PGA Championship: Fan strips down to retrieve golfer Adam Hadwin’s club from water
By Jack Bantock, CNN
(CNN) — On any other afternoon at any other tournament, Adam Hadwin’s seventh hole would have served up the most surreal scenes of the day. During the second round of the PGA Championship though, it was just another hole.
Having lost his club to the waters of Kentucky’s Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, the Canadian golfer stood by as one overzealous fan took the plunge to return it to him.
As an incredulous – but nonetheless entertained – audience of players, caddies and staff watched on, broadcast images showed the spectator strip down to his underwear and socks before paddling the short distance to retrieve the club.
Emerging from the lake to applause and a hand up from the club’s owner, the fan was promptly rewarded with a towel to dry himself off before play continued. Yet there was no happy ending to the hole for Hadwin, who went on to make bogey on the par-five.
That didn’t stop wife Jessica from making light of events involving her husband.
Replying to video of the fan incident on X, she contrasted the bizarre scenes to the “chill little kid free weekend” she had anticipated in Louisville.
A one-over-par 72 was enough to see Hadwin through to the weekend at two-under par overall, 10 strokes behind leader Xander Schauffele.
How exactly the club ended up in the lake remains unclear, but the one-time PGA Tour winner has previous.
At The Players Championship in March, the 36-year-old vented his frustration at finding the water for the first time in his career at “the fifth major” by hurling his 8-iron into the drink.
Hadwin also has a reputation for finding himself in bizarre situations. At last year’s Canadian Open, the world No. 51 was mistakenly leveled by a security guard while celebrating his friend Nick Taylor’s victory.
Yet even he won’t have experienced a situation like world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler did on Friday, with the tournament favorite arrested, charged with felony assault and released from jail before stepping up to the tee.
Scheffler was given a rousing reception before returning to the clubhouse with a stellar 66, capping a surreal day that saw some fans don t-shirts imprinted with his own mugshot – one taken at the jail he had warmed up in that morning.
“The fans were tremendous today. I felt like they were cheering extra loud for me,” Scheffler told reporters.
“I’ve kept myself in the tournament now with a pretty chaotic day,” he added. “So I’m going to go from here and focus on getting some rest and recovery and get ready for a grind the last two days.”
Once again, Hadwin’s wife Jessica was on hand to lighten the mood, drawing comparisons between the tribulations of Scheffler and her husband.
“There’s only one logical next step after this latest incident,” she wrote on X.
“Have you been wrongfully arrested and / or tackled while at your job as a professional golfer? You might be entitled to compensation.”
The-CNN-Wire
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