Luke DeCock: As tough summer winds down, Chesson Hadley looks for joy in small moments

Luke DeCock, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Aug 3, 2025

Published in Golf

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

GREENSBORO, N.C. — It was only through the beneficence of Sedgefield Country Club owner John McConnell that Chesson Hadley was even playing the Wyndham Championship this week, the second-to-last player to get into the field, and that not even until last Sunday.

McConnell specifically requested an exemption for the longtime PGA Tour pro from Raleigh who is laboring through the toughest season of his career at age 38, struggling to find any joy on the golf course after a decade of consistent, year-to-year success.

Hadley found a little joy this week. He made his third cut of the summer, finishing in the top 40, and hit the ball well enough to finish even higher if his putter had cooperated. After some early season tweaks to his swing, he’s finally making solid contact. And he was able to share a moment with his 9-year-old daughter he’ll never forget.

Amid all of that, Hadley was still here on Sunday when so many others were long gone, signing autographs after his round for the usual crowd of folks happy to see him here again. While Cameron Young (22 under; six strokes better than second-place finisher Mac Meissner) was running away with the tournament in record fashion, there were smaller victories for people like Hadley (5 under, T38).

Is that enough to jumpstart his game when the fall season begins next month, a schedule that includes one of his favorite tournaments, in Napa? Hadley hopes so. Or at the least, he’s trying to talk himself into it.

“I make anything, I’m probably in contention,” Hadley said. “I might not win the golf tournament but I’ll certainly finish higher. So I think you have to look at that as something encouraging, whether I believe it or not, and buy into that. My attitude hasn’t been very good either. But I’m hitting it much better. I need to find some enjoyment out here. I ‘m not really enjoying myself.

“Some of that might be being a little burned out. Some of that might be perspective. A little bit of a lack of gratitude. So I’m certainly thankful to John McConnell and (tournament CEO) Mark Brazil, they kind of got me in at the last minute. I’m definitely thankful for that. That’s for sure.”

All the talk coming into the Wyndham, locally, was about the kids: Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia and Ryan Gerard, only a few weeks removed from his first PGA Tour win. And who was left playing the weekend? Griffin, who at this point in the summer is inevitable, and the two old guys, Hadley and Webb Simpson.

Experience matters at Sedgefield more than length, and knowing how to play the slopes and contours offers an advantage earned only through repetition. That was part of what made Hadley’s failure to convert on the greens so frustrating; he knows where most of these are going, unafraid to indulge the giant breaks required, knowing how quickly a downhill putt can skitter away.

“And then you get swirly winds around here, and just being in the Carolinas, a lot of us all grew up playing in this,” said Griffin, who narrowly missed his ninth top 10 of the summer as he tries to play his way into a Ryder Cup spot. “All of that adds to a little advantage, maybe.”

As for Hadley, all of that left him very much of two minds afterward: Happy to make the cut and play the weekend, still frustrated by his inability to make more of the opportunity.

But momentum is whatever you want it to be, sometimes.

“I haven’t made many cuts this year so it’s nice to make the cut,” Hadley said. “Certainly a step in the right direction. I think it was a great opportunity. I made some of the opportunity.”

Then there was the moment on Saturday that will stick with him far longer than anything else that happened this summer. His 9-year-old daughter Hollins usually prefers to hang out with the other tour kids during tournaments, but on Saturday decided to walk with her father on a day when there were few other fans around.

“I was not having my best day,” Hadley said. “My daughter, she typically goes to school, tour school, and she doesn’t have a ton of golf knowledge. I was chatting with her, and it’s just me and her. No one else is around. I was like, ‘I’m not playing very well.’ And she said, ‘Daddy, I like the way you’re playing.’ It was just the kind of innocent moment where she just loves me for me.”