Like every other Toronto sports fan, David Hearn is looking forward to a long Blue Jays playoff run.
“I’m definitely on the bandwagon. It’s pretty exciting,” Hearn said Monday from St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto – the site of five RBC Canadian Open tournaments, most recently in 2010.
“The city of Toronto is so excited to have a winning team,” he continued with a big smile.
Hearn did his part to get the city of Toronto – and the entire country – excited in July, after he took a three-shot lead at the Canadian Open into the final round. He shot an even-par 72 Sunday, and finished two shots back of eventual winner Jason Day.
If Hearn had won, he would have become the first Canadian to win the lone PGA Tour stop north of the border since Pat Fletcher in 1954. It was Hearn’s second close call of the season; he had lost in a playoff just two weeks prior at The Greenbrier Classic.
On Monday, he reflected on his most successful year on Tour so far, but was also looking forward to next year – where the Olympics, and building on his most recent successes, are top priorities.
“Olympics are on the top of the golf world’s mind,” he admitted. “We’re all excited about that, especially being Canadian, I might be in a position to represent Canada and that’s at the top of my head.”
Hearn said he has been approached by the Olympic committee to talk about drug testing and to learn about the different committees that he isn’t used to seeing week-in and week-out on the PGA Tour. But, he said that process has been a fun one being able to “see what the Olympic athletes are always going through.”
Slightly bashful of his status – he is only two spots behind Graham DeLaet as the highest-ranked Canadian golfer in the world – it’s a virtual guarantee that Hearn will rock the red-and-white in Rio in 2016.
But, he knows there is a lot of golf to be played until then, and a lot of goals for him to achieve still.
For example, he stated at the beginning of 2015 that his ultimate goals were to make the Tour Championship (won by Jordan Spieth last week, part of his $22-million season) and earn a spot on the International Presidents Cup team (starting Oct. 8 in Korea). Hearn did neither of those things this year, but he earned approximately $700,000 more than his next-best PGA Tour season.
So how would he grade his season?
“Any year has its peaks and valleys – there are times when you think, ‘I’m playing better golf than I ever have’ and then there are times when it’s like, ‘Man, I have a lot of work to do’ – but overall I would say it was a step up this year.
“I was more competitive, my game was good, and being close at The Greenbrier and the Canadian Open was great. I didn’t achieve my ultimate goals, but I think I’m closer to those goals than I’ve ever been,” he continued.
This season was the first time Hearn was in contention multiple times on Sunday on the PGA Tour, but said he didn’t feel different during those rounds – he just knew the best players in the world were also trying to get to the winner’s circle.
“When I got onto PGA Tour Canada right out of college I was competitive more quickly than when I got onto the PGA Tour, but that just shows you how much work and effort it takes to get to the world stage,” he stated. “The best players in the world are the best at dealing with those emotions.”
As a 36-year-old with two children under the age of four, Hearn is doing his best to balance work and life in the off-season – his young family will go with him to Florida at the beginning of October where they’ll spend the winter – and although, by comparison, he may seem like an elder statesman in Canadian golf, he knows he is waiting for his moment in the prime of his career.
“When you’re in your young-20s, you know you can play good golf into your mid-40s,” Hearn said. “That’s a lot of time to get better each and every year and achieve your goals. As long as you know you’re making strides along the way, you’ll get there eventually.”
Hearn will take the next two weeks off before starting his 2015-16 PGA Tour season Oct. 15 at the Frys.com Open in California.
And just as Blue Jays fans have been rewarded with a playoff berth this year, perhaps Hearn’s patience will also pay off sooner rather than later.