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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 21, 2015

Adam Hadwin

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: We welcome no stranger to the RBC Canadian Open media center, Adam Hadwin, but your first one as a PGA TOUR member. So that's got to feel pretty cool. You can start off by telling us what it's like to tee it up in our national open as a member of the PGA TOUR?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, it's very exciting. Obviously a lot different. Normally this event is a bit of a one-off event for me. To come in having played a full season on the PGA TOUR thus far and having come in as a full member, it's a little bit different, but at the same time, it's sort of the same. I'm going through the same procedures to prepare for the event, and I'm looking forward to a great week here at Glen Abbey.

Q. You hear a lot of guys talk about the adjustment going from tour to tour, from the Mackenzie Tour to the Web.com Tour, and the Web.com Tour to the PGA TOUR. What's that transition been like for you transitioning to life on the PGA TOUR this year?
ADAM HADWIN: I think my year spent on both the Mackenzie Tour and Web.com Tour have sort of prepared me for this first year in the PGA. Obviously everything is just on a grander scale. You sort of just keep moving up the level, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Once you get to the PGA, sort of everything's thrown in your face. I think there is a little bit more of an adjustment from Web to PGA as I would say from Mackenzie to Web.com only because the scale seems to exponentially grow. I don't know. It's been a lot of fun. It's been a learning curve. I've learned a lot, and I've played some good golf and some bad golf. But, overall, it's been a very rewarding experience so far.

Q. Where's your game at right now?
ADAM HADWIN: I'm really happy with where it's at. I got a lot out of the weekend at John Deere two weeks ago. The 24-footer on 18 was such a huge putt, I think, mentally. Not just -- it wasn't just for the season and to move up to the FedExCup and all that. But mentally for me to kind of squeak into the weekend and pull out a top 20 finish, capping it off with eight birdies on Sunday and 65, to go into that off week kind of with some momentum. I worked really hard on my short game going the past couple weeks going into Deere, and I saw the results of that. I don't know what my percentage of up and down was, but it was a lot higher than it has been all year. So carried that kind of momentum into the off week, worked on a few things. And coming in here to Glen Abbey, I'm excited. I'm ready to go. Obviously, there is still Tuesday, Wednesday here to go to get ready for Thursday. But I'm excited the way things are progressing, and I think everything should be ready to go from Thursday.

Q. Last time the Canadian Open was here I know it wasn't your best week, but I'm curious about your thoughts on Glen Abbey and how it sets up for you?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I think 2013, I think there was a lot going on that year. I think I put too much into this Open, obviously, with Child Foundation and playing for them, having my brother on the bag. I made too much of the week, I think. Coming into this week, it's a much more normal week, despite being the Canadian in the Canadian Open, which isn't a normal week for us. But I'm preparing, and yesterday in the Pro-Am Glen Abbey was playing pretty tough. It's firm, greens are fast. The rough isn't extremely penalizing, but when you get in it because the greens are so firm it's tough to -- you can't really stop anything on the greens. So I think it sets up well. Right now it's a bit of a ball striker's golf course. You've got to put yourself on the right spots on the greens. That's sort of what I'll be preparing for. Depending on what weather issues come in, whether this wind stays up, I think it's playing a lot tougher than everybody has seen in the past when it's been soft. I think it's going to pose a pretty good test this week.

Q. Given the Monday finish at the British Open, do you feel you have any kind of advantage, number one, because of your knowledge of Glen Abbey, and number two, because you had that round?
ADAM HADWIN: No. I don't think -- you can speculate on people having an advantage and seeing the golf course more often and stuff like that. But it really comes down to who gets out there and who is in the best frame of mind and who hits the golf shots. I can prepare the best I prepare, and if I go out with a sour attitude and don't hit the golf shots, I'm not going to win. Somebody can show up on Thursday morning never seeing the golf course and hit some good shots and be leading. So it's all about getting prepared the best that you prepare for yourself, whether that's playing 16 practice rounds or playing no practice rounds. It's just about you feeling prepared, you going out there and you executing the shots.

Q. You've never dealt on a regular basis anyway with the tail end of the season coming up, World Golf Championship, PGA Championship, FedExCup, that type of thing. How is that to deal with? Are you looking forward to even wanting to deal with that?
ADAM HADWIN: I mean, I don't have to deal with the World Golf Championship or the PGA at this point, so that makes it a lot easier to deal with. But we've had Web.com schedule last year played, I think the last 13 of the last 14 weeks, if you wanted to. So I've played busy schedules before. The only thing I haven't done, and this is what I've gotten used to this year is starting my season so much earlier. Starting in October this year and still playing now it seems like I've been playing forever. It's really starting to wind down. But going through the Web.com schedule last year as much as we played, I know what it's about. I know what I have to do. As of right now I've got a nice scheduled break at the PGA, so that will help. And it's about making a push into the playoffs and seeing how far I can go once I get there.

Q. You were just talking before about your back and forth with Roger, which is hilarious. Obviously this year on TOUR there are some guys who are older than you, couple guys younger than you. How do you feel about the relationship among all the Canadians on TOUR this year? Obviously there are a lot more than there have been in years past. Could you maybe talk more about that on a week like this?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, it's really been great for me. I think not only for the other guys on TOUR, but for Canadian golf in general to have so many of us out there this year. I know that we've sort of all enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed having a fellow countrymen out there at most events. Hopefully Graham and David and Mike enjoy the company this year. I didn't get invited to too many dinners, so I don't know. Could be me, so I'll have to speak to them. But it's great playing with so many friends and obviously Roger and Nick and I graduating at the same time last year from the Web.com. We got a lot of practice rounds together, lot of dinners together. Coming into Canada here we have 16 Canadians playing this year. So it's always a lot of fun, and it's just really great to, I guess, share the battlefield with so many great players and so many great Canadians now. And I think we'll see more soon.

Q. Being a Canadian in this tournament, is it a bit of an adrenaline kick to it? Do you find that does that help you or is it a hindrance?
ADAM HADWIN: If anything, it's going to help me, I think. It's definitely not a hindrance. When you have so many people pulling for you, behind you, wanting you to do well. If you're a little bit down and you hit a good shot and they go crazy, it's certainly helpful to pick you back up. When you're playing well, sort of ride the momentum of the fans and the crowd. You see it all the time in other sports where one team is down, their home crowd gets excited, they get cheered and you can kind of ride that momentum. I think you can do that here. Especially if you got into contention on the back nine on Sunday, I think it will be a huge help and huge bonus to have that many people behind you and want to see you win.

Q. Moving to the big TOUR, do you have to convince yourself in a way that you really belong here? What are the challenges from the mental side of it?
ADAM HADWIN: I think that plays a little part in it for sure. I've had early in my career I've had success on the PGA TOUR, so I knew that I could play, and I knew that I belonged out there. But from a consistency standpoint, sort of week-in and week-out, it's one thing to kind of play one event and finish in the top 10, but it's another thing to play 20 events and finish in the Top 10, 12 times like Spieth's done. That's a whole other ballgame. To convince yourself that you have the game week-in and week-out and not to be that one random week is difficult. It's a bit of a learning curve, like I said, and I've gone through it, and I've learned a lot. You take the good with the bad, and I don't know. For me, it was a little bit I felt like I didn't deserve some of the things that I had gotten. We get treated so well out here. We get courtesy cars each week, and I'm not price lining hotels anymore, and free food every week and stuff like that. So I felt at times when I wasn't playing well, I felt like I had to go rent a car to say, okay, now I'm back to reality a little bit sometimes. But it's difficult sometimes to get over that, but you just have to figure out a way. It sounds bad, but you just have to be almost a little bit more arrogant at times. You just have to feel like you expect that this is what you deserve, basically. You've worked your butt off to get here, and now you're sort of repeating the benefits. It was a little hard for me at times when I wasn't playing well to get over that.
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