Svensson answers wakeup call and returns
After losing his PGA card in 2019, Canadian trained like a man on a mission
When Adam Svensson made it to the PGA Tour the first time, he says it was easy.
The return journey has been anything but.
Svensson is one of 10 Canadians with PGA Tour status for the 2021-22 wraparound season, which begins Thursday with the Fortinet Championship in Napa, Calif.
Getting back to the biggest stage in men’s golf has meant a lot of changes for the native of Surrey, B.C.
“It feels, to me, a lot better getting (my PGA card) this year because I did fail,” he says. “I used those failures to motivate me and get to the next level. It stunk then, but it might have been a good thing in the end.”
The 27-year-old Svensson won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour this past season and ended up 11th on the points list. The top 25 earn PGA Tour status.
He won nine times in college after dozens of victories as an amateur and junior in B.C., then blasted out of the gate as a pro on both the Mackenzie TourPGA Tour Canada and Korn Ferry Tour. But losing his PGA card after his rookie season in 2019 was a wake-up call.
He began training with performance coach Eric Ah-Yuen, a former world champion in taekwondo.
He says he also cut out all alcohol while committing fully to training out of his home club, Medalist in south Florida.
“Pretty much when I lost my tour card, I looked myself in the mirror and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I really dedicated myself. I really changed my life and the way I do things,” says Svensson. “It really upset me that I lost my card and I wanted to change.”
Richmond Hill’s Taylor Pendrith also graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour. The PGA rookie joins former college teammates Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners on the circuit.
Svensson understands the challenges Pendrith will face as a first-year player — unfamiliar routines on top of a higher calibre of competition — and says an improved work ethic plus one year of PGA experience have put him in a better position to succeed the second time around.
“When you’re playing better golf, you’re a lot happier than not,” says Svensson.