PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 2020

Adam Hadwin

Harding Park Golf Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park. We are pleased to be joined by Adam Hadwin. Adam opened his championship with a 68 today. Well done.

Let's talk about your start, literally, quite a start. Eagle on 1. You don't see that terribly often. Maybe talk about that and how it may have sparked you forward a little bit.

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, first major championship since The Open last year and started with a deuce on the par 4. Couldn't have asked for a better start. Great drive in the fairway. Certainly wasn't trying to hole it, I guess. Just hit a wedge in there close and it couple-hopped-and-in. That's an easy way to settle the nerves, for sure, getting off to the PGA Championship and just played solid golf throughout the round.

It got a little more difficult when we made the turn, 12, 13, 14, 15, good holes, a couple wayward shots but kind of held it together and good start to the week.

Q. Could you elaborate on what made this afternoon a lot more challenging? It appeared it was a lot more windier than the morning and the course was firming up.

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I think that the two things that you hit on there. I didn't find the wind picking up too much until our last, seven, eight holes. Potentially could be just because you're kind of exposed there on the lake as you're coming around the corner.

But yeah, I mean, that wind is certainly going to dry out the golf course a little bit. The sun came out, as well. So some of the pin locations, probably a little bit tougher to get to, and like I say, we had great start to the championship and hopefully I can come out tomorrow and put another good round on.

Q. Last week you were saying you don't know what to expect; how surprised and happy are you about the performance today?

ADAM HADWIN: Certainly happy. Like I said, it was a great start to the week. I hit a lot of great shots. I did hit some poor shots at times. The short game was on point today and made a few putts, as well.

Surprised? Yes and no. I mean, I've had so many practice rounds where I've played terrible and played well in a tournament. Sometimes it almost gets you to focus a little bit harder. I played nine holes yesterday and actually hit it quite well yesterday.

I was quite pleased with the way I played, and how it was when I walked off the golf course. So I knew today could be -- I had potential to be a decent round. It was just a matter of picking out good clubs and hitting it to the targets that we picked out.

Q. We talked a bit about the beginning of your round, but the end, the bounceback birdie on 16, and then on 18, I would guess you've got to be pretty happy with a bogey. Can you talk about the end and what you'll take from that going into tomorrow?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, it certainly got a little more squirrely there at the end. Like I said, that wind whips hard, pretty hard left-to-right off the lake, 13, 14. Just it's a tough wind for a right-hander like myself. I've always struggled with the left-to-right breezes.

The shot on 16 was huge. We were kind of in between gap wedge and pitching wedge a little bit, and a lot of times we'll try to be aggressive and hit that cover. But decided to take the pitching wedge today and get it in behind the hole and hit a great shot in there. Obviously good putt to bounce back with, as well, and.

18 was a bit of a mess to be honest. Really had no business getting anywhere close to that hazard but it was a terrible second shot. Didn't get down on the golf ball steep enough. The heel of the club hit and kind of shot it low left, and extremely thankful to find it and have anything even down there. That was about as lucky as you can get. Pulled the shot off, anyway. Had a chance for 4. Definitely stole at least a shot on 18 for sure.

Q. A lot of people have been comparing this course to Bethpage last year, which isn't really a great one for the non-bombers at Bethpage. Is there anything that you see different; that allows somebody that doesn't bomb the ball a little more opportunity than maybe at Bethpage?

ADAM HADWIN: Potentially the only difference would be I don't think the rough is quite as penal as Bethpage was. Bethpage, a lot of the holes, it was you hit in the rough and it was an automatic pitch-out, especially for a guy of my length. There's still a few holes here where that holds true. You don't hit the fairway on 9. A guy of my length is going to struggle to get to the green.

But I guess, you know, I guess there's enough holes here that kind of have some movement to it, some right-to-left, some left-to-right, and I don't know, I mean, I still think this course favors a bomber. But at 7,200 yards, it's nice to see the sun out today. Ball certainly flew a lot further today than it has the past couple days. Premium on fairways, hitting greens, which I guess if you're bombing it and off-line, it's not ideal.

JOHN DEVER: We've been made aware your father is a PGA Professional?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, he was a CPGA Professional for 25 years. Still works at the golf course.

JOHN DEVER: Does he still coach you? Give us an update that we're interested in.

ADAM HADWIN: No, that coaching ended quickly. We went through about a three-month trial and that was about all we could take. We have similar personalities is the nice way to put it. We butted heads a lot.

He's been great. You would think somebody in the industry like that would push his season to play golf. He never did. Everything I ever did was me wanting to do it, which I think was great. Just a fantastic supporting role basically. He has an eye or the game. He taught for a living. If there's any issues that I've ever had, I mean, I can certainly ask him and he gives his inputs.

We know the place, or places, and he's great at being a father and I think that's the best thing.

JOHN DEVER: Thanks for dropping by and best of luck tomorrow and beyond.