James Hahn Gets Second Career Win at the Wells Fargo
- Dan Hauser
- 9 May, 2016
James Hahn hadn’t made a cut since February. He entered the week a stunning 0-8 on cuts made, with the last one coming at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when he finished in a tie for 17th. So of course Hahn showed up at Quail Hollow this week, site of the 2017 PGA Championship and one of the more difficult courses on the PGA Tour and got his second career win on Tour, defeating Roberto Castro on the first playoff hole.
”It was going bad for a while,” Hahn said.
Going bad would be putting things nicely. Since his maiden Tour win last year at the Northern Trust Open, Hahn had more missed cuts (14) than top-25 finishes (4). After he missed his eighth straight cut of the 2016 season last week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Hahn admitted that anxiety started creeping in.
”Just didn’t have the confidence, didn’t believe in myself,” Hahn added. “I felt like I was putting in the work but wasn’t getting any reward for it. … You’re playing bad and you’re missing cuts and there’s nothing funny about that.”
Hahn, who had become “famous” for his ‘Gangnam Style” birdie celebration three years ago on the Phoenix Open’s 16th hole as well as his past career as a women’s shoe salesman, said he used the fear of losing his PGA Tour card and having to play on the Web.com Tour as motivation when things got bad.
”I just told my wife, I can’t play there – I can’t,” Hahn said. ”It’s not an option for me. I feel like I’m good enough and I need to put in more work to stay on this level, and it’s worth every minute of it. … I have a lot of people counting on me.”
Hahn won’t have to worry about losing his Tour Card for quite some time now. He still had a year left of exemption from his win last year and he can now add a two year extension onto that with the win at Quail Hollow this weekend.
”You have to keep believing in yourself and keep grinding. I constantly remind myself that I am good enough and belong out there,” Hahn said.
The win was also significant for Hahn’s new club company, PXG. PXG, founded by GoDaddy Founder Bob Parsons, burst on the scene this past offseason, signing Hahn as well as Billy Horschel and Zach Johnson from their previous club manufacturers. PXG’s celebrated the win Sunday night by posting a congratulatory tweet to their twitter account.
Congratulations @JamesHahnPGA on your win at the @WellsFargoGolf! #PXGTroops pic.twitter.com/jBu0U4Cf7r
— Parsons Xtreme Golf (@pxg) May 8, 2016
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
