PGA Tour: Hudson Swafford in position for second career win

Hudson Swafford finds himself in the lead at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, in search of his second career PGA Tour win.

The Southeastern Conference starts playing football on Saturday, and Georgia Bulldogs fan Hudson Swafford is excited about the prospects for his team in 2020. He’s also excited to be in position to potentially win the second PGA Tour event of his career this week, as he holds the 36-hole lead at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.

Swafford, a native of Tallahassee, Florida who played his college golf at Georgia, joined the PGA Tour in 2014 and made a gradual climb up the ranks. He was 146th in the FedEx Cup standings in 2014, then 81st in 2015 and 64th in 2016.

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Then, in 2017, Swafford had his best season on tour. He earned his first, and to this point his only, PGA Tour win that season when he claimed the title at the CareerBuilder Challenge. That was one of four top 10s that season when Swafford finished 38th in the FedEx Cup standings.

However, a career that appeared to be on the rise at that point suddenly slipped away when Swafford made only two top 25s in 2018, then made just 10 of 20 cuts in 2019 and only five of 10 cuts in 2020. Now, Swafford is hoping to get back on track.

Two weeks ago, he made the cut at the Safeway Open, although he was only able to finish in a tie for 56th place. This week, he’s looking for much more.

Swafford shot a 7-under par 65 on Thursday with a solid round of golf. On Friday, he was able to build on that momentum.

The round started quietly, but got rolling near the end. Starting on the back nine, Swafford parred the 10th and 11th holes before his first birdie of the day came at the par-5 12th hole. After a par at 13, Swafford birdied the only other par five on the back nine, the 14th, to get to 2-under on his round.

Swafford closed the back nine with pars on 15, 16, 17 and 18. That left him with a 2-under par 34.

On his second nine, Swafford bogeyed the first hole to slip back to 1-under par. After a par on the second hole, he birdied the third and fourth holes. Suddenly, Swafford was 3-under.

However, he would give one back with a bogey on the fifth hole. He followed that with a par on six, leaving him a 2-under with three holes to play.

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Swafford closed with a bang. He birdied the seventh, eighth and ninth holes, turning an average round into a very good round. He also used that stretch to take the lead.

While Swafford’s Georgia Bulldogs open the season against Arkansas on Saturday, he will be trying to position himself for a big win on Sunday. If Swafford and the Dawgs both win this weekend, there will be a large celebration in the Swafford camp.

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