He cooks, so does his game

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/07/2010 (5877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New? Canadian Tour rookie pro Adam Hadwin has done new before.

At 17, after being a member of the RCGA’s junior Team Canada, the Abbotsford, B.C., resident packed up and went to college in Louisville, Ky.

"I came right out of high school and had to live on my own at school at 17, so I had to adjust pretty quickly," Hadwin said Tuesday at Pine Ridge Golf Club, where he will compete in this week’s $300,000 Players Cup. "I didn’t even know how to iron when I went to school."

Before those shirts were freshly pressed, though, Hadwin realized he had to eat, so he embraced cooking.

"I love food. I love to cook… the healthy food," Hadwin said.

"I’m a healthy eater. I stay away from the fried foods as much as possible.

"I cooked six days a week for myself. I love all types of food and I’m not that good a cook just yet, but I love to experiment with marinades for meat and chicken."

His best dish?

"Probably barbecued chicken," he said. "I make a great marinade for that. A little rice on the side, some vegetables. Sometimes pasta."

Hadwin has been cooking up some game since turning pro last year.

He went to the Canadian Tour’s winter qualifying school in California and got a card.

He started off his schedule in Mexico and finished tied for ninth. His next two starts were in Canada, at Victoria and Edmonton, and he finished tied for second and second.

Those finishes earned him an invite to last week’s Nationwide Tour event in Ottawa, where he finished tied for 27th. Two spots higher and he’d have been in the Nationwide Tour event this week, instead of in Winnipeg.

"I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to do well but to finish ninth, second, second (on the Canadian Tour), I wouldn’t say it’s a shock because I knew I could play well and compete, but it’s a bit crazy I guess," Hadwin said of his early success. "It’s been fun, a lot of fun."

And fun he hasn’t had to think too much about.

Light-bulb moment

"If I was to say I’ve had a light-bulb moment, it was probably last week at the Nationwide event," he said. "I had a great first round (64), average second and third rounds and I was playing really well on Sunday and I was back up in almost the top 10.

"If anything, that was the week to say, ‘OK, I’m playing well and I can compete.’"

With $46,502 in the bank through three Canadian Tour events so far, Hadwin finds himself second on the money list and a virtual lock to get invited to next week’s RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.

This week’s winner and the top five on the money list will all be exempt to the Open.

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First things, first though. Pine Ridge’s 6,600-yard, par-71 test awaits.

"It’ll be a good test of golf if this wind stays" Hadwin said after his first-ever look at the course this week. "It’s not very long but there were some holes that played long. There are some great green complexes and there’s a lot of slope in some of these greens and they’ve got them running quick right now.

"To come out and have fast greens again this week, it won’t be an adjustment. It’ll be great."

The field of 158 players begins play Thursday at 7:30 a.m. Tickets are available at the Pine Ridge gates or at any local Co-Op store.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca