Austin Smotherman’s Bank of Utah Championship win capped a 10-year journey

Austin Smotherman became a PGA Tour winner in his 100th start, completing a decade-long professional journey.

In March, Smotherman entered the final round of the Cognizant Championship with the 54-hole lead for the first time in his career. He handled Sunday at PGA National well enough to finish runner-up as Nico Echavarria won the title after Shane Lowry’s collapse. Even so, the week represented an important step for Smotherman.

“This was kind of just my first really big pedestal. This will be a week I always look back at,” he said afterward.

The result earned Smotherman his first start in a Signature Event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He withdrew from Bay Hill with an injury but finished T13 at The Players the following week. The breakthrough still did not come, as the rest of his season featured missed cuts and mediocre finishes. He ended the season 80th in the FedEx Cup standings and missed the playoffs, but the sense that he was close remained.

At the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort, everything finally clicked. Smotherman opened with a 63, followed it with a 62 and took the lead into the weekend. A Saturday 65, six under par, gave him his second career 54-hole lead.

“It would be just a lifelong dream come true,” Smotherman said Saturday about the possibility of winning his first title.

He began the final round with a one-shot lead over Doug Ghim, then quickly extended it with birdies at Nos. 1, 4 and 5. After seven consecutive pars, the pressure returned. Smotherman found the fairway on the par-4 13th, but his second shot went into the lip of a greenside bunker. His third shot traveled only 24 feet and finished in another greenside bunker. He made double bogey, shrinking his lead from three shots to one.

Smotherman responded with a birdie on the drivable par-4 14th and another on No. 16. A bogey at 17 reduced his lead over Ghim to two, but after finding the fairway on the par-5 18th, Smotherman knew the finish was within reach.

His second shot stopped just short of the green, leaving him two putts for birdie. He finished at 26 under par to claim his first PGA Tour title. After making the winning putt, Smotherman hugged his caddie and Ghim before embracing his wife on the green.

“Oh my gosh. I just hit it just good enough today and hit it close early to take some pressure off. … Oh my gosh, we won on the PGA Tour. That’s insane,” he told Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers immediately afterward.

“Gosh … we did it! Let’s go!” Smotherman shouted as the interview ended.

An hour later, with the trophy beside him, the PGA Tour’s newest champion reflected on the road from SMU to Sunday’s triumph in Utah. He spoke about the “learning curves” he faced at each level of professional golf and how this victory could lead to more. But talk of his next 100 starts or another title could wait.

“One hundred starts out here is an incredible number, just to have 100 starts. 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. Here we are,” Smotherman said.

After 10 years and plenty of professional scars, Austin Smotherman finally reached his destination because he always believed he would. Some dreams simply take time.