Canada’s Adam Hadwin has already broken 60 on the PGA Tour and he was standing on the verge of his first victory after taking a four-stroke lead at the Valspar Championship in Florida on Saturday.
Hadwin sank two monster putts on the back nine to vault clear of the field with a bogey-free four-under 67 on the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course at Palm Harbor.
He was at 14-under 199 with one round left, with American Patrick Cantlay (66) closest on 10-under and Jim Herman (71) next on nine-under.
Hadwin became the eighth player to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour when he posted the magic number at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January en route to finishing second at the event.
He is the only member of the PGA Tour’s elite 59 club without a victory, but the 29-year-old has been making steady, if not spectacular progress in his 77 starts and his long game has finally caught up with his putting.
“That was huge. To end on that, a ton of momentum going into tomorrow,” the native of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, told NBC after using his cross-handed putting stroke to sink a six-footer to save par at the last.
His putter was certainly on fire earlier as he sank a 35-footer at the 12th hole and then topped that with a 55-footer three holes later.
“I just want a chance to win,” Hadwin said.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of a cushion. The putter’s rolling pretty good right now. It’s so great my ball-striking has finally come around. A couple of years I’ve been battling it a little bit. The putter has really kept me in tournaments,” he said. “With this ball-striking coming around, the sky’s the limit. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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