Adam Svensson Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

US Open 2023: This pro’s bunker shot almost spinning back to his feet shows how diabolical LACC’s greens are

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 05:06:16 +0000

Adam Svensson. Nuclr Golf Twitter

It’s one thing to hear about how diabolical LACC’s greens are, and it’s one thing to see Johnson Wagner throw some balls around the course to get a feel for the wild undulations. It’s another thing entirely to actually witness the world’s best hit actual shots into the greens, backspin and all.

Canada’s Adam Svensson learned how CrazyTown, USA, the North Course’s greens are early in his opening round of the 123rd US Open. After starting one-under through two, Svensson missed the fairway at the 403-yard par-4 third and then hit his second shot into a greenside bunker well right of the hole location. With the severity of the slope on the left portion of the third green, where the flagstick is located on Thursday, players who miss right are actually hitting it well past the flag and allowing it to feed back toward the hole. Because of how severe it is, though, balls are feeding well past the hole on their way back.

Or, in Svensson’s case, zipping well past the hole and nearly rolling all the way back to the bunker he just hit from (fortunately, it didn’t make it that far). Check out this ridiculous shot:

?? LACC is ruthless #USOpen

pic.twitter.com/tAKfbleh7M

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) June 15, 2023

Ruthless is right. What else is Svennson supposed to do here (other than put a touch less spin on the ball)? It nearly got all the way to the rough on the other side before beginning its journey back. Other than hitting the flag, there’s no way to stop this thing.

Svensson’s distance to the hole here was about 25 yards. He landed at around 35, watched it bounce and skip to around 40, and then watched as it rolled all the way back. It’s actual distance in shot-tracker terms? Seven yards. Insane stuff.

The Canadian went on to make bogey on the hole but still managed to make the turn in one-under 34. He made three more bogeys and a birdie to signed for a one-over 71.

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Second chance: Adam Svensson wins his first career PGA Tour title

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 06:58:14 +0000

By Joel Beall
It was a day that called for bundling up, and Adam Svensson had that part down, his head covered in a beanie and his body cased in a rainsuit. But when the hard part was over — which Svensson had made look easy — no amount of layers could keep him from coming undone when realising the dream he had worked so hard for was now reality.

On a weekend when Sea Island’s Seaside Course could be had Svensson proved himself the man to take it, a final-round 64 good enough for a two-shot victory at the RSM Classic.

“It’s not even real right now,” Svensson said through tears. “I’m just so happy. I just put so much work in, and to win on the PGA Tour means everything to me.”

If Svensson is a foreign name, you’re forgiven. Technically it is foreign, Svensson hailing from Surrey, Canada, but we digress. The 28-year-old entered the week 174th in the world, and though he’s in his third season on tour he had failed to post a top-five finish in his 69 career starts. Moreover, Svensson had missed the cut at Sea Island in three previous appearances and had not been playing particularly well this autumn.

That included the start of this week, when he opened the RSM with a 75. Svensson bounced back with a 64 on Friday to make the weekend, but at T-43 and seven shots back of the lead through 36 holes, his name was not one expected to be a part of the weekend proceedings. Then Svensson showed that 64 was no aberration with a 62 on Saturday, putting him among a crowd of 12 within two shots of the lead.

For the better part of Sunday that’s what it remained, a crowd, no one able to break free, with cold, windy, overcast conditions ensuring there would be no fireworks. Callum Tarren went out in 31 and birdied the 10th to look like the player to beat, but over the last eight holes he managed just one more red figure to finish with a 17-under 265 total. It was an impressive score for the Englishman, yet with five groups on the course it felt like a number that would be matched, if not surpassed. Brian Harman came inches away from an albatross at the par-5 15th, and an eagle there along with a birdie at the 16th put the Sea Island resident at 17-under with two to go. Sahith Theegala, playing with Harman, erased a double-bogey at the seventh with four birdies in a six-hole stretch to reach 17-under as well. But needing 3s at the last both men walked away with 4.

We say “need” because behind them Svensson was holing everything in sight. Historically a bad putter, Svensson spurred a birdie run by knocking in a 20-footer at the eighth, dropping a 36-footer at the 10th and a 16-footer at the 11th to reach 17-under. He opened the door for Theegala and Harman by making par at the very birdieable 15th, but promptly shut it for good with back-to-back birdies — both from putts longer than 10 feet — at the 16th and 17th. The man who ranked 183rd in SG/putting a few years back gained a whopping 9.16 strokes over field the final three days at Sea Island.

“I changed my stroke a little bit on Friday and then it was feeling really good,” Svensson said, when asked about his short-game magic. “I just kind of stuck with it.”

First wins are seen as a breakthrough, and this certainly applies. (He was the eighth winner in the RSM’s 13-year history to make it his maiden tour title.) However, Svensson’s true inflection point didn’t come this week but many, many weeks before, back in the summer of 2019.

Svensson is the eighth player in the tournament’s 13-year history to make the RSM his first PGA Tour win. Mike Mulholland

Svensson had earned his PGA Tour card the previous autumn but failed to do anything with it, finishing 167th in the FedEx Cup. His demotion to the Korn Ferry Tour proved to be a wake-up call. In his words, he realised he wasn’t as good as he thought, that working hard is not for extra credit but a prerequisite on tour. He contemplated quitting, wondering if he had what it took to rectify what went wrong.

Yet Svensson believed his sense of direction was still true, he just needed another path. Rather than practise for a few hours each day, he devoted all daylight hours to his craft. He began training with a performance coach and cut alcohol from his diet.

“I relied mostly on talent when I was younger. I didn’t put enough work in, I wasn’t that disciplined,” Svensson said. “Like I said, two years ago I decided to give it 100 per cent and I’ve been super disciplined on, you know, I don’t drink anymore, I go to the golf course every day, I’m up at 6, I give it 100 per cent now. That’s the reason.”

Because his year back in the minors coincided with the onset of the pandemic, he ended up spending two summers on the Korn Ferry circuit. Still, he got his card back by winning twice and promised himself he wouldn’t let the second chance go to waste.

He hasn’t, and this win secures his playing future for some time. Yet in the win’s afterglow Svensson eschewed all the goodies coming in his direction — invites to the Masters and PGA Championship, a trip to Hawaii, lots and lots of money — and instead focused on the past. Where he had been and what it took to get here while carrying the weight of an impalpable unknown.

“I didn’t even think about [the exemptions] until it was brought up to me 15 minutes ago,” Svensson said. “I’m more proud of what I’ve accomplished from the direction I was to the direction I’ve gone now, it’s more fulfilling than money to me. I’m more just proud of myself for things I’ve been doing.”

Maybe that’s why the usually stoic Svensson became emotional when his ball disappeared on the final hole. Forget the exemptions and money and trophy. Svensson invested in himself, and this week proved it was a darn good investment to make.

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Past PGA Tour player wins $100,000 in lucrative mini-tour event

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 07:09:30 +0000

Kevin C. Cox

By Alex Myers
Adam Svensson played a full season on the PGA Tour in 2018-2019, but the 27-year-old Canadian kicked off 2021 by making more in a mini-tour event than in any of his starts on golf’s highest level.

On Wednesday, Svensson captured the inaugural Big Money Golf Classic, and as the name indicates, this isn’t your typical mini-tour prize pool. With an entry fee of $3,000—and a full field willing to put that up—the purse was a whopping $400,000.

Svensson earned $100,000 of that by finishing the three-day event at nine under at The Legacy Club in Longwood, Fla. With the win, he nearly matched the biggest payday of his career, which came from winning the 2018 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.

Here’s a look at Svensson’s winning tap-in, courtesy of Twitter’s Monday Q Info, to beat Josh Gibson by a shot.

Adam Svensson wins the @bigmoney_golf by 1 over Josh Gibson pic.twitter.com/mCEPEKDRcb

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) January 6, 2021

After failing to keep his PGA Tour card at the conclusion of 2019, Svensson played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. He is currently 40th on the money list that will carry over into 2021.

Gibson shot a final-round 64, but was undone by a double bogey on the 14th hole. Still, the former D-3 golfer took home $50,000 for finishing solo second in an eclectic field that featured players from 18-year-old phenom Akshay Bhatia to former NFL running back Danny Woodhead, both of whom missed the cut.

Other notables included eight-time PGA Tour winner Fred Funk (MC), Chase Koepka (T-18), the younger brother of four-time major champ Brooks Koepka, and Derek Ernst (T-10, who won the 2013 Wells Fargo Championship.

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