The PGA tour in golf had its premiere competition for 2025 last week – also on Hawaii – but only the absolute top players (about 50 players) on last year's Fedex cup ranking got to play. For example, the Swedish world number six Ludvig Åberg, who finished tied fifth.
Åberg is not playing this week's competition in Honolulu, but another Swede is showing fine form right away. Henrik Norlander responded with a bogey-free first round and with five birdies, the 37-year-old is five strokes under the course par.
At the Top
His 65 strokes currently mean a top-tier placement, but everyone in the 144-player starting field has not yet completed the first round. The competition was interrupted on Thursday evening, local time, when it got too dark to continue playing.
For Vincent Norrman, it went heavier in the season debut. He is one over par after 71 strokes in the first round.
It went much better for one of the two Swedish PGA debutants. Jesper Svensson, 28, went around in three under par and is tied for 26th place.
Tough for Widing
For the other blue-yellow debutant, the game was heavier. Tim Widing, 27, hit six bogeys and took 74 strokes – four over par. He is thus at the bottom of the pack after the first round.
Widing secured his membership on the USA tour through a successful 2024 on the Korn Ferry sub-tour. Svensson got playing rights on the other side of the Atlantic through a forward-placed ranking on the European tour (now DP World Tour).
Both players, however, played major competitions in the USA last season. Widing finished tied 41st in the US Open, but missed the qualifying limit in the PGA Championship, where Svensson became tied 53rd.
Corrected: In an earlier version of the text, there was an incorrect formulation about Åberg's ranking.
