Tommy Fleetwood hits a shot on Saturday on the 2nd hole at Oakdale Golf & Country Club.
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Money started the week. The proposed partnership among the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Shock. Confusion. Uncertainness. And money will end the week. Someone on Sunday will cash the winner’s check at the Canadian Open, and we’ll get to those specifics in a sec.
But first, let’s simply talk love. And falling for the game. For one, you can’t really debate that, and we all could use a break from the noise. But the intros to the sport, at least to me, are always a fun read. They’re sometimes relatable. They sometimes make you think.
On Wednesday, Adam Hadwin told his. He’s Canadian. And they’re playing his national open this week, and that’s a big deal. And a reporter asked him this: “About a national open, your national open, compared to everything else that’s going on, what is it about this tournament and tournaments like this that is maybe more towards the essence of why you got into this sport and what separates it from everything else that’s happening today?”
Well, let him tell ya.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think that any one of us really got started to play for money, let’s say,” Hadwin began. “Obviously that is a large reason of why we do what we do. I get to live a very comfortable life traveling the world, playing a sport that when I first started playing I didn’t have any — I mean, I didn’t know what was going to happen with it, to be honest. I grew up playing different sports. My dad was in the business, taught for a living. So I’ve been around it my whole life. I went out there when I first really started getting into golf and I enjoyed competing against myself, really.
“And I love the fact that I didn’t have to lean on anybody. That’s what I really love about this game. It sounds so selfish, but, you know, I remember playing high school sports and you would play and you could have the greatest game of your life and lose. Or could you have the worst game of your life and win. And I couldn’t deal with that. Mentally, I didn’t know how to get over that. Golf, if I play the absolute best that I can, I win. And if somebody else beats me, I shake their hand and I say congratulations. I can’t do any better. And if I play like crap, I got to get better. I know that. It comes from me.
“So to come through all of that and now to be on the like the game’s best stage in front of Canadian fans and to know that you have a chance to do something that hasn’t been done since 1954 is, I mean, that’s why we get up every morning and work as hard as we do to do that. So I really am looking forward to a great week. It’s unfortunate that it’s been overshadowed by this announcement.”
Good stuff.
And with that, here’s the money breakdown for the Canadian Open. The total purse is $9 million. The winner will collect $1.62 of that.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.