Nov 20, 2018
Clubmates Taylor, Hadwin ready to play for Canada
Ledgeview Golf and Country Club members Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor will represent Canada at the World Cup of Golf, Bob Weeks writes.
By Bob Weeks
It’s a long way from the Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in Abbotsford, B.C., to the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia, but this week a couple of members from The Ledge will tee it up Down Under, representing Canada at the World Cup of Golf.
Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor figure they were about 12 when they started playing together in junior events at the club and around B.C. Now both have made it to the highest tier in golf. That’s quite a remarkable achievement for one small West Coast course.
There’s some disagreement about which one was the better player, but in true Canadian fashion, they both try to pin it on the other guy. There’s no trash-talking here.
Taylor swears it was Hadwin who usually came out on top, but Hadwin offered up some proof to dispute that.
“All you need to do is look at our junior and amateur records in B.C. and look at the number of Canadian Ams and B.C. Ams that Nick has and how many I have, and I think that speaks for it all,” Hadwin chuckled.
This week it will be all about working together rather than against each other. The World Cup is a four-round event with two rounds of better ball format and two alternate shot rounds.
The Canadian team will be looking for its fourth title in the event, which started as the Canada Cup back in 1953 before changing to its present moniker in 1967. George Knudson and Al Balding (1968); Dan Halldorson and Jim Nelford (1980); and Halldorson and Dave Barr (1985) are the previous Canadian winners.
“There’s a little bit of pressure,” admitted Hadwin on representing Canada. “You want to play well for your country and do well on the world stage. But I think Nick and I are going to go down and have fun and enjoy it.”
Both know that the path to success lies in adapting to the different formats without straying too far from basic shot-making. Team golf presents a different set of challenges, both mental and physical, but it’s still golf.
“I feel like tee to green everything kind of stays the same,” said Taylor. “But I think if we can get a good vibe going and build the camaraderie in that sense we’ll do well.”
This is the second appearance at the World Cup for Hadwin, who joined David Hearn two years ago when the Canadian squad finished in a tie for 10th. The same format is used at the Presidents Cup, where Hadwin was part of the International Team in 2017.
He said that while there’s a need to come up with a game plan, there’s also a danger in taking things too far.
“David and I had a difficult time early in the week with things like who tees off on what hole in alternate shot or do you play it different in best ball if one person is playing well or not playing well,” he said. “I honestly think that we overthought it a little bit. You start thinking a little bit too much and you get in danger. So I think you go and play your own game and Nick and I just go out and do what we do best and let our games do the talking.”
While better ball is more like regular golf, it’s the alternate shot where most teams struggle – the added pressure of playing well for your partner seems to impact a lot of golfers.
“Both of us are trying to hit the best shot we can and we don’t always execute it properly,” state Hadwin. “When you add a partner in there sometimes you feel an extra let down. In my experience you just play golf and wherever it goes, it goes. There’s no sorry between partners.”
“The toughest part of that format is getting in a rhythm because you might not hit a putt or a drive for a few holes,” added Taylor.
The other wild card in that format is the ball. Hadwin and Taylor use different balls on Tour, so adjusting can sometimes be difficult. For the two alternate shot rounds, the Canadians will use Hadwin’s Callaway ball, which Taylor was practising with in Phoenix last week where both of them reside in the winter months.
The Canadians will face some tough competition in Melbourne including the host country team of Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, the English duo of Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton, and Americans Kyle Stanley and Matt Kuchar.
It’s a good challenge, and one that the folks back at Ledgeview are more than a little excited about.