Palm Harbor, FL …

Moments after seizing a four shot lead on day three of the Valspar Championship soon-to-be-married Adam Hadwin revealed at this event a year ago he was so angry he hurled a 7-iron into a tree ahead of missing the cut on the Copperhead course.

But when asked by www.golfbytourmiss where does he get his smiling disposition the Canadian spoke of how his life has changed since he was last competing at the Innisbrook Resort.

“I haven’t always been smiling and it’s been a long time coming that I figured that out; that smiling and enjoying life seems to lead to better golf,” he said.

“So it wasn’t that long ago that I was breaking clubs and hawking things. Actually, if you guys really want a story, last year, I broke a 7-iron here on the second hole. So I’ve improved. I tossed it into a tree.”

Adam Hadwin leads by four at Valspar Championship

How hard Hadwin was asked: “Pretty hard. Hard enough to break it.

“I’ve just learned. I’ve really learned to calm down and stay patient. Understand that the shot that I’m hitting is not the most important thing in life right now, and you know, it’s funny which came first: Me enjoying life and playing better golf, or playing better golf and enjoying life. It’s hard to say but the two go hand in hand.

“You know, I’ve had so much confidence over the last sort of year and a half, as well, which also helps. But just a matter of just, you know, I’m going to hit bad shots, but the next shot is the important one and I’ve been doing a good job of that.”

And Hadwin being the seemingly down-to-earth and relaxed golfer he’s become threw a question back at the gathered media.

“You want the full story?” he said smiling.

Then in revealing the story Hadwin also unveiled the side of his character growing up in Vancouver that probably led to his club-throwing episode by indicating he grew-up being ‘too competitive’,

“I hit hybrid off the tee,” he began.  “I hit it left. I only had a gap wedge and I had a tree on the left. I had to go around it and ended up pulling it and hitting it and it kicked left into the trees. And then I had a shot through the trees to kind of punch it up near the front of the green, and I kind of duffed a 7-iron coming through or something like that, and that’s when 7-iron met tree.

“It’s not something I’m proud of. It’s something that I’ve dealt with my whole life. It’s not just golf. I’ve dealt with this through soccer, through baseball, through basketball when I played. Every sport, I’ve had my issues being too competitive and wanting to win too much, and not — you know, just really being a poor loser, accepting that.

“I think the biggest reason that I’m sitting here today and playing so well last three or four months is really learning, really figuring that out, and understanding that it has a huge impact on how I play. It’s certainly taken my game to another level, just understanding that it’s just golf. The end of the day, it’s not life or death.

Adam Hadwin and his soon-to-be-wife Jessica.

And Hadwin singled out his future wife, Jessica who he first met while competing in a Web.com event in Wichita, Kansas, and as pivotal in ‘calming down’ the young Canadian.

“Probably the biggest person that has helped control my anger would be my fiancée,” he said.

“You know, she has zero golf background. She has zero interest in playing golf, and zero interest in picking it up. The interesting thing talking with her is that she can just how I walk around the golf course and she can pick up on little things like that, not being a golfer, and she’s not as focused on the outcomes of the shots and just sort of watching me and watching body language a little bit.

“And so I can remember this last year, at this event, kind of talking to her a little bit. Of course I was — I honestly I can’t remember, I think I missed the cut. But just talking to her about some of the attitude stuff and all that, and she’s a pretty good calming influence, as well. Pretty even-keeled girl, as well. It helps.”

Hadwin said that he and his future wife have planned to get married on March 24th and then on March 26th they plan to fly to French Polynesia with visits to Pacific Ocean islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora.

But what happens if he was to win the 2017 Valspar Championship and thus be guaranteed an invitation into the April 6th starting Masters?

“The honeymoon right now is booked for French Polynesia so we get married on Friday the 24th and we leave the 26th. But she knows that we’ll cancel if all things go well tomorrow,” he said.

“But we’ll take a few days to get prepared for the greenest place on earth at Augusta if all goes well.”