After 70 starts and a trip back to the Korn Ferry Tour, Adam Svensson is officially a winner on the PGA Tour. Emerging from a crowded leaderboard at the 2022 RSM Classic, the Canadian staked his claim on the final event of the calendar year with a flawless final round of 6-under 64 to get the better of Sahith Theegala, Brian Harman and Callum Tarren by two strokes.

“It’s not even real right now. I’m just so happy. I’ve just put so much work in and to win on the PGA Tour means everything to me,” Svensson said while attempting to hold back tears. “It’s been an up-and-down journey. I’ve had lows, I’ve had highs, but I just kept believing in myself and here I am.”

Svensson was one of many players to hold a share of the lead Sunday at Sea Island as a total of 16 players entered the final day within three strokes of the lead. Making just one birdie in his opening seven holes, it wasn’t until the middle of his round when the 28-year-old began to heat up in the chilly Georgia weather.

Adding three birdies in a four-hole stretch from holes Nos. 8-11, Svensson reached 17 under and matched the clubhouse lead set by Tarren. Unable to take advantage of the gettable par-5 15th, Svensson quickly made amends with back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 to separate himself from Theegala and Harman who were surging in the group ahead.

“I just tried to make no bogeys today. I didn’t even look at the scoreboard until 16. I just said if I make no bogeys, I am putting well, so that’s kind of what I did,” said Svensson. “I was actually feeling pretty good over them [the birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 17]. The one on 17 I didn’t think was going to go in and somehow the golf gods let in.”

Finishing the tournament at 19 under, Svensson utilized a red hot weekend performance to claim his first title on the PGA Tour. Carding 13 birdies and an eagle against just one bogey over his final 36 holes, the 28-year-old will now reap the benefits that come with a trip to the winner’s circle.

Ascending to sixth in the FedEx Cup standings, Svensson will also receive invitations into the Tournament of Champions, Players Championship, Masters and PGA Championship. For a player yet to compete in a major championship, simply put, this triumph is career changing.

“Two years ago I made a decision to give it 100%,” Svensson said. “There was no going back, I was quitting because I was going the wrong way. I’d say it was a good choice.” Grade: A+

Here is a breakdown of the rest of the leaderboard at the 2022 RSM Classic

T2. Sahith Theegala (-17): It was all setting up for Theegala’s breakthrough as he was a member of the penultimate group and thus avoided the final round pressure of bringing up the rear. Getting off to a solid start, the 24-year-old will look back to a double bogey on the par-5 seventh as his eventual downfall. Fighting back with four birdies on his back nine, Theegala shared the lead at one point before ultimately falling two strokes short of Svensson. Grade: A

T5. Cole Hammer (-15): The former standout at Texas had a rough start to his professional career. Narrowly missing out on conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, Hammer was playing with house money this week as he gained entry into the tournament through a sponsor’s exemption. He took full advantage of the opportunity and collected the first of what should be many top-10 finishes. For his efforts, Hammer will have a place to play to begin next year as he is now firmly in the field for the Sony Open. 

“Pretty darn content with what happened out there,” Hammer said. “Yesterday I had a tough start, but fought back. Missed a few putts coming down the stretch, but gave myself a chance. Was only four back going into today, the leaderboard was jam packed and knew a good round would go a long way in some tough conditions. I’m just so proud of the way that I fought and battled out there. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward and leaves a great taste in my mouth going to the offseason.” Grade: A

T5. Joel Dahmen (-15): The 2022-23 season marks the final campaign Dahmen will be fully exempt on the PGA Tour for his victory at the 2021 Corales Championship. With added motivation and pressure to play well, Dahmen did just that throughout the entirety of the swing season. With his T5 result at the RSM Classic, he ended his fall with three straight top-10 finishes and inside the top 20 of the FedEx Cup standings.

“I was already in a pretty good position, I was way ahead of the game, I guess, but to gather more points today was huge,” Dahmen said. “You never want to take weeks off because you always feel like you’re falling behind, but with the good finish today it will be easier to take time off.” Grade: A

T5. Seamus Power (-15): It is not Rory McIlroy, but rather Power who will enter 2023 atop the FedEx Cup standings. Winning the Bermuda Championship and adding close calls at Mayakoba and now Sea Island, the Irishman put himself squarely on the radar of captain Luke Donald for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome while rising to the top of the PGA Tour season-long race. Impressive as it may be, moving forward it will be interesting to see if Power can begin to contend in elevated events where the competition is much steeper. Grade: A-

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Adam Scott reflects on a 22-year career that has so far yielded 31 wins, a world no.1 ranking, and a coveted major championship victory at the 2013 Masters. Despite his advancing age, the 42-year-old Australian still feels he has time – and the desire – to add to his already impressive CV

After more than two decades on tour, I’m all about trying to get the right balance in my life between work and family. I moved back to Europe during Covid and settled my family in Crans sur Sierre in Switzerland. I have to do things now to make things as easy as possible for me get around to the tournaments that I want to play, while also not being too far from my wife and the kids. I’m still playing a global schedule, mixing tournaments on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, but I’m a bit more picky about where and when I play.

As it did for many people, the pandemic has changed a lot of things for me. Previously I had a very global team, and we had become used to being able to operate and to live wherever we wanted. My trainer was in Hawaii, my coach was in London, and I was living in Switzerland, and during Covid no-one could get to one another to see each other. I spent very little time with my coach, and I don’t even work with that trainer anymore because it was just not possible to do that. So there’s been a lot of changes, and until last summer I felt like a lot of balls were up in the air and nothing was very consistent and I was always juggling something. But you’re constantly learning in this game. And for me it’s been a good time to have a hard reset on many things. I feel like I’ve dealt with a few things that were tougher to deal with, and at least I feel like I’ve come out of it in a better place.

I probably set my expectations a little wrong at the start of last year, but when you’re competitive it’s very hard to lower them. I expect to play at a very high level and if I don’t I’m not really even going to have a job. You can make a lot of excuses, but I don’t think excuses get you very far in. this game, so you just have to figure out a way to deal with whatever situation you find yourself in. After being on Tour for 20 years I know that things don’t always go your way, because it’s a difficult game. So, although I’ve been frustrated when I haven’t played as well as I want to, I have never let it take me to a breaking point.

I managed to turn my game around in the back end of last year when I was able to sort out my equipment. Because of Covid, I hadn’t seen the guy who fits my clubs at Titleist for about 18 months, and I was using a driver that he didn’t particularly like for me. I saw him last summer, and just changing that had a trickle-down effect on everything getting better through the bag. I was hitting the driver better, and because of that the confidence got a bit better, and it’s so crazy that a little thing like that just helped.
The driver is an important club for me. When I look at last year, from February to July, I felt like I was driving it into the rough all the time, but when I’m swinging well I drive the ball very well and that confidence filters through the bag. And as I got into the back end of last year and adjusted some of the golf aspects like my driver, I could start seeing the positives again. That was obviously very helpful and made it easier to adjust my attitude of ‘I’m over this’ to ‘I’m looking forward to playing and getting stuck into a new season’.

My game is in a very good place at the moment, and it’s in a place where I feel like I can get results and that has been born out this year, with six top-10 finishes from 18 starts and getting through to the Tour Championship after finishing fifth at the St Jude Championship and the BMW Championship. I’m in a good spot physically and mentally, and I’m still in what I would still call the prime of my career. I’ve got a lot of experience behind me, so it’s time to take advantage of everything I’ve put into my career at this point and hopefully I get into some situations where I can make it go my way on Sunday and win some big events and maybe tick off a couple of those boxes I have left.

Even at my age, It’s fairly easy for me to stay motivated because I haven’t really achieved everything I want to achieve in the game. There are still a few boxes to tick, and that’s my focus now for as long as I stay out here. Watching Phil Mickelson win the US PGA at the age of 51 certainly gives me hope that I can still play at a high level for another five years at least. I know he’s put an incredible amount of work in to being able to do that and I’m not taking that for granted, but I feel like I like I’m in pretty good shape physically and hopefully I can still be a top player.

The Majors are really what golf careers are defined by, more so than ever. I’d love to win more and be a multiple winner. At this point I need to be greedy because I don’t have much time. Certainly, the Open Championship is unfinished business for me, but I’m not going to be picky – I’ll take any of them!

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