of taking things for what they are and viewing every shot individually.
I was well aware of where I was going into the final round. I tried to force myself not to look at a leaderboard and I won’t do that again. It was hard to ignore the leaderboards. It was just a tough day and the goal was to put myself back there soon.
Some guys don’t like watching leaderboards, but that isn’t me. I always know where I am, whether it is first round or fourth round. I’ll talk down the third hole in the first round and see a leaderboard and think, “That guy shot a good round.”
I think in certain situations not looking at a leaderboard might help, but I don’t think looking at them affects me. It is now a habit I have. I’ll see a stat that says what the longest drive is on the hole and think, “That’s pretty good.” I’ll even stare at them when other players are putting.
Considering how well I played on Saturday, Sunday in Puerto Rico couldn’t have been more of the opposite. I didn’t have anything. But I forgot it quickly. I wasn’t prepared to take anything from that day. I just moved on and tried to reset the batteries.
Given where I’m at in the season, I have a fairly good idea of what my schedule will look for the last half. I’ll see how I hold up mentally and physically and determine when the breaks come. Right now I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks, when my tournaments are a little more spread out.
I’m not concerned about worrying about what I have to do. I view it one event at a time and preparing my game for what will make me play at the best of my abilities. I just need to be ready and test it under pressure and see what I can do.
Adam Hadwin is playing this weekend at the Shell Houston Open on Global.
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