[Photo: Getty images]
While one of the world’s best golfers, Cameron Smith, chases victories around the golf world from LIV to the majors, a crucial member of his team can often be seen walking with his group a few feet outside the ropes.
Jack Wilkosz is Smith’s personal assistant, and is the only person the 2022 British Open champion trusts to handle everything from breakfast before an important round of golf, equipment transportation to and from the course, mid-round emergency dashes for gear and supplies, or dinner and post-round activities after.
Wilkosz has known Smith since their early days at high school in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Since 2018, Wilkosz has worked for the Smith, a multiple winner across golf’s three major tours. Wilkosz chatted to Australian Golf Digest in the US about his role on Team Smith:
Wilkosz (L) and Smith (R) hold the Players Championship trophy Smith won in 2022.
You’re an important member of Smith’s team, as his assistant since 2018. When and how did it all begin?
JW: I’ve known Cam since the eighth grade in high school and we became really good mates through school and then outside of school, once we’d finished. Cam got to a point in his golf career, around 2016 or so, where he was going to move over to America. He was there for a couple years when he realised he would like to have a mate over there to help cure a bit of homesickness, so to speak. It happened to be a point in my own career at home when I wasn’t overly happy and wanted to make a change. I didn’t expect it to turn out the way it has. I had quit my job at home in Brisbane and went on a holiday/vacation to the US. I travelled around with Cam to see how his life was over in the US on the tour. We got to talking throughout that trip and he asked if I’d ever consider coming over. As a good mate would do, I said I’d love to give it a crack and support him in his career.
When did you move over?
JW: In about September, 2018 when I became Cam’s assistant and travelled alongside him while he was on the PGA Tour. As the job grew, I was helping him out with a lot of stuff on the course and off the course so that he could concentrate more on his career. Now, he’s been on LIV Golf for almost three years.
When you’re at a tournament with Cam, describe your day-to-day role and how much that helps Cam focus?
JW: So when we go to a tournament, depending on whether it’s a week when he might be staying in a house or versus a hotel in the house, I help take care of things like making sure there’s always something ready, whether it be breakfast at certain times, the car to drive him to the course, dinner plans for the evening, and if friends or family are visiting the tournament I organise them. I also take him out to dinner and chat about things that are completely unrelated to golf.
It’s all so that he doesn’t have to think much at the end of the round, when he is going back to the hotel or house. When he is at the course, I’ll often help connect a video session to his coach back in Australia. His coach Grant might need to see some swing videos, and I’m there to film his swing over FaceTime while Cam hits golf balls for Grant to see in real time. Cam gets instant feedback. Or, there might be equipment or clothing that’s been forgotten at the hotel or house on any given day. I’m ready at any point to run off and take care of errands like that.
It sounds like what makes you unique is helping Cam to completely switch off from golf, because as a childhood close friend and now assistant, you have the ability to talk about things and people from your lives back home in Brisbane as a distraction?
JW: One hundred percent. I think that’s probably one of, if not the, most important parts of the job. Being able to have that disconnect from golf tournaments is very helpful to him.
How important do you think your role is in the day-to-day when you were traveling on the PGA Tour, and also now at LIV Golf tournaments? How much mental energy do you save Cam which allows him to focus on golf?
JW: I think I would take on a fair bit for him. It really helps him shut off away from golf and in turn that helps him to focus more on the course. That allows him to perform to the ability that we all know he can.
Your history together … how important is that to your job?
JW: Yeah, I think the biggest part of our partnership is the trust factor and I believe it takes a long time to develop that. We’ve always trusted each other and backed ourselves as a team. He trusts that I’ll make the right decision with tasks on or off the course and with his personal decisions.
What was the job like during COVID-19, when neither you or Cam could really travel back to Australia with any easy, so you guys ended up staying in the US from late 2019 to late 2022? I ask because that was when Cam rose to another level, became a multiple PGA Tour winner and put in the work to eventually win a major in 2022 – the first season out of Covid?
JW: There was opportunity for me when Cam said, ‘You can go home and be with your family if you want.’ But I chose to stay with Cam and help him out. I knew he’d be there without anyone from his childhood. Not that he doesn’t have other people, but I think that helped with connecting him to his coach or managers and other aspects of the team. It was a time where we and our team really bonded and stuck together.
What’s your favorite moment so far working for Cam over the last seven years?
JW: A really cool thing was seeing him play on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup team in Melbourne. Seeing him take on Justin Thomas in the Sunday singles and win, taking on that match and getting that point was a really cool thing to see. Seeing the whole country get behind him and the Presidents Cup team that year was amazing. But as for his individual achievements, when he made the choice to move to LIV Golf, the first event I travelled to was LIV Golf Chicago in September 2022. It was his second event on the league and he won the tournament. It was really cool to witness in person and he showed to the golf world he had made the right choice. That was really special.
How has your job evolved over the last seven years? Considering Cam has morphed from relative obscurity from the global golf stage to becoming a British Open champion/major winner, rising to world No.2 in 2022, going to LIV Golf and being one of the league’s stars?
JW: I think there’s been a lot of change in the amount of things he’s taken on, even outside of the course and that allows me to step up a bit more. Whether it’s the fact he has a lot more meetings now with being an owner/captain of a LIV Golf team in Ripper GC, or extra demands because he’s a major winner, things like that, there are more demands.
