From 783rd in the world, to LIV, to The Open

A year ago, Australian Travis Smyth was the 783rd ranked player in the world. Now, he’s preparing to play in the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Smyth grew up in the small beach town of Shell Harbor, which is about an hour and a half south of Sydney. He didn’t pick up a golf club until he was 12 years old, but he rose through the amateur ranks quickly. By August of 2017, Smyth was the 11th ranked amateur in the world.

Shortly thereafter, Travis found himself deep into contention at the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. His run was impressive, knocking off Will Gordon in the round of 64 and eventually beating now PGA Tour star Will Zalatoris to advance to the final eight. The Aussie’s run ended when he lost a heartbreaker 1 down to eventual champion Doc Redman, but he made his presence in the amateur golf world known.

After officially placing T5 amongst the best amateurs in the world, Smyth wasn’t done yet. Just two weeks later, he went on to win his first professional tournament as an amateur. He emerged victorious at the Northern Territory PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I just had one of those weeks where everything went right and I won by seven shots and blitzed the field. It was an amazing feeling. I was reassured that being a professional golfer was my thing to do.” Smyth said.

Fast forward to 2022, and a monumental event in the history of the sport began to take shape. There was a civil war brewing in the world of golf, and Greg Norman was at the forefront of a new tour called LIV Golf. Beginning in April of 2022, LIV began poaching some of the world’s best golfers, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

LIV reportedly spent upwards of a billion dollars on player acquisitions and the tour was criticized for its lack of qualifying process, rendering it insufficient for OWGR points. However, there was a qualifying event prior to the first LIV event at Centurion Club outside of London.

The Asian Tour had an event called The International Series England, and the top-6 players on the leaderboard would get a chance to play at LIV London.

Five years after his charge at the U.S. Amateur, the now 27-year-old Travis Smyth who was playing on the Asian Tour suddenly had the opportunity of a lifetime.

The gritty Aussie took advantage, finishing in second place at the event behind Scott Vincent. The biggest payday Smyth had received as a professional golfer to that point was just over $30,000. He now had a chance to play for $4 million at Centurion Club.

At the time, he knew he would also be playing at LIV Portland and most likely LIV Bedminster as well, so it was important for him to capitalize on the opportunity. He certainly knew the stakes, and said it “felt like a major” because of how important playing well on LIV was to his career.

“To me, they were the three biggest events I’ve ever played in.”

Although he felt he could have played better, Smyth finished T33, T29 and 22nd in the three events and walked away with $850,000.

Life as a professional golfer on most tours can be a grind. Flights, hotels and daily expenses can add up when you aren’t making a great deal of prize money. Especially coming from Australia, where it’s far away from where he plays, flights are especially expensive.

Now, the former 11th ranked amateur had some breathing room and could focus solely on improving as a player.

“It just took a huge financial pressure off of my back. With that money, I can fly business which definitely helps. I’m staying in nicer hotels, I’m paying my coach more money so I can have him around more often. Now I can spend the money on my team to try and get better each and every day, which I’m assuming that the best players in the world do as well. They pay the big money, they get a lot of support from their team, so I’ve used a fair chunk of money to put that that team environment around me.”

Smyth’s ability to invest money back into his game immediately paid dividends. He won the Yeander TPC on the Asian Tour less than two months after LIV Bedminster, and he believes playing on LIV played a large part in helping him get the victory.

“I just felt like playing on LIV, competing at that level, and then going back to the Asian Tour gave me a little bit of confidence.”

“Since my win, I’ve been playing pretty consistently, so I definitely feel like everything I’m doing is taking me in the right direction and feel like more wins are going to be coming soon.”

Smyth’s prediction of playing better golf after investing in his team couldn’t have been more accurate. The 28-year-old got off to a blazing start in 2023. He finished in a tie for 6th at the PIF Saudi International which featured a strong field that included winner Abraham Ancer, Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann, Paul Casey, Mito Pereira, Patrick Reed, and more.

The strong play didn’t stop there. Smyth then finished 7th at the International Series Qatar and then found himself playing in the World City Championship in Hong Kong. The event was especially important because the top four finishers would qualify for the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

To make things even more difficult leading into one of the biggest events in his life, Smyth had been, and still is, dealing with some off-and-on illness over the past 12 months.

“For the past six months to a year I’ve been getting sick every two-and-a-half to four weeks. I’m traveling a lot; I’m traveling from time zone to time zone. Getting access to decent food can be tough sometimes. This year I’ve been shocked that I’ve played well because I’ve felt really average in almost all of my events. I’m doing minimal practice in the practice rounds more than half the time. There’s definitely something going on.”

The head cold and severe body aches returned with a vengeance in Hong Kong, but once again the Aussie showed his resolve.

During the tournament, Hong Kong Golf Club showed its teeth. The conditions were brutal. The winds were strong, and the course was rainy, wet and miserable.

Just like Travis Smyth likes it.

“It was raining, it was playing tough, and I raced up the leaderboard. I was really committing to my swings, and everything fell into place. I shot a nice score and everyone around me seemed to go backwards.”

This July, Smyth will be competing in his first major championship.

“Getting into my first major, I’m thrilled, stoked, all the emotions. It’s a great feeling, I cannot wait to play in my first British Open.”

The Australian is going to head over to the UK early to try to get a better feel for links style golf, but understandably, he’s hoping the conditions are tough the week of the Open.

“I kind of hope it’s a really hard, windy rainy British Open”.

Smyth feels like his game will be in a place where he can surprise some people at The Open. He’d be happy to make the cut but is certainly capable of more.

“I’d like to make the cut, but a successful week would be top-15. I’m definitely good enough, my good golf is good enough. Yeah, top-15, top-20 I’d be pretty stoked with.”

When I pressed the affable Aussie on whether or not he could win, he laughed but wouldn’t rule himself out.

“Do I think I could do better? Yeah, sure. But baby steps for my first Open.”

Smyth’s talent and his determination can’t be questioned. He was a highly ranked amateur player and has shown remarkable improvements since he’s been able to strengthen the team around him.