There is an unexpected leader after the first round of the 2019 Sony Open in Honolulu, Hawaii. On Thursday, Canadian rookie Adam Svensson of Surrey, British Columbia shocked the golfing world with a remarkable score of 61. After the first 18 holes, he leads American Andrew Putnam by a stroke and American Matt Kuchar by two strokes.
In round one, Svensson recorded seven birdies and one eagle. He had birdies on the fifth, sixth, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 18th holes and recorded a great eagle on the par five ninth hole. What was equally as amazing about Svensson’s round of golf is that he did not record a bogey.
One could argue that Svensson’s score of -9 was the best round of golf by a Canadian golfer since Adam Hadwin of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan shot a remarkable 59 in the third round of the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, California. It will be tough for Hadwin to make the cut in Honolulu as he had a first round score of +3.
Svensson earned his 2019 PGA Tour card for finishing in the top 25 on the web.com tour regular season money list. He was one of three Canadians to earn his PGA Tour card from the web.com tour as Roger Sloan of Calgary, Alberta and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ontario qualified by being in the top 25 of the 2018 web.com tour finals. There are six other Canadian golfers on the 2019 PGA Tour. They are Corey Conners of Listowel, Ontario, Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Hadwin, David Hearn of Brampton, Ontario, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ontario and Nick Taylor of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Over a span of six years, Svensson has participated in 11 PGA Tour events and has made the cut in four events. His best finish was a tie for 34th at the 2015 Canadian Open in Glen Abbey, Ontario. The tournament was won that year by Jason Day of Australia.
