A couple of near-misses for Adam Hadwin last year may have provided the Canadian golfer with a little motivation.
After missing out on qualifying for the Olympics and not being selected as a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, Hadwin is excited to get a fresh start this season.
The Abbotsford, B.C. golfer put himself in contention at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday with a 5-under 65 in the first round.
“It was pretty clear that it got to me last year and I didn’t play my best golf kind of summer and on to the Playoff,” Hadwin told reporters. “A bit of a wake-up call, slap in the face to not be there in Canada last year with the boys, and disappointed for sure, but new year and keep grinding away.”
Hadwin finished 47th in the FedExCup standings last year. He started 2025 with a 29th-place finish at the Sentry last week and now has a shot for a better finish this week.
At the conclusion of the early wave, Hadwin, 37, was one off the clubhouse lead, held by England’s Harry Hall and Americans Adam Schenk, Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy and Paul Peterson.
“Continue to get better,” Hadwin said when asked for his goals in 2025. “I think the top of the list is get back in the winner’s circle again, get back to the Tour Championship (for the top 30 at season’s end). Those are kind of the two that are always in the top. No team events this year to shoot for. So yeah, get back in the winner’s circle and get back to East Lake.”
Hadwin finished his first round with a birdie on the par-4 eighth and an eagle on the par-5 ninth to rocket up the leaderboard.
“I hit an OK tee shot,” Hadwin said of No. 9. “It didn’t move as much left to right as I thought it would and I thought I was in the bunker getting up there on 9, and I don’t know what happened. Either it skipped through or something happened but I was in the fairway and had a clean shot. Perfect number from 216 for a 3-iron.
“Just kind of let it go up into the wind, fell right, and I’d love to see the video because I think it had a chance. But again, yeah, just a couple feet past the hole, and no stress (for eagle).”
Hadwin’s lone win on the PGA Tour came at the 2017 Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.
