Welcome back to the PGA, Adam Svensson.
The South Surrey golfer – who is back on the PGA Tour this season after the last few years playing on the Korn Ferry Tour – finished in seventh place at the Sony Open in Hawaii last weekend, carding a four-round total of 17-under par.
The top-10 finish was the 28-year-old Earl Marriott Secondary graduate’s best-ever finish at the PGA event, and earned him a $227,812 payday.
It was Svensson’s first tournament of 2022, and just his third overall since regaining his PGA Tour card last summer. He played on the world’s top tour in 2019 but lost his card at the conclusion of the season and returned to the Korn Ferry Tour, which is one rung below the PGA in the pro golf hierarchy.
At the Sony Open, which was played at the par-70 Wai’alae Country Club in Honolulu, Svensson shot in the 60s all four rounds (64, 67, 65, 67). In Sunday’s final round, he shot par on the first eight holes, before picking up a birdie on the par-5 ninth hole.
On the back nine, he birdied 10 to move to two-under par for the day, but he bogeyed the par-4 13th. He rebounded nicely, however, with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 to move into the top-10 on the leaderboard.
He finished in a four-way tie for seventh, along with Keith Mitchell, Russell Knox and Matt Kuchar. The tournament was won by Hideki Matsuyama, who defeated Russell Henley in a playoff.
After the tournament, Svensson said he “struggled all day” with speed, having left a few putts short.
“I was a little nervous, but I held it together there with a couple birdies, and had a nice putt on 15,” he said in a post-round press conference.
After Saturday’s third round, Svensson said his work off the tee needed improvement – “A lot of wonky shots,” on the first couple holes is how he described it – but he was happy with his play both near, and on, the green.
“It was a scrappy round,” he said. “I was a little nervous, I knew (the wonky shots) were going to happen, but my putting and short game saved me today. I’ve been working hard at it and it seems to be paying off.”
Svensson, who played two PGA events in the fall but finished no higher than 22nd, now prepares this week for The American Express tournament, which begins tomorrow (Thursday) in La Quinta, Calif., just outside Palm Springs.
“It’s great (to start 2022 with a top-10 finish). I’m excited for next week in Palm Springs. I’m feeling really good with the putter, I just have to find something off the tee, and (improve) a little bit here and there,” he said.
“But I’d say overall my game’s pretty good.”
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