Disappointed Hadwin happy to put Venezuela in his rear-view

A day later, after a grueling trip home from Venezuela, Abbotsford's Adam Hadwin still wasn't over the close call in Caracas.

It's going to take a while for Hadwin and Merritt's Roger Sloan to forget how close they came to securing Canada a berth in this fall's World Cup of Golf.

When they finished their fourth and final round Sunday at Caracas Golf Club, Hadwin and Sloan thought they had missed by three shots.

But later, while they were cooling their heels by the 18th green, they learned they had actually missed by a single shot.

"We were just standing there after our round, just kind of taking it all in, and the team that we played with, the team from the Dominican Republic, walked by and said,cheap golf clubs 'Colombia pulled out. Four teams get in, 22 (under) was the number,' and we both kind of looked at each other and said, 'no, you've got to be kidding me,' Hadwin said Monday.

"It is very disappointing to come up one shot short."

Hadwin and Sloan finished the 14-team qualifier at 21-under par and in fifth place. Only three spots were supposed to be available to the World Cup, which goes in late November at the Mission Hills Resort in China, and they had finished three shots behind the third-place team from Guatemala.

But a fourth spot was awarded when it was learned that Colombia had withdrawn from the World Cup. Canada finished just one shot behind fourth-place Argentina.

"What can you do?" Hadwin said. "Knowing that, it wouldn't have changed the way we played the holes. We didn't get the job done. But Roger almost chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole, only missed it by three or four inches. That's how close we came to even tying it up on the last hole."

Hadwin and Sloan think slow starts in the first two rounds ultimately cost them a spot in the $7.5-million event.

"It was obviously a different format than we're used to, we don't often play with a partner and for our country as a team," Hadwin said. "I think the first couple of days we were kind of getting used to that and it showed in our front- nine scores both days. We didn't get off to very good starts, but we found a way to get it done in the end and post some decent numbers. I think we had figured it out by the third day."

It sure seemed that way. Sloan and Hadwin combined for a best-ball score of 11-under 60 in Round 3.

"Roger was making putts from everywhere that day and I was just along for the ride on Saturday," Hadwin said. "It was fun to watch. But it was a team event and I chipped in here and there."

Their putters went cold in Sunday's final alternate-shot round when they shot a two-under 69.

"We had a lot of opportunities and for the most part we hit a lot of good putts, but they just wouldn't fall for us."

Hadwin is happy to be home. He much prefers Vancouver to Venezuela, which he did not particularly enjoy.

"From my experiences thus far, it wasn't my most favourite place to travel to," he said. "I came back from Colombia saying I'd definitely go back to Bogota, I'd definitely go back to Medellin. I felt safe. Coming back from Caracas, I am not saying the same thing."

Hadwin won't be home for long. He's decided to try and Monday qualify for two upcoming PGA Tour events -- the Frys.com in San Martin, Calif., and the McGladrey Classic in Sea Island, Ga. -- where he will try and duplicate his magical performance at this summer's RBC Canadian Open at Shaughnessy.

Hadwin is exempt through the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying school and is scheduled to play at a site in Texas in mid-November.

CHIP SHOTS: Victoria's Jim Rutledge shot an eight-under 64 at a Monday qualifier and played his way into this week's Champions Tour event, the SAS Championship in North Carolina. After his round, Rutledge learned he didn't need to qualify. An exempt player had withdrawn and he had been added to the field. "I have no way of explaining it because I have no understanding of what's happened," Rutledge said. "I just know I'm in."