Adam Hadwin entered the history books on Saturday when he became the first Canadian golfer to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour.
Hadwin carded 13 birdies during the third round of the CareerBuilders Challenge to become the eighth golfer in PGA Tour history to shoot below 60. The round vaulted the 29-year-old from 49th to first, but a final-round 70 resulted in a second place finish — just one shot behind winner Hudson Swafford.
But would he trade the historical day for a PGA Tour victory?
“Absolutely,” Hadwin told Bob McCown on Prime Time Sports Tuesday. “The good round certainly put me in a position to win the golf tournament and to have a chance on Sunday. I had a chance all the way down to the 18th hole there, but I would trade 59 for a ‘W’ right now, absolutely.”
Aside from an extra $418,000 in prize money, the bump from second to first would open up a couple of career opportunities for the Canadian. He would keep his pro card for at least two years (beginning next season) and he would be invited to two majors this season: The Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship.
Despite all of that on the line, Hadwin was feeling pretty good during the final round on Sunday.
“Honestly, it was a lot of fun,” he said. “It was a great position to be in going into Sunday … I was pretty calm all day. I felt comfortable in the position that I was in. I was rolling it well on the greens and I made a ton of putts.
“I had a chance to win the golf tournament coming out the 18th and that’s all you can ask for.”
His second-place finish is the closest he has come to winning a tournament on the Tour. He’s had nine career top-ten finishes on the PGA circuit since turning professional in 2009 and his previous high was a tie for fourth at the Canadian Open in 2011.
But, at the end of the day, it wasn’t his play that forced him away from his first ever PGA Tour victory, it was his opponents’.
“I didn’t play bad at all,” said Hadwin. “Hudson went out and won it. The way he played those last three or four holes was pretty incredible. I was just happy to keep up with him those last couple of holes.”
Unfortunately for Hadwin there’s no deal to be made to swap his sub-60 for a ‘W,’ so he’s stuck with being the eighth golfer to accomplish the feat in 88 years. And no matter how easy it may seem to have all facets of one’s game firing on all cylinders for an entire round, it’s not.
“As Tour players, we all think that we can shoot 59 everyday. That kind of gets wiped away by the third or fourth hole of most rounds. It was just one of those days. It didn’t seem to matter what I did. If I mis-hit a shot from the fairway at all it ended up 15 feet from the hole and I made the putt.
“It was pretty ridiculous on the greens that day. I made absolutely everything.”
