SMYLIE KAUFMAN’S COMEBACK STORY | Breakthrough, Ep. 2

It was Masters Sunday and Smylie Kaufman was on the edge of a breakthrough. He was just a PGA Tour rookie and this was his first Augusta National appearance, but he’d played his way in the final pairing on the final day.

That day went sideways. The years that followed did, too. Kaufman was hurt, then lost, then both. So how did he find his footing? And how did it feel to get there? This is Smylie Kaufman’s story — and it’s one worth hearing.
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At that same time was kind of the rise of social media and golf I was trying to to tackle a golf course it felt like a bear every single day was in the woods it was trying to chase me down and I’m over here trying to prove Joe shimo

Wrong that I’m I’m a good player and it’s just I think mentally I I wasn’t ever really prepared um nobody’s I’ve never had anybody tell me that I’d suck and I think for so long I didn’t know how to cope with that um I think it was

L to some anxiety that I didn’t realize was anxiety at the time um I don’t think people really talked too much about anxiety at the time like there was no players that were coming up uh you know speaking about mental health but really I uh mentally I was I was fighting a

Battle every single day uh to try to prove to everybody that I was that I was you know still a good player and it just it was overwhelming hey buddy it’s good to see you you too how was it Vegas last night Vegas last night the 12:58 a.m. flight out of Vegas

Is uh pretty dystopian place to Be guys’s name is Smiley the least I could do just brush up the pearly whites after like 14 hours in Las Vegas and 12 more in travel Smiley Kaufman fascinating Story I mean high-profile rise to the top and then it all disappeared appeared a bit I want to get into a couple

Different moments from from Smiley’s career first what allowed him to get to that point in the first place I mean it’s not just anyone that goes out and shoots 61 on Sunday to win a PGA Tour event it’s also not just anyone that can bounce back in the way that he did and

Maintain what seems from the outside to be an incredibly positive outlook on everything um there’s got to be more of the story in the there’s also got to be some lessons to learn from the Kid all right Smiley Kaufman thanks for being here where uh where are we can you Orient our uh viers St Sim’s Island uh C Island for the RSM classic I mean I’ve seen better weather days here this actually isn’t as bad as it looks it’s just kind of gloomy and

It’s what 4:30 and 5:00 and it’s already dark so it’s kind of how it goes this time of the year I want to start with a question that you’ve probably gotten more than any other question in your life which is what’s the origin of your name Smiley cofin such Smiley is like a

It’s a perfect descriptor for you uh but it’s also a pretty unique name where does that come from yeah no it’s a great question only a few people really know the story behind it uh really goes all the way back to my cousin who was my grandmother’s uh cousin his name was

Smiley Gart and the story behind it goes He was a college football player at Georgia Tech from Merin Mississippi and he was an All-American defensive lineman there and D line D line if you want to picture like how big this guy was he was like 190 pounds so

This this obviously college football has changed a little bit you kind of need to be 290 to be an All-American D line but at the time he was you know under 200 and they kind of showed you what type of heart he was I guess the Rudy as far as

The heart goes is how hard he played but uh in his mid-20s he had an accident severed his spine and was in a wheelchair the rest of his life wow so he was always in uh Meridian Mississippi and I’m from Birmingham and so is my

Granddad so is my dad and Baton Rouge is about a 6our drive from Birmingham and you go straight through meridian so my granddad would always take my dad and stop by Smiley’s house um when they would be going down to LSU football games so uh my dad was just always in

Inspired by his faith just inspired by his his will his his attitude and just uh knew that his first son uh he wanted to name after him and it’s fun you know Sanderson Farms even back to the first year I played there in Jackson so many

People knew who Smiley Gart was just the family so there even this year when I was working with the microphone uh still people would come up to me and said hey I knew I knew your namesake and I was like that’s it’s just really cool uh because it just seems so disconnected so

Many years from that U removed from it but uh yeah so of people have a great appreciation for who Smiley get part was I know there’s a lot of golf in your in your family um but when did you know that you were good like when did you

Know that you were and not just good but really good yeah there is a lot of golf in my family my you know my parents both played golf at LSU my granddad was the coach at UAB coach gr McDow so there was definitely a an upbringing of of being

In the golf world and you know my first love was a mixture between basketball and golf really I just was so competitive and wanted to win in everything that I did that I was the kid even in swim team if I didn’t win I’d be underneath a table crying if I didn’t

Win that’s just how I’ve always been wired and swim team yeah yeah I was on the dive team too we can we can roll those highlights you got them yeah yeah we’ll definitely dial those up uh but when I knew I was going to be good I me

I for the most part I did did very well uh on the junior Birmingham Alabama circuit i’ pretty much won everything I played in uh until I started getting to the more the bigger State stuff the regional stuff and that’s when you start running into you know the really the

Players that you play against you know there’s there’s guys here this week that they’ve met when they were 8 to 10 years old and yeah uh like for me I met Justin Thomas when I was probably 10 or 11 years old at a Junior tournament so yeah

I I think I knew I was always really good uh but at the same time I knew that there is a different level even at the junior level the Amer level there was always one level that I was just underneath and um I always knew I had

The talent to compete at that level I just was kind of in and out of bouncing around of being really good to to Great which is what you seen from you know the Jordan Feast the Justin Thomas’s of the world who dominated every single stage

They were at I always had a temper like I could not control it a lot of times and The Temper was all about me wanting to be the best that I could be and I just I could not put up with with not being great and I think part of that

Goes all the way into my professional career when when things really started going south it just you know when it’s it’s really tough on somebody who wants the best and and works hard and and wants to win more than anything it’s just the game is uh can be really fun

But it also can be very taxing too at the same time It always blows my mind with I guess pro athletes in any sport but for sure in golf thinking about okay anyone that’s out here was beating the hell out of whoever they played in high school like just beating the crap out of everyone and so it’s got it inevitably be an

Adjustment to like get out here and you know maybe you’re not the best one out here but you you started hot like you all right I mean your what Your your corn fairy season in 2015 was really good you had a handful of top FES you

Had a win you finished I think six that year yeah um were you feeling pretty confident as you graduated to the PGA Tour yeah uh to very confident and uh uh I really prided myself on being confident and I just knew that I had some special abilities when especially

At that time uh the confidence and just my ability to really like work a plan I really knew how I could get around a golf course and I was very consistent about staying committed to whether it was you know in the gym doing stuff with my coach playing a certain way I never

Deviated from the plan and and over time that that built confidence to me and it started at LSU with my coach uh Chuck Winstead and he gave me a lot of confidence just in a belief that if I got it on the green more often than

Everybody else that I would beat him and that was kind of the attitude I took and the first time I got to go up against Pros with was at the US Open I uh got through locals got through sectionals and then I got to uh Us open at

Pinehurst which is where we’re going to be going this year I got to play with so many great pros and watching them play up close I was like I’m better than this guy and I really believe that now the experience Factor was an issue because at that US

Open not only did I play too much I played Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday 18 holes every day every single day it was you played a full tournament it was 90 degrees out we get there on Thursday and I can’t figure out why I’m so worn

Out it just yeah I had a lot to to learn in the professional game but like you said that I did get off to a hot start and a lot of belief uh I really uh really had a great team around me and they helped you know give me a lot of

Confidence as well but uh definitely took advantage of opportunities early yeah and and did it help or or I don’t know like light a fire under you that some of the guys your age were already doing big time things around you those guys Justin and Jordan or whoever you

Want to say Patrick r those were the guys I was competing against they were just light years ahead of me as far as just what they were able to do in college until my senior year and that it was actually not even the fall I played

Only once or twice in the fall I remember calling my Dad saying like I he was asking starting about getting questions about getting set up professionally to get you know all you know whether it’s money all just getting set up and and comfortable for when you

Are going to turn pro I was like Dad I don’t know if I’m going to turn pro at the time you know I I hadn’t seen any enough to to invest you know time and money that I was going to make it out there and two months later I I I had all

The confidence in the world I’m making the golf team uh week in week out I feel like I’m the best player on our team at the time I’m shooting the best scores and then we get uh all the way to sec’s which was here and I finished second at

Secc’s and that was the moment I’m like okay there’s there’s a little bit more to this and then end up qualifying for the US Open soon after um but yeah that’s all around that time is when I was like wait I maybe I can beat Justin

Or Jordan or those guys at the time but uh I mean I think that was probably close to the year that Jordan had won you know how many times Well 2014 or 15 is yeah when he really went off yeah so like that wasn’t even on my radar you

Know I’m still squeezing out a Subway meal for lunch and you know F LSU so yeah it’s funny though with perspective though right like at the time you probably felt like you were so old but then now looking back you’re what you’re like 24 oh yeah all the time in the

World very young very very young and it’s crazy just looking back at those two guys that I keep bringing them up because uh you know I remember watching Jordan play at it was Tigers event but it would have been at like Sherwood you know like that’s yeah that’s it I was so

Far removed from those guys that they were in a different atmosphere I remember the first time I had seen them was probably my rookie year and it just seemed like I hadn’t seen them in 20 years and they I’m like I’ve been seeing you guys on TV you’ve been doing pretty

Good what do you remember about the week of your win um so that would have been uh I can’t remember what month it was it was either October or November yeah I was just looking at it you won on my birthday October 25th yeah I knew it was a good

Day yeah yeah October 25th 2015 that would have been right yeah no I I was was the second event of that fall season so it was it was a little earlier in the calendar and we had a great week at Napa the week before finished 10th so

Immediately I felt like I was in a great spot for the spring because I felt like I was going to be at the top of the shuffle so I I wasn’t as worried because so many rookies get to the fall season and as soon as they start missing Cuts

They start dropping down the shuffle and it’s this year’s been a little different but it used to be a lot harder to get into events that could be it once once you fall down then you’re sh rookies used to play I mean there’ be times that

You might not only get into 15 events I I feel like it’s been way higher than that lately yeah uh but anyways get off to a great start so I I I don’t feel like I’m playing with house money but I feel comfortable enough that I can go

Play my game and know I’m not worrying about getting into Sony or something like that and that week in particular uh it’s funny I the Friday uh round maybe it was even Thursday afternoon we’re finishing up weight and it was just like this and like real kind of

Dusk and I was chipping on the 16th hole and chunk the chip and here comes the fiery SK coming like I was mad I’m stomping I’m cussing and my my grandparents and and my girlfriend at the time now wife were the only people out watching me and and my grandmother

Uh I think it was the next day came up to me and and said you’re going to you got to start acting better and she doesn’t she wouldn’t never she’s died since but she would never really ever say anything to me like that unless she

Felt like it needed to be said oh my you must have sat up straight after that her her words when she did speak They Carried a lot of weight so I think I don’t know if that changed my my thinking the rest of the week and you

Know it’s not like I was really In Contention the entire week I was just kind of going through the motion shooting you know even part a couple under every day I think I maybe shot 67 one day and we get to Sunday and I think

I’m like 25th or 6th I’m playing with uh Fabian Gomez and we’re shoot there’s probably eight to nine groups behind us so maybe even more than that I think we were playing threes though so uh that maybe it was tuome so there was a lot of guys behind us and I absolutely striped

It absolutely striped it I was only one under through seven holes where I felt like I could have been six or seven under through those holes and we get to the ninth hole and I asked my caddy I said we were kind of looking at the

Board that ninth was a par five we’re waiting on the green to clear I was like who you think’s going to win back there you know like who who think’s going to win I think Jimmy Walker and Kevin Na were in that final group and he said I I

Think we still have something to say about this tournament and I was like I’ll have what you’re having you know like that winning wasn’t even on my radar by any means and and then I think the next 11 holes I was like nine or nine under something x 11 holes that

Sounds about right 61 yeah Dam 61 uh kind of blacked out a little bit and did you did you have a sense do you think during that back nine of like geez if I keep just making putts and maybe I do have something to say about this yeah

Eagled 15 get to 16 and get in the Fairway there on the second shot that par five and the camera showed up and I was like and I think most people at that time if you were a rookie when the camera showed up and and you’re like

Wait am I have a chance to win this thing yeah for me when the camera showed up I said all right lights are on let’s go like this is you’re built for this and hit a great shot in there made birdie uh had a good look on the next

Hole and then made a nice putt on 18 so uh I’ve I’ve always felt like when I’m in contention I can close it out that that was never something I really struggled with um I had a couple couple opportunities on tour uh in final groups one being at the BMW in Boston where

Hurricane came through uh on Sunday it kind of screwed screwed everything up I was playing too well uh they C really cost me a chance to make it to East Lake that year um and then the Masters obviously is an obvious one but that was

Just a a crazy day yeah what but what did that win do to you and for you I guess first of all was it as rewarding as maybe you expected a PJ tour win would be in real time it’s I don’t know because the week before Emiliano won and

He was a rookie on the tour at the time and I remember telling ailano in the in the the locker room that week was like dude you won Who Wants To Be A Millionaire last week and so when I won it was just like oh you know this is

Great and I I’ve never been a person to check my bank account if I did it was just to make sure I had enough money to to to get by yeah so I’ve never been somebody to be INF factu by by dollars so you know for me it it it didn’t

Necessarily change me because I I was still living at home for let’s see that was in OCT October I was still living at home until May of the following year yeah how about in the way you thought about yourself like your your perception of yourself as a golfer

Did that change expectations at all no it just made me more confident I think you know expect expectations are uh definitely I think a product of of kind of where your confidence is and I was I was confident and there was no doubt about that I I really felt like my

Expectations were that I could win not only once I feel like I could win multiple times and that’s I mean that’s just telling you where I felt like how good I thought I was um at the time and then all right not to take you through what was probably a pretty unpleasant

Day but well first a really pleasant day Saturday at the Masters that year you shot the low round of the day really hard conditions I think you shot uh three under yeah 69 got some Crystal low round oh yeah and uh and you played your way into the final group like did that

Moment feel as crazy as we would think from the outside or like you said you were just riding this confident high so it was just like no this is just what I do it really the whole week was just uh it was a dream and I think I tell people

All the time if you’re going to play the Masters once you might as well have the full experience and let me tell you I had the full freaking experience it started uh it started in really on on Wednesday at the par three deal probably one of of the more electric Wednesday

Part three days of all time hole in ones were happening everywhere Zach Johnson and I made back-to-back hole in ones it was the same day JT uh that’s right same day JT and Ricky made a hole inone in the group in front of us I believe uh it

Was Tom Watson Jack Nicholas and uh maybe Gary play and and one of them made a hole in one too it was just a wetc so I made a hole in one on eight Zach made one on seven so I’m just like this is sweet I mean this place is unreal uh but

The weather that week God it was so windy yeah and which played into my hands in Augusta National if I could pick a golf course that would that I could design to say this is this suits your game the best yeah it would be Augusta National I love fast greens I

Love slopey greens I love playing with imagination I grew up on a golf course that had a lot of slope uh so I’m not you know I never had flat wies and Augustin ashal I had you have every single ey in the book yeah and very

Similar climate to what I grew up to in Birmingham so I felt comfortable and I knew I had a game plan going into the week and really executed my game plan great Thursday Friday and then Saturday uh was you know I think I shot I was

Right around one over when I made the cut and was probably middle like right around 25th 30th and then just completely jumped up the board with that 69 on on Saturday and uh it was a long time between that that night until the next day it’s a late tea time on Sunday

It’s so you got a long time to kind of think about it I imagine I imagine you’d never felt anything quite like that before a tournament round yeah well it just takes a while to get to 3:00 I think is one when the tea time was and

You know I I was pretty bored that day to be honest I was looking for anything to do I turned on the Golf Channel and for whatever reason they were they had 10 Cup on and I’m I’m just kind of a sucker for like certain C movies if it’s

On I have to watch it and Tin Cup was one of them I wish somebody would have taken the remote and turn the channel cuz Tin Cup is what you should not be watching on Sunday if you’re trying to go win The Masters so I’m dealing uh obviously watching that so that wasn’t

Helpful but uh get out there and and it’s the first time on the Range that I’ve ever had any wrist discomfort so I get on the Range and I start feeling something in my wrist and I I go my trainer there who Colby tuler who at the

Time it was you know it was just him and I and he worked with John Peterson and Andrew Loop who was kind of the LSU guys now he works with you know you name himour uh yeah so I I go over to him and and it’s like Coe my wrists and stuff

And he he kind of does this little wackadoodle just like you know just all right you’re good it’s like all right and we’re good and we give back out there and the wrist didn’t really it didn’t bother me the rest of the day um but it did that was something that

Turned out to be something for me as my career went on turned out it it started on Sunday at Augusta just was kind of wild but the day in general um I tell you know when people ask me about that day and and I tell them that I

Was I wasn’t that nervous I was comfortable I really I learned some things that I would have been able to use for the next time I just had some really terrible breaks and that’s Augusta National like when you’re were like a foot off it

It can really mess you up and and get in some really terrible spots I I really felt like I hit it well and I’ve always been a great Putter and I just really struggled with my start lines that day it wasn’t necessarily nerves it just

Just didn’t see the ball go in the hole and wasn’t able to make the proper adjustments and the greens when I tell you they looked purple over like that it switched overnight and they turned purple and I just never really got comfortable with the speed of the greens

But the moment itself I felt great but I’ve never played against Jordan spe in a final pairing or against him but dude he was I mean he was the Tiger Woods Rockstar like everybody wanted him to win yeah and he hit it terrible on the

Front nine and I H was hitting it well and he beat me by like five shots and the the problem I was dealing with was he was making putts everybody’s moving and I just could not settle down like it just was I was off of my routine from from him

Really just big pots and I wasn’t able to take that extra deep breath I think that day and I guess to your point it’s like at Augusta you just need to be that little fraction off to turn a yeah the low round in the field into something

Else yeah it really was I mean CU like Jordan bogey 10 and 11 I had a great seven iron into 10 I three putut from like 15 feet I made we both made some pretty sloppy Bogies on 11 but get to 12 and and nobody knows this I hit one of

My best shots of the week I hit this high cut nineiron to about 10t left of it and made a birdie Putt and Jordan still gives me crap about fist pumping that Putt in I just I had seen a ball go in the hole and I was like let’s go and

So well he was making like seven wasn’t he at the time yeah yeah no so I’m right there watching it all but I I was happy to see my balling up in the bottom of the hole man um what effected that have that round I mean that that’s got to be

A hard one to shake off like you seem like a guy that rebounds from stuff pretty well but I mean that had to stick with you in some way you know uh it it didn’t really bother me looking back I just I was just frustrated that I

Couldn’t turn that 81 into a 76 which is all I needed to get into the next year yeah and that that’s really where my frustration lies is that I I made I was this far off from getting it really close to the hole on 16 make double

Bogey from the front bunker and then easy up and down on 17 uh where I could have made uh an easy par then 18 I hit a bad t- shot make bogey so I finished double bogy bogey so right there I mean that’s that’s four over par on the last

Three holes so we could have at least gotten it back to five over there and then God there was a million shots before that that I could have saved that could at least got me into Augusta the next year but from a mental standpoint I

I thought I had learned so much that it that I was going to be able to use those experiences for the next time that I was like dude I got my first Masters I made to the final group yeah nothing went my way today I was able to I feel like

Flush it and uh be able to you know get it the next time but that’s when all the RIS stuff really started to flare up right after that yeah so when you think about that time in your career and you know breaking into the top 50 in the

World getting into all these special places becoming a PGA Tour winner and were there relationships that you leaned on to to get you there or maybe you didn’t even know you were leaning on them but they supported you in a way that that helped you get there yeah like

I said earlier I had a great team around me and uh just people that really could hold me accountable uh I think so often in in this game of golf you need people that are great teachers around you but you need people that can communicate

With you and know when when to push your buttons when to really step off the gas and and when to like really dig in and work on something and so I really had some great mentors with that from my team uh but I also had other PJ tour

Players as well that pushed me as well just from the LSU side like Andrew lop and John Peterson were big mentors of mine but Grant McDow uh played for my granddad at UAB he was a guy that I would try to play practice rounds with

Pick his brain and so many things that I do on the golf course or things I learned from Grant McDow so uh plenty of mentors Keegan Bradley was always great to me uh as well but yeah really just uh so many people poured time and and effort into my life especially during

Those during those years and uh definitely forever grateful because I feel like I was able to take advantage of some opportunities here we have smell like coffin Kurt pyro here call call The Shop good that’s good good ni here we are for scorecard update J Thomas up 100 spe

Down 60 Ricky fer down 60 Carter C up 20 I don’t know exactly how to categorize like the next few years but they weren’t as good on the golf course you can put that yeah that’s fair um do you attribute a lot of that back to the

Wrist injury and how you how you dealt with it or or didn’t deal with it yeah no I think if you asked uh my swing coach at the time Tony riro he would tell you that because really it was ball striking that got started getting me off

And he would say that the wrist stuff really led me down some path that um I was trying to find some stuff that really it was more of my wrist that was preventing me to um to be able to kind of do the things that we were trying to

Do in the golf swing uh so that led me to eventually starting to eventually leave Tony to go see if I could find something else to figure out um what I was what I couldn’t figure out with Tony which there was nothing that like we there wasn’t any special sauce anywhere

Really because I fig figure that out years later um that you know I probably went to six or eight teachers got incredible advice from so many of them like I my golf swing today now I I don’t I don’t see anybody anymore I I went to too many teachers got too many lessons

Where I finally realized like you know what I’m good enough as I am um and now all I’ve gotten so many lessons from each coach that I’ll I’ll kind of bounce off who I want to like use today in my head like so I’m going to go play with you today I like

You know what I’m going to go over the stuff I learned from from Scott Hamilton him I me and Scotty ham I got I remember everything we worked on um and I would say that the physical uh injuries that I had led to a lot of the mental hurdles that I was

Eventually having to deal with and at that same time was kind of the rise of social media and golf you know I just come up you know there were plenty of players that had so many more followers than the PGA Tour like like there were I feel like the players were more popular

Than like the PJ tour socials at the time just sure like pter andart sink exactly changed it’s changed it’s change and uh I I saw the best and worst of it in such a snapshot of of a couple years you know I kind of came like everybody

Figured out who I was whether it was from winning in Las Vegas with whether it was Augusta or two weeks later with uh the boys down at the Bahamas and and that’s kind of where people know me from at the time and and then those last the

Two or three years after that I I think people always thought I compared my game to those three players and was trying to chase those guys down and be at those guys’ level and I did when I was playing well I did I did feel like I was at

Their level but when I started getting injured and I wasn’t playing as well I wasn’t even close to their level so I was just trying not only was I trying to to play better I was trying to to tackle a golf course it felt like a bear every

Single day was in the woods it was trying to chase me down and I’m over here trying to prove Joe shimo wrong that I’m I’m a good player and it’s just I think mentally I I wasn’t ever really prepared um nobody’s I’ve never had anybody tell me that I’d suck and I

Think for so long I didn’t know how to cope with that um I think it led to some anxiety that I didn’t realize was anxiety at the time um I don’t think people really talked too much about anxiety at the time like there was no players that were coming up uh you know

Speaking about mental health but really I uh mentally I was I was fighting a battle every single day uh to try to prove to everybody that I was that I was you know still a good player and it just it was overwhelming yeah I mean I promise is the only time that I’ll

Compare my golf game to yours but you know I’ve played mini tours for a couple of years I missed a bunch of cuts in a row on like the Canadian tour One Summer and I remember thinking like I’m like a bad person like this is it it’s crazy

How easily your score can can wrap up in the rest of everything you have going on and no one was paying attention to any scores I was shooting was just for me everybody so I can only imagine how that must have felt and how hard it must have been to separate like

What’s going on on the golf course course from everything else in your life yeah no it was it was very difficult um I think Brooks kep could probably said it best in the full swing dock just talking about how he couldn’t get away from the game when he went home and that

Was me for five years couldn’t get away from the game just upnight weight uh couldn’t go to bed i’ I’d either be thinking about what I’m going to do the next day on the Range to figure this out or I’m thinking about just a nightmare shot that’s like haunting me it’s like I

Can’t I I don’t know what happens in like on this shot and it was for me it was a big right Miss and uh really it’s it’s like a quarterback um you know when they get their play sheet in and and or for instance or even just like a

Baseball player when they’re when they’re out on the mound and they can’t figure out they can’t get command and they’re just throwing it everywhere they have to like be able to make an adjustment and so many guys out here they hit balls not to hit balls and see

What the golf ball looks like but it’s to figure out what the adjustment is and I think any player that’s played at an elite level knows you it’s just you out there and you have to be able to run through three or four things to correct

A ball flight and I I had 30 things that I would try to do to correct a ball fight and sometimes those 30 things would be in my head and I’d be running through all of them not behind the ball but over the ball so I am just totally

Turned on over the golf ball um and my biggest strength in golf when I was playing well was my creativity and feel and when you’re thinking constantly all day you you have no creativity and feel and really by the every Thursday felt like a Sunday and I would be spent

By the eighth hole mentally fatigued like I I would get to 14 to be like mentally crawling because I just would be so worn out from cuz Monday Tuesday Wednesday say I mean I’m sticking my hands in an ice bucket every night so I

Can go practice and hit balls uh cuz I I really truly believe that nobody practiced harder than I did for those probably three or four years I mean one of the reasons it seemed like such a good time to chat with you is because I feel like your story has a a really

Positive turn in it what happened next like you’re doing pretty great right now at what point did you look into um what could be a career in golf media in broadcasting or being on TV it it’s never entered my brain you know like this was never part of the plan uh and

Even winning on the PJ tour was never part of the plan I would have loved to play on the PJ tour uh but I wasn’t somebody that had that that belief in college I just wanted maybe an opportunity to play an event so for me I feel like I overe exceeded my

Expectations on the PJ tour now when I got out there I was like wait I I can I can do so much more but uh I’m very happy with with my professional career I mean I I saw the highs and the lows and and so might as well touch it all when

We’re out there but uh as far as the TV stuff goes uh happened about a year and a half ago and I this is when I really started to open up more because for so long I was so secluded and um and being able to speak out uh really just with

People around me so it started with my wife uh telling her it’s like hey if I need to start doing something else like I don’t look at the bills I’m not somebody that looks the money like do I need to do anything else and she’s she’s

Was like you know what just just keep doing whatever you want to do and I’ll always support you and um I was just at the point where I’m like is there something else and my agent at the time Jimmy Johnson uh I just called or texted

Him I was like hey man like there if there’s anything in whether it’s calling golf or anything in media just just throw a bone out there and see if anybody grabs it uh and we it’s funny we I worked with Massage Envy at the time

Or maybe this was a year or two before that and I was hosting this like show and they had all these other ambassadors like Tony fenale Branson Eder and they would come on my set and I would interview him and I think he turned in

And they he turned in all that tape to I think it was ESPN or something and turns out they hired me from this Massage Envy Ambassador set from saying like Okay audition he’s got a personality whatever and like we’ll give you a shot and I

Thought that shot was going to be like a studio deal at uh you know the PJ Tour live thing here and they’re like wait we need somebody to walk at Southern Hills for the PGA Championship and I was like hold on straight to a major I was like

Wait what are you talking about like straight to a major like am I GNA seriously hold a mic and a a major like how do you do it what do you do like and I I remember asking uh a couple people about just advice and I think it was

Either either Colt or somebody else that was like yeah man it’s a sinker swim deal you either can do it or you can’t and I was like okay cool well nothing to lose so I’m just going to go out there and do my best and uh that first hole my

In that 10th or it was actually the 10th hole do remember Southern Hills goes kind of down and down in a goalie and so it was terrible with uh the static so I’m I can barely hear the guys that are back in the booth and will zot torus is

Who ends up going in a playoff that week with JT he’s in the rough and he’s got to hit over this smallest tree the greens have been fairly firm all week and they’re like what’s Will’s zator Scott it’s my first call my first call and I like well

I tell you what not a great line in the rough I don’t see how we can get this inside of 30 feet and Willie Z gets up there and just go just like over the tree and it comes out like a butterfly and it lands like just over that little

Front bunker and rolls to like four or five ft and I said well that’s a great start to my media career I guess I it’s either you can or can’t do it and I guess I can’t do it and it got better as the week went on and I I really I

Started to really enjoy it and um I’ve told uh several folks as well that that week in particular uh the really it felt like the lid and just kind of kind of came off a little bit in the fact that I felt for the first time like nobody

Looking over my shoulder and talking about me I I just felt I just felt comfortable in my own skin for the first time and I knew for whatever reason I was like I’m right where I should be God that’s so cool that’s such a cool feeling I remember thinking like man

Smiley seems like he’s getting comfortable out there you eating a hot dog on camera at one point it a Gizzy Cam that was that was a real highlight um that’s amazing that it happened so quickly I mean I guess Colt was right you might not have been right about your

First hole but yeah oh you can you can either do it or you can’t can and I had so many people tell me quickly that I could do it I was like okay I’ll take your word for it yeah yeah well and it seems like I mean obviously you have

Such good relationships with so many of the guys out there that that know you know what it’s all like and you also just know them as people quite well how has that been leaning on those guys you know it’s been a good balance right you know you want to respect your personal

Relationship with them but also be a fair uh critic as well um um and do your job which is you know you’re supposed to call how you see it and I feel like I’ve uh been that’s been a a fairly easy adjustment for me I haven’t um felt like

I’ve get been in a situation where I was calling out a player for something that they would feel upset with me about and the the strategy I’ve taken with that is I would want if it were you calling my stuff or or calling about my golf shots

I just never wanted somebody to ever question my work ethic or the fact that like you know I know you’re trying hard and that that’s something that I always hated is when people question my work ethic or didn’t really understand or H be in the know about something so just

Speculating so I’ve tried to really when I do find something out I I like to you know get to the source somewhere to stuff that you obviously do but uh and just keep those relationships and and you know I’m not want to to to be a big

Gossiper when it comes to social media I just I I respect the guys too much I I like calling golf I like to hear their stories what you know what’s what what their what bothers them what their ups and downs are like and you know I always

Feel like I it’s a fun conversation anytime I get to speak with any the players is a lot of the work that you then do week in and week out you know checking in with guys finding out what they’re working on stuff like that or or what has been the biggest adjustment

When it comes to just doing the job every week well I just finished my year one and I somebody had told me that the first year you’re really going to understand what this job’s all about and I didn’t believe him at the time because I’m like you know what I’ve already

Worked six events I know what TV is all about and it couldn’t have been more right I’ve learned so much this year on just really first off just our our business and and being an OnCourse reporter and at times being an analyst just the verbiage coming in out as far

As you know timing with with certain things when the right time to say something is so you know that’s that’s obviously been a learning curve but um sorry what was the original question I was yeah what do the work consist of I guess like what obviously it’s something

That you know so well that a lot of is just like staying natural and getting comfortable but you know how do you balance that with doing whatever prep work you have to do yeah no the prep is and that’s something kind of goes back to to you know this first year i’ I’ve

Learned you know different strategies on on when to talk to players whether it’s observing them or you know just really when to stay away and I remember when I was playing I always hated when I was warming up before round and whether the TV people right behind me or just I

Always hated when like a ton of people were behind my back when I’m trying to get ready for a round yeah so I would try to avoid the range but it’s sometimes very diff difficult for us to to get information that week about the players game unless you’re really out

There with them on a practice round but you don’t know who’s going to play well that week so you can’t be with everyone you can’t walk with everyone that’s been the biggest challenge is is trying to figure out uh what the what they’re working on you know what the last month

Or two has been like as far as just if they’re been trending or not is if they just found something that week so that’s been something that I’ve I’ve kind of had to to with how what that strategy is like to not annoy people because you

Know that’s the last thing I want is for me to be walking up and and people start turning away just because I ask too much questions I guess sure yeah oh God you’re Smiley again yeah there he is there he comes I don’t think you’re There what’s your relationship with golf like now playing yeah uh I I have moments of Brilliance and I will I will say that I’m very comfortable on a golf course now I I still uh feel that I hit shots at times that and people that I play

With are like man if you can do that continue to do that you should go back and play and uh that’s just I’m so far away from going back and playing on the PJ tour just I feel like I’ve kind of found my spot you know I I really love

Media I love being out here watching the guys play um I also realize how miserable the guys look out here I know they’re making a lot of money but it’s a stressful job yeah and the stress in my life has been kind of taken away a

Little bit and now anytime you speak on live TV it it is live so there is some stress involved things can go wrong with that so it there is juice in TV and I I feel the adrenaline um a lot you know there’s plenty of days where I’ve had to

Learn strategies to it it feels like you know just as nerve-wracking as when you are playing in these big moments like what how you know what the deliver is going to be like and so i’ I’ve had to kind of find different ways to to

Mentally be able to do this job in high pressure situations so that’s really fun um to because there’s just as much juice in this job and um but golf for me I I hit a lot of great shots I I tell people that I most of the time will make somewhere between

Five to seven birdies around some days I make five to seven Bogies some days I make zero Bogies but for the most part my birdies are kind of there and and then the the Bogies are either there that day or they aren’t and we don’t know if they’re going to be

There looking back is there anything that you that you would change that you say that you would say you know I wish I knew this earlier or I wish I had approach this differently or is it the sort of thing where you know it got you

Here so therefore it was a good path yeah no I I think maybe the only regret would be uh I I did have injuries and I I really did have some serious tontis going on yeah that it didn’t require surgery but it was a chronic tontis uh

Really my wrist um and then my left elbow so there was probably moments where I could have taken six months to nine months off to really get healthy uh and then really it would have helped me in that time period settle down and almost just press the

Brakes and be able to go and almost have like a golf retreat with my team to get everybody back on the same page and get me confident again so that for me I think I think it got a little bit too fast me trying to fix things because I I

Feel like I’m a Problem Solver and when you were so good at Pro problem solving for a couple years and and you always had the answers and then all of a sudden you don’t have the answers and then you’re leaning on people a little bit too much and you’re not taking uh full

Ownership in your game you know that for me was something I wish I could go back and probably just kind of take a little time off and just the last thing was there a moment when you felt like all right I really made the right call I’m

I’m right where I deserve to be is it you mentioned at tuls was it really that that soon that you knew yeah I would say two moments you know I would say in Tulsa just I feel like my anxiety was lifted just I felt like my personality

Woke up again so that that was a great place obviously the starting point but I’ll even go back to uh the end of this year at the Ryder Cup and I am not an emotional person like I’m not a crier I’m not some even like even if like it’s

A a sad movie like I can’t even tear up and the first hold of the Ridder Cup this year walking off the tea the first I think I was with the second group and that scene at the Ridder cup I’m walking down the first Fairway and my wife was

Up there uh she came for the week and uh it was just so cool to see her and then just walk up the Fairway and I I was literally tearing up and emotional I was like this is exactly where I should be and so that for me was like okay I’m I’m

You know you are where your feet are and I was very happy happy with where my feet were you are where your feet are all right we better stop before I start tearing up here uh Smiley thanks so much sounds like you’ve got a good schedule

Ahead we’ll see you at the hero we’ll see you at sentury you got some good Island Travel coming up yeah and Sony too so and Sony too yeah mixed with some little bit of uh holiday cheer in the middle of that but yeah excited to uh get back to work thanks so much

Appreciate it my man Anytime