03canadian oPen Pressure
the pressure on canadian golfers to win their national
championship is greater than that facing any other golfer
to win his or her home open. in fact, no other athletes in
any individual sport—save, perhaps, english tennis players at wimbledon—endure what canadian golfers do
while in contention at the rbc canadian open. when
mike weir lost a playoff to vijay singh in the 2004 open
he said “the level of pressure was right there with augusta
for sure.” it can be argued that weir hasn’t been the same
since that demoralizing loss seven years ago, his only win
since then coming in the 2007 fry’s electronics open, a fall
series event. so it’s understandable that adam hadwin, a
23-year-old canadian tour member from abbotsford, british columbia, who was playing on a sponsor’s exemption,
would struggle sunday. after all, the only thing on the line
was the chance to be regaled by his homeland as the first
canadian in 57 years to win the open. hadwin, who played
college golf at louisville and qualified for last month’s u.s.
open (he was t-39), began the day one shot back of bo
van pelt. hadwin made three bogeys and a double on his
first 11 holes, but rebounded with three straight birdies on
holes 12-14 to get back to two under par. but that’s as far as
he got. with sean o’hair and kris blanks in the clubhouse
at four under, hadwin made par on the last two holes to
stay two behind, and the hopes of canadians that one of
their own would hoist the canadian open championship
cup would have to wait another year. —John Antonini
harry how/getty images
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