2017 Valspar Championship results: Adam Hadwin holds off Patrick Cantlay for 1st PGA Tour win

With a four-shot advantage coming into Sunday, Adam Hadwin had about all the comfort one could possibly have while sleeping on a lead. The one problem? He’d still have to navigate the Snake Pit to grab that first win.

It was a white-knuckle finish, but Hadwin closed with just enough to hold off a hard-charging Patrick Cantlay through one of golf’s toughest closing stretches to pick up his first PGA Tour victory. An even-par 71 was just enough to get it done for Hadwin, sealing the deal with a par on the 72nd hole after Cantlay gave ground and stumbled to a bogey. But for a time through the difficult finishing stretch at the Innisbrook Copperhead course, it didn’t look like it would be easy.

Sitting with a one-stroke lead over Cantlay on the 16th tee, Hadwin cut his tee ball on the 16th left into the water. The wheels were coming off, and the door sat wide open for Cantlay to seize control.

But Cantlay didn’t, closing with a bogey on the 18th, leaving the door wide open for Hadwin to win his first PGA Tour event and lock up his Masters bid for next month.

Here are three quick takeaways from Tampa.

Adam Hadwin already grabbed golf headlines this year with his 59 in Palm Springs, but he wasn’t able to close the deal there -- instead finishing second to Hudson Swafford. With his win this week, Hadwin vaults all the way up to fourth in the FedExCup standings, just behind Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, and Dustin Johnson. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t fall far off from that pace, either. Hadwin has the talent to be a multiple-time winner on the PGA Tour, possibly even multiple times this season.

If he keeps this up, he’ll play his way into the Presidents Cup conversation for this fall.

Even in a loss, Cantlay was the story of the week — and might be one of the best stories of the year on Tour.

In only his second start back after a 27-month absence from the PGA Tour, the world’s 1,419th-best player fired a 4-under-par 67 to nearly win Sunday at the Valspar Championship for his first PGA Tour victory. And what a long road it’s been to get back to a stage he long seemed destined to dominate.

The former UCLA top amateur was golf’s Next Big Thing in 2011 and 2012. He won almost every award and honor available for amateur players through those two years — low amateur at the US Open and Masters, the Nicklaus Award, the Haskins, the Hogan.

Cantlay was set to be Jordan Spieth, well before Jordan Spieth. Then the injuries came, and the personal tragedies: back problems, his caddie passing away right in front of him after being tragically stricken by a car. A major medical exemption was Cantlay’s only ticket to get in a handful of PGA Tour events to earn enough to regain full tour status.

The good news for Cantlay even in a loss? He’s now made enough money in just two starts to regain full PGA Tour status for the rest of the 2017 season.

The Tour has been off to a heck of a start in 2017 -- and it was probably unrealistic to expect it to keep supplying big names every single week. Off weeks happen, especially when the schedule is as cramped as it is right now for players. The Snake Pit provides one of pro golf’s toughest tests, but the sandwiched date between the fantastic new Mexico Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational left the Valspar holding a less than star-studded leaderboard through the weekend.

Here are the full results from Innisbrook. The Tour heads across I-4 next week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.