“It’s such an adrenaline rush. It’s a feeling of, ‘Let’s go!’ You get so much confidence from hitting one perfect.”
Gabi Powel was sitting in the crowd watching a golf exhibition in Bogota, Colombia, last spring when the announcer suddenly asked her to hit a few shots.
Powel nonchalantly grabbed her driver and –— to the amazement of the crowd — started smacking 300-yard-plus drives down the range.
“I love that kind of moment,” Powel said. “People are not expecting me to hit it nearly that far.”
Two years ago, Powel didn’t expect to be hitting a golf ball longer than the length of three football fields, either. The Jupiter, Florida, resident had been a top golfer at William T. Dwyer High School and Florida International University, who said she was known as a long hitter.
Powel realized she wasn’t good enough to play on the LPGA Tour, so she tried to stay in the game as a social media influencer and a mentor to young children.
Powel’s path changed when the Long Drive Tour came to Hobe Sound in early 2022. A fellow competitor, Antony Livingston, asked Powel if she would help promote the competition with social media posts. She did.
But when Powel showed up at the competition, Livingston had another request: Having seen her hit before, he encouraged Powel to enter the competition.
She did, finishing second, and a new career was launched.
“I instantly fell in love with it.”
Gabi Powel of the United States watches her ball during the preliminary qualifying round of the World Long Drive Championship at Bobby Jones Golf Course on October 20, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
The question is, how far could she take this new endeavor of hitting the long ball?
The first thing she had to do was secure the proper driver to smash the ball. Most long-driving competitors use clubs that are 3 inches longer (48) than traditional drivers. Then it was building up strength and working on her technique.
“A lot of people don’t think I can hit the ball that far because I have a very long swing that kind of wraps around my body,” she said.
The key, as it is for any golfer, is not the swing but where the club strikes the ball.
“Center-face contact is most important,” Powel said.
Whatever she’s been doing, it’s been working. Powel was fifth last year at a long-drive contest in Japan, second at this year’s competition in Denver, where she hit a career-long 367-yard drive, and she was again fifth at last month’s Long Drive Competition in Atlanta.
“It was an awesome year,” Powel said, “and I feel like I’m just getting started.”
Powel also made news earlier this year when she was dating PGA Tour winner Andy Svensson, which allowed her to caddy for him in the Par-3 Tournament at Augusta National. She became anxious when Svensson, as most players do, asked Powel to hit a shot on the ninth hole.
“I was actually really nervous, but because I do a lot of charity work, it wasn’t the first time I had hit a ball in front of a lot of people,” she said.
Alas, her wedge sailed far over the green, but she saw a positive with the result. “It was on brand for being a long driver,” she said, smiling.
The two are no longer dating, but Powel keeps busy these days with training and working on the Forward Tees Foundation she and her friend, Hannah Leiner, started that “advances career opportunities for women through golf and beyond.”
Gabi Powel holds the flag for her then-boyfriend, Adam Svensson, during the Par 3 Contest at The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network
“We have an online mentorship program where young girls can talk to women who have played college golf and know the ins and outs,” Powel said.
Helping the next generation is wonderful, but there’s no better feeling for a long-drive professional than to hit one pure.
“It’s such an adrenaline rush,” Powel said. “It’s a feeling of, ‘Let’s go!’ You get so much confidence from hitting one perfect.”
Meet the two players leading the Players Championship after Friday’s second round was cut short.
When the horn blew Friday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the Players Championship, two unfamiliar names sat atop the leaderboard.
Chad Ramey was 10 under par after two birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 — his second and third of the day — but came back to Earth with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 1, and a quadruple-bogey at the par-3 17th thanks to two balls in the water. He’s now 4 under, four back.
Ramey trails Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Svensson who both sit at 8 under. Both players are 4 under in their second rounds.
As for the stars, Scottie Scheffler is 5 under but left the course looking at a 17-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 11th. Collin Morikawa, who entered the second round one shot behind Ramey, is 1 over through 11 holes and now sits at 6 under.
If the two names on top are unfamiliar to you, you’re not alone. Let’s meet the two leaders at the 2023 Players Championship, which was official suspended due to inclement weather at 4:27 p.m. ET on Friday.
Score: 8 under. Country: South Africa. Last hole completed: No. 5 (currently on No. 6, four more to play). World Golf Ranking: 81 Best previous finish at the Players: 41st, 2021.
Adam Svensson
Score: 8 under. Country: Canada. Last hole completed: No. 2 (currently on No. 3, seven more to play). World Golf Ranking: 57. Best previous finish at the Players: None (first-timer).
Who else is on the leaderboard?
Bezuidenhout and Svensson hold a two-stroke lead over clubhouse leader Ben Griffin, who shot a 71 Friday. Min Woo Lee and Collin Morikawa are also at 6 under. Griffin has completed his round, while Lee has four holes to play and Morikawa has seven.
At 5 under are Taylor Pendrith and Scheffler. At 4 under are Will Gordon, Jason Day, Viktor Hovland, Denny McCarthy, Byeong Hun An, Chad Ramey and Adam Hadwin.
The second round will resume at 7 a.m. ET and the third round is expected to begin around 10:40 a.m. ET on Saturday.
A slow start Thursday, a late eagle Friday and the lifting of a trophy Sunday.
It was a high-wire act of sorts for Adam Svensson at the 2022 RSM Classic.
The first-time PGA Tour winner shot a 1-over 73 in the first round and it turned out to be the highest opening-round score by a winner in more than two years.
An eagle on the 15th hole Friday assured him of making the weekend and that’s when started heating up in the chilly temperatures at Sea Island’s Plantation Course in St Simons Island, Georgia.
A round of 62 vaulted him up the leaderboard Saturday and a Sunday 64 brought the 28-year-old his first Tour title.
This is everything Svensson said after claiming his maiden victory.
AS: The first round I was playing great, I just got nothing out of it. And going into Friday I was like keep doing what I’m doing. To be honest, I don’t even know. I was playing so good, I knew if I just kept doing what I’m doing and I will work my way up. But to come out on top, it’s unbelievable.
Q: Our second Canadian winner of the season, you move up to No. 6 in the FedEx Cup standings. Just talk a little bit about how this changes your goals going forward.
AS: Yeah, it definitely changes my schedule a lot. Obviously, I’ll be into more events now. I’ll have more time at home to work on my game and prepare for obviously bigger events now, so I’m excited.
Adam Svensson holds the trophy after winning the 2022 RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo: Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press)
Q: Can you talk about the birdies on 16 and 17 that helped pull you over the line?
AS: I looked on the leaderboard on 15, the par 5 there, and hit a poor wedge shot and made par. But I knew there’s a couple good birdie chances on 16 and 17 with a front flag. And the shot on 16, it kind of spun back but it was kind of an easy putt uphill left to right and I just knew I hit it hard enough and it went in. And the one on 17, I didn’t think it was going to go in and somehow it just dove in, I don’t know.
Q: Was there any frustration at all thinking that, because you started on the Plantation course, it’s the easier of the two courses, what was your mindset?
AS: I was very frustrated. I just knew like I just keep doing what I’m doing. I flushed it on Thursday and I just got nothing out of my round, and going into Friday I just was grinding. I don’t even know, I just was putting great, hitting it great and I just kept hitting the fairway, hitting it on the green and just kept doing what I’m doing. I don’t really know. I just knew if I just keep playing great, good things will happen. Last week I found something in my golf swing and just kind of took it into this week.
Q: What do you think the difference was between Thursday and the rest of the week?
AS: Putting, for sure. I kind of tweaked, I changed my stroke a little bit on Friday and then it was feeling really good. I just kind of stuck with it, yeah.
Q: Adam, on Friday do you watch the leaderboard enough to know how far behind you were behind what you thought the cut might be?
AS: I figured on Thursday I needed to shoot about 4-under par, I told my caddie that. We just had a game plan to shoot that and make the cut and just keep moving up.
Q: The money’s good and the two-year exemption is good, but how soon after the last putt did you start thinking Kapalua, Masters, Players, things like that?
AS: I didn’t even think about it until it was brought up to me 15 minutes ago. I’m more proud of what I’ve accomplished from the direction I was to the direction I’ve gone now, it’s more fulfilling than money to me. I’m more just proud of myself for things I’ve been doing.
Q: When did you start thinking, I could actually win this tournament?
AS: When I teed off. I don’t know, I knew I was playing great, I just had to stay out of my own way. At the start of the day, I told myself just don’t make a bogey and I’m putting well and I just had to keep myself under control.
Q: How long have you been working with John Graham?
AS: About a year now, just over a year.
Q: And was the something you changed in your putting Friday something he suggested or something you just came up with?
AS: We really work on flow in my stroke and sometimes on the long ones, especially this week, it’s fast so just having a little bit more flow has helped me with speed control, because I do get a little jabby sometimes. Just having a lot of, a little bit more flow in the backstroke.
Q: What did you change in yourself between the first time you were on the PGA Tour and this second go-round you’ve had?
AS: I relied mostly on talent when I was younger. I didn’t put enough work in, I wasn’t that disciplined. Like I said, two years ago I decided to give it 100 percent and I’ve been super disciplined on, you know, I don’t drink anymore, I go to the golf course every day, I’m up at 6, I give it 100 percent now. That’s the reason.
Adam Svensson reacts to his putt on the first hole during the final round of the 2022 RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo: Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press)
Q: You mentioned in the Golf Channel interview that a couple years ago you were thinking about quitting golf. What was that point?
AS: Every Tour player wants to quit golf once in a while. You say that, but you obviously don’t. It’s just a feeling because you’re so down and you’re not playing well. I just made a choice to give it 100 percent and there was no, after I lost my Tour card, that’s when I decided to do that.
Q: What were the like conversations like? Like was there anyone you relied on in particular to like set a course or was it kind of self-planning of the change?
AS: It’s all self. You can say you can work hard, but in the end you’ve got
to actually do the work. I’m just proud of myself for doing that.
Q: You hadn’t made a cut yet at this tournament before this week. Was that a product of the course not setting up well for you or playing poorly this week? What do you attribute that to?
AS: This golf course, you know, Seaside, it’s tough, the greens are fast. So I think before, you know, just my putting wasn’t quite there, a couple loose shots here and there. I’m getting better and better and better and that’s, you know, probably the reason.
Q: You mentioned the birdie on 17. Were you aware of the scoreboard at that point, kind of where just, all right, so you hit that. What are you feeling, up two strokes after making that birdie and off to the tee box on 18?
AS: I was pumped, I was super excited. I knew if I could just hit the fairway on 18, I could just get it up there and make par or bogey.
Q: Any sort of nerves knowing, like you said, you just basically have to not mess it up to be able to pull out the first win for you?
AS: Yeah, I was just like swing 50 percent because that 50 percent is probably 80 percent. That was kind of my mindset coming in the last couple holes, just swing 50 percent, yeah.
Q: We’ve seen a few rounds of 62, 63s out of you over the last few years, obviously you went low the last three rounds here. What is it do you think about your game or mentality that allows you to go low fairly often?
AS: I think it’s ball-striking consistency, hitting fairways, hitting greens, giving yourself opportunities, not short siding yourself. I’m definitely getting better at playing away from flags now. Before, I was firing at all the flags. When the putter’s hot, you can shoot low numbers doing that.
Q: How do you think going back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020-21 benefitted you most as you kind of look back kind of at that part of the journey in your arc?
AS: Realizing I wasn’t as good as I actually was and realizing how hard everyone works on this tour and what it takes to get here. It was a blessing, to be honest. It kind of changed my path and everything.
Q: What’s one area where you worked harder in this second stint of your career since that kind of readjustment?
AS: I would say putting, especially probably the last six months I’ve put in a lot of work with putting. But I try and like even it out chipping, putting, hitting. Just the everyday, you know, putting that work in, you just slowly, slowly get better.
Adam Svensson shakes hands with Patrick Rodgers after winning the 2022 RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo: Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press)
Q: What was the toughest part of putting at first in your career before these improvements?
AS: For me, it was the short putts with confidence, kind of steering it here and there. When you have confidence when you’re putting, you feel like you can make everything and those two-, three-footers, you just bang them in.
Q: The fact you’ve led the field statistically in strokes gained putting this week, what does that mean to you?
AS: I didn’t even know that. Cool. It means the work I’m doing’s paying off with John, and it’s nice.
Q: When did you decide to quit drinking?
AS: Two years ago. I’ve probably had maybe five drinks, but I quit drinking, I mean like going out with the boys and having drinks and stuff.
Q: Is that for tonight, too?
AS: Well, I’m supposed to drive home tonight, so yeah. Maybe I’ll have one.
Q: The fact no one could ever take away you’re a PGA Tour winner, like that’s something you’ll have on your resume and your mind and memory forever. What does that knowledge mean to you that you’ve accomplished that goal?
AS: It’s been dreams of mine since I was 10 years old, eight years old. It’s just incredible. I don’t think the money does, I don’t think money really does anything. It’s the feeling of coming down the stretch and winning and all that stuff, you just can’t beat it.
Q: Can you paint the picture, tell me a little bit where you were when you had this kind of come-to-Jesus moment that I’m going to really commit and make golf my job and not just rely on the talent?
AS: I can’t remember. It was just one day I woke up and I was like, that’s it,
that’s it. Just kind of went from there.
Q: Was it after a certain tournament where you had a bad result or after a hangover?
AS: Probably a hangover, probably a hangover. I don’t know, I can’t
remember.
[afflinkbutton text=”Adam Svensson’s golf balls – $49.99 per dozen” link=”https://globalgolf.pxf.io/BX6DL1″]
GRIPS: Golf Pride MCC
We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Svensson went bogey-free in the final round and made two clutch birdies late on Sunday.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Until Adam Svensson sank a 6-foot eagle putt at the 15th hole of his second round, he appeared to be in danger of missing the cut at the 2022 RSM Classic. Winning his first PGA Tour tournament wasn’t a thought in his mind.
“I was just trying to make the cut,” he said. “I didn’t want to go home when I knew I was playing this well.”
So, Svensson first grinded out the cut, then vaulted into contention with a 62 on Saturday and fired a 6-under 64 at Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course on Sunday to win the RSM Classic by two strokes over Brian Harman, Callum Tarren and Sahith Theegala.
“I knew if I just kept doing what I’m doing I will work my way up, but to come out on top, it’s unbelievable,” Svensson said.
The 28-year-old Canadian’s slow start at Sea Island’s Plantation Course, a 1-over 73, was the highest opening-round score by a winner since Jon Rahm at the 2020 BMW Championship. It left him T-108 entering the second round and he was seven strokes back at the start of the weekend. The last player to be outside the top 100 through 18 holes and go on to win was Ian Poulter at the 2018 Cadence Bank Houston Open. It didn’t hurt that Svensson played the last 52 holes bogey-free.
“It’s been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old, 8 years old,” Svensson said. “It’s just incredible.”
Svensson’s ball striking has never been questioned, but ever since he began working with putting coach John Graham a year ago, he’s made leaps and bounds on the greens. This week, he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting.
“When you have confidence when you’re putting, you feel like you can make everything and those two-, three-footers, you just bang them in,” he said.
Svensson, bundled up in a winter hat and windbreaker on an unseasonably cold day in the Golden Isles, was on fire with his putter. He holed more than 150 feet of putts in the final round. After failing to make birdie at the easy par-5 15th hole and watching Harman and Theegala join the tie at the top with Tarren, Svensson canned an 18-foot uphill, left-to-right birdie at 16. He walked it in from more than 2 feet out and pumped his fist as he assumed sole possession of the lead.
One hole later, he stuck an 8-iron to 10 feet at the par 3 and pumped his fist again – this time with authority – as his ball circled the cup to give himself a two-stroke cushion.
“It looked like we’d have a four-way playoff and next thing you know it wasn’t even close,” the winning U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Davis Love III and RSM Classic host said.
Svensson, who closed with a 6-under 64 for a 72-hole total of 19-under 263, originally earned his PGA Tour card in 2019. He showed flashes of brilliance but lacked consistency. He concedes that he relied on talent alone and didn’t work hard enough at his game. Too many weeks he’d finish a tournament, go to the bar and nurse a hangover for a day or two.
“If you’re doing that,” he said, “you’re falling behind.”
He spent a humbling season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020, but considers it a blessing.
“It changed my path,” he said.
During that time he looked himself in the mirror – “probably after one of those hangovers,” he said – and decided he had to make some changes if he wanted to reach his full potential. He committed to treating golf like a job and “made a choice to give it 100 percent.” The changes included quitting drinking, or as he put it, “no more going out with the boys.”
“It’s turned my life around,” he said.
Svensson turned his week around with a flurry of birdies on the weekend and earned his first trip to the Masters – or any major for that matter. One person who didn’t doubt that Svensson had the ability to get to the winner’s circle was his caddie A.J. Montecitos.
“I told him when I first got on his bag that we’d win in six weeks,” Montecitos said. “I was wrong. It took him 10.”
“This is why I play. I want chances to win golf tournaments.” — Patrick Rodgers
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The fact that Patrick Rodgers still is seeking his first PGA Tour victory after 225 career starts is one of golf’s great mysteries. But that could change on Sunday at the RSM Classic as Rodgers made four straight birdies on the back nine Saturday to shoot 6-under 64 and shares the 54-hole lead with Ben Martin. It’s Rodgers’s first 54-hole lead since the 2017 John Deere Classic.
“This is why I play. I want chances to win golf tournaments,” he said. “That was one of the big things my coach (Jeff Smith) and I talked about during the offseason – to get my nose in there a little more often and this is a really fun opportunity.”
Big things were expected of Rodgers, 30, a member of the ballyhooed “Class of 2011” that includes major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Rodgers equaled the record of Tiger Woods with 11 victories during his college career at Stanford, but the closest he’s come to lifting a trophy on the Tour is losing in a playoff here to Charles Howell III at the 2018 RSM Classic. That week, Rodgers shot 61-62 at Sea Island’s Seaside Course, the lowest 36-hole weekend score in Tour history. (Three times in all he’s been a runner-up on Tour.)
RSM Classic co-leader Patrick Rodgers has six rounds of 65 or better this season (including two this week), the most of any player on TOUR.
What has kept the 30-year-old Rodgers from living up to the high expectations placed upon him? Poor iron play has been the biggest culprit. Until improving to 94th in the rankings, he’d never finished better than 117th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach.
“He extends early, left hip goes up early, spine angle goes back and he doesn’t trap his irons,” Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said. “He flat out is going to have to learn to hit his irons better to have the sort of success that was anticipated for him.”
This season, Rodgers has made seven straight cuts and finished T-3 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship three weeks ago. After rounds of 69 at the Plantation Course on Thursday and a tidy 65 at Seaside on Friday, Rodgers got hot on the back nine on Saturday, going on a birdie binge that began at 13 and continued through the 16th hole.
“I’m hoping it plays difficult tomorrow because I feel like that plays to my advantage but I’m looking forward to the fight,” Rodgers said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Patrick Rodgers is making his 199th start since joining the PGA TOUR at the start of the 2015-16 season, the most of any player without a win in that span.
PGA Tour professional Adam Svensson has been playing golf all over the globe this season with multiple top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour. His busy Tour schedule keeps him from home most weeks.
It’s tough being on the road for the majority of the year, but there are a few things that keep him in the game. Keep reading to see what Svensson brings to every tournament in order to perform his best.
We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Here’s a look at some of the players in the field at the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, who failed to make the weekend.
Cameron Champ looked to be toast.
The defending 3M Open champion opened with 75 and was 6 over through 26 holes. The odds weren’t in his favor to play the weekend this time. But the 27-year-old Northern California native refused to quit. He snagged a birdie at No. 18, his 27th hole of the tournament, before catching fire on the final nine holes. He closed with four birdies on his final five holes, including a 21-foot birdie putt at No. 9 to shoot 68, which secured him weekend plans in the Twin Cities.
A gutsy performance, indeed. Same goes for Rickie Fowler, who straddled the cutline most of the day and made it on the number after a bogey at No. 16, posting a 36-hole total of 1-over 143. So did Maverick McNealy, who had missed just four cuts all season. Double bogeys at Nos. 9 and 11 stacked the deck against him, but he canned a 40-foot birdie putt at 17 and an 8-foot birdie at 18 to give himself a one-strike cushion and lock up a tee time for Saturday.
Here’s a look at some of the players in the field at the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, who weren’t so lucky.
Adam Svensson won his first Korn Ferry Tour event in more than two years Sunday at the Club Car Championship after surviving a playoff with Max McGreevy.
Svensson shot a final-round 6-under 66 at The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia, to finish 72 holes with the lead at 17 under until McGreevy, who finished Sunday a 2-under 70, birdied his final two holes Sunday to send the tournament into a playoff.
In the playoff, Svensson and McGreevy each missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th. On the second playoff hole, McGreevy wasn’t able to match Svensson’s birdie to further extend the playoff, handing Svensson the win.
Svensson, 27, last won on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2018 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club.
Finishing one shot back in third at 16 under were George Cunningham, Shad Tuten and Brett Coletta. Taylor Moore finished in solo sixth at 15 under followed by Dawson Armstrong, Zecheng Dou and Carl Yuan – who tied for low round of the day with 8-under 64 – at 14 under in seventh. Six golfers rounded out the top-10 at 13 under.
