Who is Adam Svensson?
Will you see him on the PGA Tour in 2017?
Can he dominate the Web.com Tour in 2016?
Those are all legitimate questions after what transpired last week at the last remaining Qualifying School, the one they have for the Web.com Tour.
There is no more PGA Tour Qualifying School. You may remember it as the brutal six-day marathon that finalists braved to try and earn a card for the PGA Tour.
Now the path to the show is the Web.com. That’s the way the tour wants it and that is now the way it is.
A total of 45 hopefuls earned exempt spots this past Sunday at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens and there was one guy who was head and shoulders above the rest.
It was Canadian Adam Svensson.
It wasn’t even close. He shot 20-under for four rounds and is the only man who is FULLY EXEMPT for the entire Web.com season.
Here’s the way the junior circuit works. Qualifiers who finished second through 10th, ties included, are exempt through the third “re-shuffle.” What the Web.com does is take a look at its standings three times during the season and it adjusts the status of the top money winners, giving them more opportunity. It’s a truly democratic process. Play well and you keep playing, play poorly and you might have to wait to get into a field.
Players who finished 11th through 45th are exempt through the second re-shuffle.
Svensson has no worries. He shot rounds of 64-65-65 the first 54 holes to basically put himself in a “cruise-control” mode the last 18 when he shot 72. No worries.
Seven back of him were Americans Ian Davis and Jason Millard at 13-under.
Probably the best known of the hopefuls is Ollie Schneiderjans, who played in a number of Fall Series PGA Tour events through sponsors exemptions. He managed to finish in a tie for ninth despite a 76 on the last day that dropped him to six-under par. But he’s still where he needs to be in that top 10.
Svensson knows his way around South Florida. He left his home in Surrey, British Columbia, to play at Division II Barry University. It’s not exactly the big-time and after two years there, he played in six events on the Mackenzie Tour, the PGA Tour’s ownership version of the old Canadian Tour. He finished with two runnerups in six events there.
For his efforts at PGA National, Svensson collected $25,000. That’s chump change on the PGA Tour but its a big check for a young guy with aspirations.
“It’s huge,” Svensson said of his win at Q-School. “It’s always tough to win at any level.”
The future?
“My goal is to win out there and get my PGA Tour card,” Svensson added.
He has time and a full season to do it. Finish in the top 25 for 2016 and a PGA Tour card for the 2017 season will be his.
