Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Svensson gets win No. 3 on Korn Ferry Tour; Swanson to defend Mid-Am title at Gorge Vale; Bogdan advances at Q-school pre-qualifier; Former T-Bird Harrison 3rd at Mackenzie Tour’s PEI Open
Surrey, BC's Adam Svensson Won His 2nd Korn Ferry Tour Event Of The Season This Week - Image Credit Bryan Outram/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
The 2021-22 PGA TOUR season is less than three weeks away and Adam Svensson is serving notice that he’s ready for his second crack on the big stage.
The 27-year-old from Surrey earned his second Korn Ferry Tour win of the season and third overall by capturing the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship by two shots Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.
Svensson had already clinched his PGA TOUR card for next season, but Sunday’s win improves his priority ranking. He’ll enter this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Ind., seeded third overall.
“I’m pretty pumped,” Svensson said. “You know, it’s been two years playing on the Korn Ferry Tour and it’s been great, but I’m ready to take my game to the next level and get out there and play.”
Svensson spent the 2018-19 season on the PGA TOUR but did not retain his exempt status and had to return to the Korn Ferry Tour. He said he feels like he is now much better equipped -- on and off the golf course -- for the big tour than he was as a wide-eyed rookie three years ago.
“I would say off the golf course I’m a lot more mature,” Svensson said. “I do things correctly now. I give it 100 per cent, practising more. I would just say I am maturing as a player and that change in mentality is going to benefit me.”
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A Young Adam Svensson Accepts The BC Junior Boys Championship Trophy From Then BCGA President Keith Larson At Rossland-Trail CC In 2011
Svensson said he will be bringing a better short game to the PGA TOUR the second time around. “I have just been putting more work into it, just grinding and practising more. When you practise more, you feel more confident and that’s pretty much what it comes down to.”
Svensson closed with a four-under 67 and finished the event at 17-under par, two strokes ahead of American Bronson Burgoon and Stephan Jaeger of Germany. The win earned Svensson $180,000, his biggest cheque as a pro. The 2021-22 PGA TOUR season begins with the Fortinet Championship, which goes Sept. 16-19 in Napa, Calif.
IN THE HUNT: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 18th in Columbus and has an opportunity to clinch one of the extra 25 PGA TOUR cards that will be up for grabs at this week’s season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Macdonald will enter that third and last event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals 30th on the points list, so must move up at least five spots to earn a PGA TOUR card.
TITLE DEFENCE: Abbotsford’s Dan Swanson will be on hand to defend his title at this week’s B.C. Mid-Amateur Championship at Gorge Vale Golf Club in Victoria. Swanson won the 2020 title at Okanagan Golf Club’s Bear Course in Kelowna, where he fired a final round of seven-under 65 to finish the 54-hole event at nine-under par. That was good for a four-shot win over Brent Pound of Kelowna and Jacob Vanderpas of Vancouver.
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Dan Swanson Accepts The BC Men's Mid-Amateur Trophy From Tom Hall At Ledgeview GC In 2019
A new women’s Mid-Amateur champion will be crowned this week at Gorge Vale as 2020 champion Nonie Marler of Vancouver is competing at this week’s Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur in Bromont, Que. A conflict between the Canadian and B.C. Women’s Mid-Ams was created when the B.C. tournament, originally scheduled for late May, had to be postponed and rescheduled.
The Mid-Amateur is open to players aged 25 and older. Players 40 and older also compete in the Mid-Master category. The tournament, the final event of this summer’s British Columbia Golf championship schedule, goes Tuesday through Thursday.
TOUGH TRACK: The Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship was held last week at Fort McMurrary Golf Club, where Charles Fitzsimmons of London, Ont., won by four shots with a 72-hole total of one-under par. Kelowna’s Norm Bradley was the top British Columbian. He tied for 15th at 10-over par and finished third in the Mid-Master Championship.
FIRST-STAGE BOUND: Former Ledgeview pro Luke Bogdan easily advanced at a Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school pre-qualifier held last week in Texas. Bogdan tied for 10th at eight-under par. The top 35 and ties advanced to earn the right to play in the first stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Q-school. The first stage will be held at 12 different sites beginning in mid-September.
GVO MEMORIES: Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee had a great response after learning that Northview Golf Club’s Ridge course was being set up this past Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday exactly how it was for the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open. Chamblee, who earned his lone PGA TOUR victory at the 1998 GVO, responded this way on Twitter: “I hear they have ‘Brandel-proofed’ the course now.”
SOLO THIRD: Former UBC Thunderbird Andrew Harrison posted a third-place finish at the Mackenzie Tour’s Prince Edward Island Open. Harrison’s seven-under total was two shots back of winner Michael Blair of Ancaster, Ont. Harrison now stands ninth on the Mackenzie Tour points list. Another former T-Bird, Evan Holmes of Calgary, was 10th at three-under par. The Mackenzie Tour completes its Prince Edward Island swing with this week’s Brudenell River Classic.
HOME STRETCH: After a week off, the Forme Tour heads into the final two events of its eight-tournament schedule. The Rolling Green Championship goes this week in Springfield, Penn., while the season-ending Forme Tour Championship will be played the following week in Ringoes, N.J. Langley’s James Allenby, currently 48th, is the leading British Columbian on the Forme Tour points list.