VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 18, 2022

Adam Hadwin

Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead)

Quick Quotes

Q. What's the best part of your game right now?

ADAM HADWIN: Probably, my mind has been pretty good this week, staying patient, not getting too worried about any sort of missed shots or anything.

I was fairly average for the first few holes today. It didn't really kind of kick off until I made that par save on 7, and then got a few putts to go in and made some nice straightforward birdies on the back.

Q. I've always considered you one of the better putters out here. 176 feet of putts over two days. That's really good on this golf course.

ADAM HADWIN: It's tremendous. That's what won me the tournament, I think, five years ago, six years ago now. And I would agree, it's been a strong part of my game for the last four, five years now, and I'm finally starting to see some improvement with the iron play, hitting more greens, giving myself more chances. So, again, staying patient around this place I think is key.

Q. You get to go rest now, right?

ADAM HADWIN: Absolutely. I feel like I'm still catching up on a little bit of rest from THE PLAYERS last week, so, yeah, it will be nice to get a little sleep in tonight and maybe get an afternoon nap as well.

Q. Did you watch any of the NCAA basketball?

ADAM HADWIN: I might trend more towards hockey for sure but March Madness is pretty exciting. So I'm anxious to go watch a few games.

Q. Curious, what do you think are the keys to this golf course? You've won on it, and I know it's been a few years, but just like you were saying, what is it that's coming back to you in your game so far over the past couple days?

ADAM HADWIN: I've putted extremely well. I've made some really key putts, and I mentioned that earlier, the par putt on 7 was a big one to get me going. I hit some good putts previously but didn't get any out of it. They started to find the center after that.

I think, other than that, you just got to keep the ball in play and you got to keep it on the right side of the hole. I missed a few shots today, got away with a few things.

But again, for the most part, just really good solid targets on the fat side of the hole, fat side of the green, give myself chances to make birdie. I feel like around this place a lot of times it's the guys that make the least mistakes do well.

Q. Do you look at the leaderboard while you're out there or do you look at it after you're done?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I mean, obviously there's a ton of golf to be played in the afternoon, right? I probably won't be the leader and I won't watch this afternoon. But I was today. I was taking peaks. It kind of got in my head a little bit last week at THE PLAYERS coming down the stretch doing that, so I'll avoid it more this weekend. But I'm in a great spot to try and go win another golf tournament.

Q. What did you think about your parking spot when you pulled into the players' lot and you saw the personalized spot in the front row for you?

ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, really cool. I think it's a wonderful sort of added touch that the Valspar and the tournament did. So, it kind of represents all the things that I like to watch.

Q. Who is your favorite Canucks player?

ADAM HADWIN: I like the captain, Bo Horvat. He's a friend. I've met him a few times, played with him a couple times, and just an overall great guy.

Q. You mentioned your mental state. Are you doing anything differently to get in the proper frame of mind?

ADAM HADWIN: No, I'm really trying to figure out whether it was the chicken or the egg, whether the good golf put me in a better mental state or my mental state put me playing better golf.

I find myself much more relaxed on the golf course. Some of those missed shots just aren't bothering me as much. Really doing a good job of just setting in for each individual shot and treating it as, not getting ahead of myself and just treating every shot for what it is and trying to do the best I can on that individual shot.

Q. A lot of the Canadians spend some of their winter down here. What's the support been like, not just this week, but if you reflect back five years ago?

ADAM HADWIN: It's incredible. There was Canadian flags flying everywhere five years ago. I imagine it will be similar this weekend. Canadians travel really, really well, and they support their countrymen. And we're no stranger to that. We get a lot of support everywhere we go. So it feels good.

Q. The putting so far, is it a usual week for you or are always a good putter or is this exceptional?

ADAM HADWIN: Would it be bad if I said this was usual? (Laughing).

No, I mean, I think, one, my speed control this week has been fantastic. So when I have been outside 35, 40 feet I've had fairly easy 2-putts, and combine that with kind of making everything inside 4, 5 feet, usually is pretty good, and then whether or not you can find the speed and match the speed and the line on these greens and some of the other ones.

So I've done a really good job. Certainly there's putts that I think that I could have made, but I've made some that I probably shouldn't have as well. So it kind of all evens out.