James Hahn missed eight consecutive cuts coming into the week of the Wells Fargo Championship, where five of the world’s top 10 were in the field at Quail Hollow Club.
Last year’s Northern Trust Open winner was in a slump, and the only way out was to get his mind right.
‘You’re playing bad and you’re missing cuts and there’s nothing funny about that,’ he said.
It took a heart-to-heart with his caddie, Mark Urbanek, but in the end Hahn was able to find his confidence and won a playoff with Roberto Castro on Sunday to secure his second PGA Tour victory.
‘I constantly remind myself that I’m good enough, that I belong out here. I was kind of chanting to myself that I can do this, I will do this and I must do this,’ Hahn said after making a par on the first extra hole to secure the win.
The 34-year-old got his round going with a 51-foot putt for eagle at the seventh, which earned him a share of the lead.
On the stretch Hahn broke a tie at the top with a birdie at the 15th, but bogeyed the 18th and slid back to nine-under-par, which meant extra holes would determine the winner.
On the first playoff hole (another trip down the 18th) Castro hit his drive into the creek left of the fairway and went on to make bogey, which left Hahn with a six-foot putt for the win.
‘To know that i had that putt to win a golf tournament was pretty exciting, the thing you dream of as a kid,’ Hahn said.
‘Any time you’re given a second opportunity you have to take it. In the playoff I hit one of the best drives of my life, followed up with a great seven-iron to almost the same spot that I three-putted from in regulation. I told myself that I would not do that again,’ he concluded.
