B.C. golfers Svensson, Taylor, Sloan enjoy solid starts at Glen Abbey

Surrey’s Adam Svensson hasn’t made the cut in two previous tries at the RBC Canadian Open, but has a great chance to change that today at Glen Abbey Golf Club. The 22-year-old rookie pro birdied two of his final three holes to shoot a three-under 69 in Thursday’s opening round. He and David Hearn of Brampton, Ont., were tied as low Canadians after Round 1 and five shots behind first-round leader Emiliano Grillo of Argentina. Svensson is among five British Columbians playing in this year’s Open. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor and Roger Sloan of Merritt also had solid starts, both opening with two-under 70s. Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin had a tough start. Hadwin, who tied for fourth at the 2011 Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, had two double-bogeys en route to a two-over 74 Thursday. He’ll have to go low today to make the cut. Justin Shin of Maple Ridge, who won Monday’s qualifier to get into the event, had a late start Thursday and finished with a two-over round of 74. Since turning pro early this past spring, Svensson has split his time between PGA Tour Canada and the Web.Com Tour. He finished second in each of the opening two events on the PGA Tour Canada circuit in Vancouver and Victoria. In four Web.Com Tour events since then, Svensson has made three cuts and earned $21,653. That puts him 118th on the money list. He’d have to move into the top 75 to qualify for the seasonending playoffs. He has exemption into next month’s Web.com Tour event in Knoxville, Tenn., but with no Web.com Tour status, Svensson is likely to concentrate on playing the remainder of the PGA Tour Canada season. Thanks to those two solid finishes, Svensson stands eighth on the PGA Tour Canada money list and would need to move into the top five to secure Web.com Tour status for 2016.