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TSN Senior Reporter

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Justin Thomas heads back to the mainland after two weeks in Hawaii, bringing with him an impressive list of achievements. Two wins, $2.3 million in earnings, a scoring average of 65.375 for his eight rounds, the new PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record, a round of 59 and now eighth spot on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Not bad for a 23-year-old who has now won three times in his last five starts.

Thomas becomes the first player to win the Aloha Swing since Ernie Els in 2003. It’s not an easy task for a number of reasons. The first is that the opening event is for tournament winners only.

But the more impressive part is that the two courses – the Plantation Course at Kapalua and Waialae Country Club – are so different. The former is a wide-open bomber’s paradise while the latter is tighter and more demanding off the tee. Winning both shows that Thomas is more than a one-trick pony.

To give that more perspective, at the Sony Open, where he opened with a 59, the Kentucky resident led the field in driving distance (309.6) and was second in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.540), a deadly combination that’s tough to beat.

That style of game is also perfect for another class of tournaments – majors. Thomas has clearly put himself in a category of players to watch once the calendar flips to April and eyes start focusing on the Masters. A year ago, he made his first start at Augusta where he tied for 39th.

Last year, he failed to crack the top 30 in any of the four majors but it will be a more confident and accomplished Thomas who tees it up in those tournaments in 2017.

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Adam Hadwin starts the new year this week in Palm Springs at the CareerBuilder Challenge where he hopes to revive the good feelings he had a year ago.

That’s when the Abbotsford, B.C., product positioned himself for his first PGA Tour victory, heading to the back nine on Sunday with a share of the lead. He had to settle for a tie for sixth, one of two top-10s he posted a year ago. But there was a great deal learned playing down the stretch with eventual winner Jason Dufner.

“It’s just a matter of continuing to get more comfortable in those positions when I put myself in those final groups, where I’m in a position near the lead and with a chance to win,” said Hadwin. “If I keep putting myself there, good things will happen.”

The 29-year-old is heading into his third year on the PGA Tour and is getting more and more comfortable being on the top circuit in the game. No one would be surprised if he was the next Canadian to win.

The strength of his game lies in his putting where he ended 2016 tied for 12th in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s hoping he can hit a few more greens in regulation to allow that putter to shine.

“One to two greens a round would be huge,” he said. “There is a minute difference. What I’m searching for based on last year is that if I could take a shot off my stroke average over the course of the entire year . . . it doesn’t seem like a whole lot but it would be massive.”

Aside from trying to sharpen his game, Hadwin has something a little more important on his plate coming up in late March. That’s when he is set to marry his fiancée Jessica Dawn at a ceremony in Phoenix.