Safeway Open: Top five sleeper picks
We go from a Rookie of the Year candidate to the winner of that award in 2014. Chesson Hadley is in a renaissance with his game after catching fire in the Web.com Tour finals. The 30-year-old North Carolinian made all four finals cuts, including a 10th, a runner-up and a win.
Having already secured his PGA Tour card with a ninth-place finish in the Web.com Tour regular season money list, the former PGA Tour winner was freed to play the golf he knew he was capable of playing in preparation for his return to the big leagues this week.
”I proved to myself that I’m good enough to play on tour,” Hadley was quoted by Golf Channel after his win at the Albertson’s Boise Open. ”When you lose your card, you start thinking and you get to some pretty dark places. It’s so awesome to be going back there. I’m kind of fired up about getting that No. 1 spot.”
After struggling in just about every statistical category on the PGA Tour in 2015-16, Hadley was one of the most well-rounded players last year on the Web. He finished second in all-around and was first in sand saves.
His string bean-esque 6-foot-4, 160-pound frame flung the ball 310.8 yards off the tee (29th) and onto the green 72.7 percent of the time (14th).
Hadley is 1-for-2 making the cut at Silverado with a T57 in 2014 and MC in 2015. While this may not be a horse for the course, his recent form and PGA Tour experience make him one of the favorites among the Web.com Tour grads to make a quick splash.