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DESERT CLASSIC

January 19, 2019

Adam Hadwin

La Quinta, California

Q. I talked to you following a 59, not quite a 59, but just as important you put yourself in position to win the tournament. Tell me about the day.
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, that's the biggest thing. Obviously got to keep making birdie out here. I was playing one of the easier golf courses, so I knew I had to keep the pedal down and again kind of a slowish start, but I've done that the first three rounds now and then just kind of caught fire midway. Made a couple putts, hit some good shots and, yeah, I've been playing really solid all week. Ball in the fairway, ball on the green, make a couple putts and luckily I've got a chance going into Sunday.

Q. The par-5 scoring was key to you. You birdied all four of the par-5s, including the putt from just inside of 30 feet at 15. That was a bonus.
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, absolutely. Actually both par-5s kind of on the back were a bonus. Nice putt on 11 as well, a good up-and-down from the bunker. So it is what it is. One of those goes in and putts on 17 and 18 miss, but that's the game of golf, it is, add it up at the end and like you said I got a chance tomorrow.

Q. You had a chance two years ago, didn't win that year, what did you learn from that experience that you would apply to the final round?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I've had a chance these last few years now. I've been close. I think the biggest thing from the first couple years is just patience and I think kind of showing that these first three rounds as well. I haven't pushed, even though I've been even, 1-under through five, six holes, just keep hitting good shots and wait for those putts to drop and hopefully my score add up to lower than theirs tomorrow.

Q. 7-under 65. Looked like it was a pretty smooth afternoon. What were your keys to take advantage of the Nicklaus Course, you said you wanted to do that coming in?
ADAM HADWIN: Obviously keys to every great round, put the ball in the fairway, give yourself some looks on the greens and hopefully a few go in. It was very kind of, I don't want to say ho hum because golf can never really quite be like that, but it was as stress free as possible, that's probably the easiest way to put it. A couple putts went in on the back nine and here I am having a chance again on Sunday.

Q. You've had three top 6 finishes in this event, haven't shut the door yet, but if you could describe just the level of comfort here compared to a normal TOUR stop as to why you've had such success?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, living in Phoenix these past few years, this is the golf that I play every day. So that overseeded, the greens are exactly what we play back in Scottsdale. So I would assume that might add to some of the comfort. It's really hard to pinpoint. For whatever reason as soon as I get down here in the desert I start playing some good golf. So I'll take it and I'll probably be here every year.

Q. What's been clicking for you this week?
ADAM HADWIN: A little bit of everything. I've driven it really well, haven't been out of position very much at all. I've hit a lot of greens as well, given myself a lot of looks and make a few putts here and there as well. So so far it works.

Q. You talk about patience, how challenging is it to be patient when you know you have to throw a lot of birdie out here?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, it can be a little bit difficult, but fortunately now the first two rounds I may have gotten off to slow starts but I kind of heated up and picked things up toward the end and that helps building that patience as well. When you don't get off to a flying start you can, you know that just keep hitting good shots and something may come.

Q. Tomorrow it looks like, right now it looks like you would be playing with Phil in the last group. Is that a good thing, a bad thing, have you played with each other?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I played with Phil a few times. I don't think it would really matter. At the end of the day the lowest score is going to win, so whoever plays the best tomorrow. I'm excited to be in position to win a golf tournament again. It's nice to get off to a good start early in the season and it can set off a number of things moving on. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow, been so close here over the last three years, just haven't been able to close the door so hopefully this is the year.

Q. Are you as comfortable as your stats indicate? You're hitting almost every fairway, you're hitting almost every green, it feels, it looks like you're in a real groove with your swing.
ADAM HADWIN: Well, it's nice to be hitting as well as I am because I certainly don't feel as comfortable as it's looking sometimes. When you get up into a position near the top of the leaderboard, you know, nerves kick in and adrenaline and all that, so it's just a matter of controlling that and so far through three rounds I've been doing a good job of it.

Q. What about the comfort level coming into this place? Is it a little different feeling inside than others because of the past experience?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, certainly. I got a lot of good memories from these three golf courses. I've played a lot of good golf around this, in this area and even prior to playing here as a PGA TOUR member we took a couple trips down here just with buddies playing different courses. So living in the desert now in Phoenix, it's just kind of all familiar, so, yeah.

Q. What was the best shot you hit to today?
ADAM HADWIN: Probably the cut 7-iron maybe on 8. It's a tricky little back right pin, if I tug the 7 I'm in the back bunker with a tough up-and-down, if I kind of whiff it I'm in the water. So I made a committed swing, was able to get there inside of 10 feet and make a putt.

Q. There's an unconfirmed rumor the TOUR is going to play here every week. How would you feel about that?
ADAM HADWIN: Dome golf is pretty nice, isn't it? No breeze, perfect conditions, all you got to do is get the ball started on line and it's going to go in, so I certainly wouldn't mind it.

Q. How hard was it at the Stadium Thursday? It rained pretty good at La Quinta?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I saw a little of the replay or some of the shots that Phil was hitting during his 60 and I don't think we saw anything like that. Certainly it was kind of misting on and off, kind of that annoying little rain that you get that you have to have the umbrella out but you don't really get wet. But I mean it was a long golf course, it certainly is tougher of the three, but being soft you were able to take advantage when you had wedges and make birdies, so.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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