Hudson Swafford

Swafford was born in Tallahassee, Florida. He played his college golf at the University of Georgia and was a three-time All-American. Twice named to the All-SEC first team. Sat out his fourth year due to shoulder surgery. Returned to the lineup for his senior year and was 14th at the SEC Championship. Qualified for the U.S. Amateur in 2006 and the U.S. Open in 2010 (missed the cut).
Turned professional after graduating in 2011. At the end of the year, went to PGA Tour Q-School and finished T-38th, securing full privileges to the Korn Ferry Tour.
He joined the Korn Ferry Tour in 2012 and picked up his first victory at the Stadion Classic at UGA on May 6, shooting a course-record 62 in the final round. Swafford trailed Luke List by a stroke heading to the final hole of the tournament, but he holed out his bunker shot for a birdie while List bogeyed to give him the victory. Swafford was familiar with the course as it was his former college layout.
2012 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 26; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 2; Scoring Average - 70.23 (Rank 29th); Money - $179,278 (Rank 27th); Best Finish - 1st, Stadion Classic at UGA. Entered the final week of the year ranked 23rd on the money list, but a T-39th finish at the Web.com Tour Championship dropped him four spots, to 27th, about $2,700 shy of gaining his 2013 PGA Tour card.
2013 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 25; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 3; Scoring Average - 70.09 (Rank 22nd); Money - $138,760 (Rank 41st); Best Finish - T-7th, Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. That was the third of the four Korn Ferry Tour finals. The next week, Swafford was T-24th at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship and secured his 2013-14 PGA Tour card by finishing 21st on the finals' priority list.
2014 Notes: In his rookie year on the PGA Tour, played 26 events and made 11 cuts and one top-10, a T-8th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He had five top-25 results, three of which were T-12th or better, as he finished 146th in the FedExCup standings and money list. Shot a 66 in the first round of the Chiquita Classic in the second Korn Ferry Tour Finals event. Had a second-round 73, but bounced back with 68-70 on the weekend for a T-10th and a check worth $26,000. The following week, finished T-22nd at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. Was in bubble territory in the fourth and last Finals event before posting a T-25th result at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, good enough to earn his return to the PGA Tour.
2015 Notes: In 30 starts, made 18 cuts and one top-10, T-8th at the Frys.Com Open. Also had six top-25 finishes. He was 81st in the FedExCup standings and 107th on the money list.
2016 Notes: Made 22 cuts in 30 starts, with one top-10, a T-9th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Also had seven top-25 finishes. He ended the year 64th in the FedExCup and 102nd on the money list.
2017 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 19 cuts and four top-ten finishes. Was 38th in the FedExCup standings. Started strong at the Sony Open in Hawaii with rounds of 62-68-66 before stumbling to a final-round 71 to finish T-13th. A week later, won for the first time at the CareerBuilder Challenge. In the final round, he made three birdies over his last four holes for a one-shot win over Adam Hadwin. At the time he became the 11th former Georgia Bulldog to win on the PGA Tour and the first since Bubba Watson at the 2016 Genesis Open. Had another top-10, T-10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and a 5th-place finish in the Shell Houston Open. Finished T-10th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. At the FedExCup playoffs was T-43rd at the Northern Trust, T-13th at the Dell Technologies Championship, and T-40th at the BMW Championship.
2018 Notes: Played in 22 PGA Tour events making 15 cuts and two top-25 finishes. Was 156th in the FedExCup standings. Closed the season with top-15s in two of his last three starts (T-12th RBC Canadian Open, T-11th Barracuda Championship). Swafford suffered a rib injury and just when that healed he started having discomfort in his right foot.
2019 Notes: Played in 20 PGA Tour events making ten cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 162nd in the FedExCup standings. Shot a final-round 64 to finish T-3rd at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finishing five shots back of winner Matt Kuchar. Unfortunately, that would be the highlight of his year, the pain in his foot grew worse, and hit a stretch when he played nine events and missed the cut in eight of them. After missing the cut at the RBC Canadian Open he had surgery in July to remove a small bone in his right foot. His season was finished as he took some time to rest after the surgery.
2020 Notes: Started his year finishing T-66th in the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He played in a limited amount of events, played in only 10 PGA Tour events making five cuts, and had one top-ten, T-9th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He also played in two Korn Ferry Tour events missing the cut at the Korn Ferry Challenge and Lincoln Land Championship. He was 167th in the FedExCup race.
2021 Notes: Played in 29 PGA Tour events making 12 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 36th in the FedExCup standings. Started his year finishing T-56th at the Safeway Open. At his next start, the 2020 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, he was down to two starts on his medical exemption which allowed him to play on the PGA Tour. He made the most of it as he shot 65-67-69-69 to beat Tyler McCumber by a shot and earn his second PGA Tour victory. Six months later he was able to defend his Corales title when the event was played again in March, Swafford finished T-6th, three back of winner Joel Dahmen. Shot four under-par scores to finish T-2nd at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, finishing a shot back of winner Garrick Higgo. It marked his first runner-up on Tour. In the FedExCup Playoffs was T-11th at the Northern Trust and T-17th at the BMW Championship.
2022 Notes: Had a final-round 64 to win The American Express by two shots over Tom Hoge, earning his third career PGA Tour victory and second at The American Express (2017, 2022). Entered the final round trailing by three shots. The victory came in his 205th PGA Tour start at the age of 34 years, 4 months, 14 days.