Adam Hadwin's blitzing of the La Quinta Country Club at a PGA Tour tournament in the California desert on Saturday is another example of the talent that exists beneath the top rung of the world's best golfers.
Heck, Hadwin becoming the first Canadian to break the mythical 60, is a sign just how good some of this country's players are despite Hadwin and others not winning yet on the PGA Tour.
If you were to ask golf fans who is this country's best player on the men's side, most people would reply that it's either David Hearn or Graham DeLaet, who like Hadwin have established themselves on golf's best circuit, but not yet won a tournament. Some may think that Mackenzie Hughes is Canada's best player at the moment because of his PGA Tour win last November.
Overlooked no longer
The point is that almost no one would have said Hadwin, a 29-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., But there he was on Saturday, becoming one of just eight men to break 60 and one of just four to do it on a layout that is a par 72.
All that said, Hadwin is hardly an anonymous figure in his home country and was always respected in PGA Tour circuits since becoming a full-time player in 2014. Before that, he nearly won the RBC Canadian Open when it was last played in Vancouver in 2011, tying for fourth, finishing just two shots outside of a playoff that was eventually won by American Sean O'Hair at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club.
Hadwin said he was in a zone all day on Saturday, but also got some good breaks.
"I got away with a few [bad] shots coming down stretch," he said after his round. "Frankly, the best hole I played was 16 and that was one that I parred."
Later he added:
"You don't shoot 59 without some good breaks."
Hadwin, of course, needs to make no apologies for getting some good fortune, in a game that infamously doles out little of it. In fact, he has spoken in the past about how difficult it is to win on the PGA Tour.
"It's hard to describe, you almost have to be perfect to win a tournament," Hadwin said last summer. "You literally cannot make a single mistake…and then sometimes that's not even enough. It can come down to something as small as whether you get an uphill or downhill lie."
With a large gallery forming and the American network broadcast on NBC finally picking up on Hadwin's charge, he recovered from a poor tee shot on 18 to make par that solidified his 13-under round of 59. In total he made 13 birdies, tying a PGA Tour record set by Chip Beck, who also shot 59 during that round.
Feeding off Canadian support
It was Hadwin's lowest round even in recreational golf, his previous best was a 61 playing his home course in Abbotsford.
After his round, Hadwin credited the Canadians in the crowd and the support he received as he reeled off six consecutive birdies on the front side to make the turn in 29, then five in a row on the back.
Hadwin has always maintained that Canadians in the crowd, particularly early in the season, have helped him throughout his PGA Tour career.
"Canadian fans travel very well," he said. "You see them everywhere, to start the season in places like the west coast and Scottsdale, it's almost like we get that opportunity to see Canadians cheer us on every week in a small way like what you see every year at the Canadian Open."
In a quirky coincidence, Saturday's historic 59 took place not far from where Hadwin had his first win at as a professional. He won an old Canadian Tour event at Desert Dunes in the fall of 2010.
"Again, that was in front of a bunch of Canadians," he recalled.
Adam Hadwin credits Canadian fans after joining golf's exclusive 59 club
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