HONOLULU, HAWAII – Former Campbell golf stars Jesper Svensson and Ben Polland tee off today at the PGA TOUR Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club.

Svensson, who was named the 2024 DP World Tour Rookie of the Year, earned his PGA TOUR card by finishing among the top 10 players (not otherwise exempt) on last year’s World Tour list.

Polland is using one of the six PGA TOUR entries for the 2025 season after winning the 2024 PGA Club Professional Championship.

Svensson ’19, ranked No. 105 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and Polland ’13 are among 144 players in the field vying for $8.7 million in prize money, including a winner’s share of $1,566,000 -Dollar.

Polland begins at 2 p.m. EST with Kris Ventura and Paul Peterson on the par-70, 7,044-yard Waialae layout. Svensson is paired with Taylor Montgomery and Takumi Kanaya and will tee off at 6:10 p.m. (EST).

Golf Channel will broadcast the event live on Thursday and Friday from 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., with NBC (4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and Golf Channel (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.) providing coverage on Saturday and divide Sunday.

Svensson, a two-time Big South Conference Golfer of the Year and Big South individual champion, won four tournaments during his Campbell career from 2015 to 2019. He finished at 14 under par (67-66-69 – 202) to win the 2017 Patriot GC championship title and break the conference record of 204 set by eventual world No. 1 Dustin Johnson of Coastal Carolina.

A native of Uppsala, Sweden, Svensson turned pro in the summer of 2019 after coaching in four NCAA Regional Championships John Crooks‘ team. He competed in two majors in 2024 – the PGA Championship and the Open Championship.

Originally from St. Paul, Minn., Polland has competed in four PGA Championships, including the 2024 event. Now PGA director of golf at Shooting Star in Jackson Hole, Wyo. As a member of the Campbell golf team, he completed the university’s PGA Golf Management program and helped CU win the 2012 PGA Jones Cup.