Hudson Swafford Wins 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge

Heading into the final round of CareerBuilder Challenge, it was widely expected that Adam Hadwin would come away with his first career PGA TOUR victory after carding a 59 in the third round of the tournament.  It was another underdog, however, who broke away from the pack to get his own first win on the Tour.

Hudson Swafford entered the final round of the CareerBuilder Challenge trailing Hadwin and surrounded by a bunch of other players that were looking to make a splash in the final round.  That did not discourage Swafford, however, as he had quite the rally, birding the 15th, 16th, and 17th before capping off his round with a par on the 18th hole.  That rally was enough to give Swafford a one-stroke victory over Hadwin.

Swafford had not finished higher than 8th place in a tournament and with his first victory, the 29-year-old will also be making his first appearance in The Masters, in April.  The victory looks to give Swafford some momentum going into the rest of the season.  He stated after the victory that “The game just felt comfortable from there on.  I just felt like I could hit any shot where I wanted to and just felt in total control.”

After congratulating Swafford on his victory, Hadwin was disappointed that he could not end the tournament with a victory after his lights out third round.  He said after his round that “I can’t help but be slightly disappointed.  I really wanted to come out here and kind of prove that yesterday was just kind of a continuation of some good play and kind of get it done today, but I got beat.”

Hudson Swafford has five different equipment brands in his bag en route to his win at the @cbgolfchallenge. https://t.co/7g4Ll01Gnd pic.twitter.com/aTauHFVbHM

— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) January 23, 2017

One of the more remarkable parts of Swafford’s first victory is the fact that he used an assortment of equipment in his bag.  Specifically, he used five different brands of equipment in his bag, including a TaylorMade driver, PING woods and irons, Titleist wedges, an Odyssey putter, and a Bridgestone ball.  With so many players tied to strictly one brand in today’s golf world, it makes Swafford’s win even more impressive with his mismatch equipment.

Swafford’s first win was certainly impressive any way you look at it but it will be interesting to see if he can carry that momentum into an impressive PGA TOUR season.

Cover Image via Twitter