[Photos: Harry How]
“Oh my gosh, we won on the PGA Tour. That’s insane,” Austin Smotherman said, adequately summing up the final round of the Bank of Utah Classic that ended in his first tour title in his 100th start and 11th year as a pro.
His eyes were red with emotion – almost as red as the scoreboard. The American needed only a three-under-par 68 at Black Desert Resort to beat Doug Ghim by two strokes. Smotherman, 32, posted a tournament-record 26-under 258 total to become the third man in as many years to earn his maiden PGA Tour title in Ivins, Utah.
Smotherman, who came into the week ranked 121st in the world, earned $US1.08 million and a two-year tour exemption, meaning he has a place in the first year of the circuit’s new Championship Series in 2028. The Californian also finds himself in the enviable position of moving up 28 spots in the FedEx Cup Fall standings to 51st. The 10 players who finish 51-60 after this eight-event portion of the schedule are exempt into the first two signature events in 2027.
That’s quite a thing for a player who was roommates with Bryson DeChambeau at Southern Methodist University in Dallas but had to work his way up from mini-tours to the lower two stages of the PGA Tour before earning his tour card in 2021, losing it ’22, and then gaining it back last year after a pair of Korn Ferry Tour titles.
No wonder the guy was crying as he hugged his wife Jessica, his high-school sweetheart, after tapping in for birdie on the final hole of a back nine that was a bit of a rollercoaster. A double-bogey at the 13th hole and a three-putt bogey at 17 gave Ghim and several other pursuers some hope of catching him.
“It didn’t have to be pretty. I got some nice bounces. Made some poor swings, but this game doesn’t have to be perfect,” Smotherman said.
Nevertheless, he made a couple of perfect swings, including a fairway wood that settled to six feet at the driveable par-4 14th that set up a two-putt birdie. He also sank an 11-footer for birdie at 16 on top of Ghim’s birdie from 21 feet. Smotherman navigated the par-5 home hole with a 295-metre drive in the fairway, enabling him to reach the front apron of the green in two. A couple of putts later, gosh, he was a PGA Tour winner.
“One hundred starts out here is an incredible number, just to be blessed to have 100 starts,” said Smotherman, who is the seventh player since 2000 to win in his 100th career start, joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matuyama. “But even more so, to play professional golf now for 10 years, travel the world, have the support I’ve had, it’s pretty unreal to lift a trophy at the highest level. It’s something we’ve dreamed about since I was a kid, and here we are.”
RELATED: Here are the clubs Austin Smotherman used to win in Utah
Ghim closed with a two-under 69 to finish second, tying his best career finish. Don’t feel too bad for the Illinois tour pro; he pocketed $US654,000, pushing him across the $US10 million mark in career earnings.
“I gave it the best that I could,” said Ghim, 30, who locked up his card by rising to 58th in the FedEx Cup Fall. “Even if I did fall short, it was a positive finish for me and my team… Obviously, the money and the points are great, but as a little kid trying to win a PGA Tour event, just a chance to do that is a dream come true.”
Austin Smotherman celebrates with wife Jessica after winning the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort.
Largely a self-taught player, Smotherman came into the week with just two top-25 finishes in 26 starts this season, though one of them was a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches, where he held his first career 54-hole lead. He began the final round with a one-stroke lead over Ghim despite a 23-under 190 total after 54 holes, a tournament record by four shots. That was also nine shots better than his previous career low 54-hole score.
It’s worth mentioning only in the context of another measure of his growth as a tournament golfer. Here’s another: Smotherman led the field with 32 birdies. That’s a lot. “Kind of the state of my game,” he said.
Good state to be in.
“What it does for me,” he said of the victory, “it just breeds confidence, validates a lot of the stuff I’m doing with my team, everything I’m doing at home, just life in general, just trying to get everything on track, and we are.
“The journey,” he added, “is taking all the information we got and doing the best we can with it. I feel like I acquired a lot of information and a lot of just enjoy playing this game, too. all over the world.”
It’s easier to enjoy when you finally reach your dreams.
