Duplicate User Query in Policy

I have a policy that seems to be duplicating the authorized user query. I'm seeing this query:

select * from `users` where `id` = 1 limit 1

/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Auth/EloquentUserProvider.php:52

And also this one, which is slightly different in my policy:

select * from `users` where `users`.`id` = 1 limit 1

/app/Policies/ProjectPolicy.php:20

Here's what the ProjectPolicy method looks like:

public function view(User $user, Project $project)
    {
        return $user->is($project->owner);
    }

And in the user model:

 /**
     * A user has their own projects
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany
     */
    public function projects()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Project::class, 'owner_id');
    }

Anyone experienced this issue before?