[PHOTO: Cliff Hawkins]
It wasn’t finishing birdie-birdie-birdie to shoot 62 as he did in the third round, but Adam Svensson made four birdies in the final nine holes to shoot a closing 64 and win the RSM Classic by two shots over Sahith Theegala, Callum Tarren and Sea Island resident Brian Harman.
En route to winning his first PGA Tour event, Svensson made a couple of clutch putts down the stretch, knocking in a 17-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th and then adding to his cushion with a 10-footer that followed a well-struck 7-iron tee shot on the par-3 17th. In all, the 28-year-old Canadian picked up more than eight shots on the field on the greens for the week to rank first in strokes gained/putting.
Svensson’s putter is an Odyssey Toulon Palm Beach, a smallish mallet design with deep cross-hatch grooves across the entire face to control sound and feel, and a small groove inside each diamond pattern designed to enhance the quality of the roll.
Off the tee, Svensson used his 10.5-degree Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond driver with a shaft from LA Golf to hit more than 80 percent of his fairways. That set him up to hit no fewer than 14 greens in any round, including 17 of 18 today with a split set of Callaway irons that boasted the company’s Apex MB muscle-back blades for the bulk of the set. For the week, Svensson ranked fourth in strokes gained/approach-the-green at Sea Island Resort.
All of which led to win No.1 on the PGA Tour for Svensson.
What Adam Svensson had in the bag at the RSM Classic:
Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X
Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond (LA Golf), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Rogue ST LS, 15 degrees
Hybrid: Callaway Apex, 18 degrees
Irons (4): Callaway Apex TCB; (5-9): Callaway Apex MB; (PW): Callaway Jaws MD5
Wedges: Callaway Jaws MD 5 (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Toulon Palm Beach
