Canadian Adam Hadwin is in the hunt after day one at the U.S. Open

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This article was published 17/06/2021 (1920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Adam Hadwin played an 18-hole practice round at the U.S. Open with fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners, and Mackenzie Hughes on Tuesday at the U.S. Open and another nine-holer on Wednesday.

Hadwin and Hughes topped Pendrith and Conners on Tuesday, and the latter two extracted a little revenge the next day thanks to a pair of final-hole birdies.

But Hadwin has the early edge among the Canadian foursome with one round essentially in the books, and is in the hunt for his best major championship finish.

The native of Abbotsford, B.C. shot a 1-under par 70 Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego and was tied for 11th when darkness fell. The opening round was delayed 90 minutes by fog and concluded just after 11 p.m. It will continue Friday at 9:50 a.m.

American Russell Henley was tied with South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen atop the leaderboard at 4-under when the horn blew. Oosthuizen had two holes left in his first round.

Hadwin, who hasn’t had a top-10 finish at a major, was only three shots back of the lead at the end of the day. He called getting into red figures after 18 holes a “huge bonus.”

“All four days it’s kind of a grind through every round, and to be under par for the first one is a great start,” said Hadwin. “I did a lot of good things, and yeah, some momentum to build on for the next three.”

Hadwin switched swing coaches at the beginning of 2021 and has been working through various tweaks to his swing ever since. He’s had a roller-coaster season to this point, having found the weekend just 13 times in 21 events with two top-10 finishes.

One of those top 10s, however, came two weeks ago. He also finished tied for 18th at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, which is contested at Torrey Pines as well.

Hadwin said he is comfortable on the West Coast, and on the greens (which are poa annua grass) in particular.

“I feel like I see them very well. I read them well,” Hadwin said of the greens at Torrey Pines. He was inside the top 10 in strokes gained: putting late Thursday.

“It was just a matter of staying patient and treating every hole and every shot for what it’s worth and what it is. And I did a really good job of that today.”

Hadwin’s fellow Canadians didn’t fare quite as well. Hughes shot a 2-over 72, while Conners — who finished in the top 10 at the Masters and led after 18 holes at the PGA Championship last month — carded a surprising 4-over 75. Pendrith also shot 75.

One golfer who was tied with Hadwin at 1-under, however, might have had the most promising of opening rounds.

Matthew Wolff, a young PGA Tour star who won just his fourth event as a professional, has struggled mightily this year. Wolff hasn’t teed it up on the PGA Tour since April, and this week cited mental health as the reason he hasn’t played.

“Mental health is a really big problem, and we play a lot of golf … any professional athlete has to deal with a lot more stress and pressure than most people and it just kind of got to me,” said Wolff. “But I’ve been working on it. I’ve been learning, and I think that’s all I can do.”

Wolff skipped the PGA Championship (the only golfer inside the top 100 in the world to do so) and the last time he played a major, at the Masters, he ended up disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard.

He said at the Masters he “hated” golf.

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“In college golf, if you shot 78, you go back and your coach would pay for your food and you would be chilling, because you were on a full-ride scholarship or whatever, you know what I mean? But you come out here, you miss five cuts in a row and you’re like, ‘Damn, I haven’t made a paycheque,’” said Wolff. “And it’s just a lot. And it’s really hard.”

He was open about his struggles to find joy after a solid, if turbulent opening round.

Wolff made eight birdies, but also had two doubles and three bogeys. Per statistician Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group, it marked the first time in 40 years (more than 15,000 U.S. Open rounds) that a golfer made eight or more birdies and had multiple double bogeys or worse.

“I’m only trying to have positive thoughts in my head and be positive,” said Wolff. “And I mean, kudos to pretty much every professional athlete out there, it’s … I haven’t been in this world for a long time, but it’s (expletive) hard.”

Adam Stanley is an Ottawa-based contributor to the Star’s Sports section and the host of golf podcast Next Round’s On Me. Follow him on Twitter: @adam_stanley