Published on May 27, 2025

Raleigh’s Chesson Hadley ready for ‘big boy golf’ in UNC Health Championship

Chesson Hadley once used a victory on the Korn Ferry golf tour in Raleigh to propel him to good things on the PGA Tour. Twelve years later, he hopes to do it again.

Hadley, a Raleigh native, won the 2013 Rex Hospital Open when it was played at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation. The former Georgia Tech All-America moved on to the big tour, was named PGA Tour rookie of the year in 2014 and earned acclaim as the tall, lanky golfer who liked to smile and snap his fingers after making big putts.

Now 37, Hadley is trying to reboot his career. He’ll be playing the UNC Health Championship this week at Raleigh Country Club, the Korn Ferry Tour event that begins Thursday and runs through Sunday.

“I have a lot of fond memories of competing in the Rex and I’m looking forward to playing this year in the UNC Health on what will be a new (tournament) venue for me at Raleigh Country Club,” Hadley said on a media call. “I’ve played out there a few times recently and the course is in phenomenal shape.

“I’d say on the Korn Ferry Tour there’s not a lot of golf courses that challenge you like Raleigh Country Club. This is big boy golf.”

Hadley has competed in 291 career PGA Tour events and earned more than $12 million in his career. He won the 2014 Puerto Rico Open and been a tournament runner-up three times in his career.

But Hadley has played in six PGA Tour events this year and missed the cut in five. He did tie for 20th in his most recent event, the Myrtle Beach Classic, where he closed 10 under par for the tournament at the Dunes Golf Club. “It has been a little slow of late the last year or so,” Hadley said.

“I haven’t played my best golf. I made a few changes, went and saw a new swing coach lately.

“I had a nice finish at Myrtle Beach on the PGA Tour and it shed some light on some things, and it kind of enlivened and kind of invigorated me as to some things I was missing. This game can be pretty lonely when you’re playing some bad golf and just everything doesn’t feel great.”

Playing in Raleigh in 2017 reinvigorated him. He didn’t win the Rex, losing in a playoff, but later picked up a pair of victories on what then was the Web.com Tour, finished as the tour’s leading money winner and was named the tour player of the year.

The next year on the PGA Tour, Hadley had seven top-10 finishes, earned $2.8 million and closed 44th in FedEx championship points to retain his playing card on tour.

Hadley said he had “good vibes” in playing again in Raleigh, saying, “This could be a huge catapult for me for the rest of the year and hopefully for years to come. It has done that in the past.”

Renamed the UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH, the event has been held at Raleigh Country Club since 2023 and the sponsorship with the Korn Ferry Tour extended through 2027. The total purse is $1 million, with $180,000 to the winner.

Proceeds from this year’s event will support development of North Carolina Children’s, a project that includes the only freestanding children’s hospital in the state. UNC Health Is partnering with Duke Health on the project, expected to open in the early 2030s.