Extra effort pays off for Svensson
Six-plus years ago, a whopping 16 Canadians advanced to the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour’s qualifying school at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The Korn Ferry circuit is the Triple-A league of men’s professional golf, with the top 25 players at year’s end graduating to the PGA Tour.
The cluster of Canadians was prime picking for a video series SCOREGolf was producing on the country’s next wave of tour pros. Two producers and I flew to Florida for the practice rounds. We set up shop at the end of the range and wrangled the fellas for interviews.
Mackenzie Hughes was fresh off Lasik surgery and explained how much he dreaded the procedure given he’s so squeamish anytime anything gets near his eyes. Eugene Wong told us (off camera) about some liberal interpretations of the rules that went on in China, where the PGA Tour had established a circuit. And Chris Ross, who struggled at that tournament, gave us a tour of the motorhome in which he travelled, making for a colourful piece.
Also in the field was Adam Svensson, from Surrey, B.C. He had been part of Golf Canada’s 2014 national amateur team with Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith. He had played Division II college golf at Barry University in Miami and won there a lot.
He was a pro with promise and his agent told me Svensson was the man to beat at Qschool and that his competitors knew it. I placated the agent but secretly scoffed. Then I went to watch Svensson hit balls and was captivated by his action. His swing was spectacular — strong and full and perfectly in balance. He presented an aura of confidence, too. Five days later, Svensson won by seven shots.
But raw talent alone does not guarantee stardom. From Michael Jordan to Tiger Woods to Sidney Crosby, we often hear that a sport’s best player is also its hardest worker. After two middle-of-thepack seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, Svensson won in the Bahamas early in 2018, which led to a PGA Tour promotion for 2019-20. He joined the big leagues with plenty of confidence but went the entire season without registering a top-10 finish, missing more cuts than he made.
He was demoted back to the Korn Ferry circuit last year, where his results, for the most part, were middling. Come the fall he did some serious soul searching and concluded that his work ethic was not where it needed to be. He practised, sure, but most times he was simply going through the motions. He vowed to change.
“Six, seven months ago, I was only putting three, four hours a day, and now it’s wake up at six, 8 a.m. at the golf course until five o’clock, unless I have a workout or something. Just treating it like a job,” Svensson recently explained.
With this new dedication, he won the Korn Ferry Tour’s Club Car Championship in Savannah, Ga., in March, which has him in excellent shape to regain PGA Tour privileges for 2021-22. He disclosed to the on-site media that he’d been in a “dark place” with his game, a surprising revelation. Svensson had never been that forthright before. He’d been affable but not introspective. The statement showed maturity.
“It felt like a relief,” Svensson said of the win during a phone interview. “Even the Bahamas event that I won didn’t feel as good as this one because I’ve been putting in more work than I’ve done in the past and usually when you do that you feel a lot better about it.”
Practice is no longer, by his own admission, a drag. Svensson arrives early to Medalist Golf Club in Palm Beach County where he lives, puts in full days, and enjoys them. That club has many PGA Tour players as members and Svensson has observed how they go about their business. He’s come to realize that the more balls he hits in practice, the more on autopilot he can be in competition. He said he wasn’t one bit nervous coming down the stretch in Georgia, a tournament that required a playoff, because he’d put in the time.
Svensson isn’t satisfied either. He believes he can contend every week. He believes even when he’s not firing on all cylinders he can net a top-20 finish. Case in point was his tie for 13th the very next week.
He’s always had that awesome natural talent and now he’s paired it with extreme effort. After that win, he spoke to his dad, Frank, the guy he leans on first and foremost for advice. Father reinforced what son already knew.
“My dad told me when I got off the phone with him, ‘You get back now and you work even harder and you just keep going,’ ” Svensson said. “That’s what I’m going to do and stick to it.”
Svensson, currently 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour points circuit, is back in action this week, beginning Thursday at the MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute in Las Vegas.