70 ISSUE 367 TODAYSGOLFER.CO.UK
WORDS KEVIN BROWN PICTURES JAMES CHEADLE, GETTY IMAGEShere are thousands of
golfers out there
dreaming of making it
big. Kids putting to win
the Open on a Sunday
morning. Assistant club
pros competing in regional events. Touring
pros playing on numerous feeder tours, such
as a EuroPro, Challenge or Web.com, where
so many of today’s superstars started their
careers.
For every Rory McIroy, there are hundreds
more really, really good golfers aiming just as
high, waiting – hoping – for the chance to
make it big. This time last year, Jordan Smith
was one of them.
It’s been a whirlwind 12 months for the
24-year-old from Wiltshire, who has worked
his way from EuroPro to Challenge toEuropean Tours, winning on each. He
claimed the Porsche European Open in July
and followed up by emerging best Brit in his
first Major, the US PGA at Quail Hollow. It is
an amazing transformation, especially when
you consider he was lifting top amateur title
the Brabazon Trophy just four years ago.
He’s surprised a lot of people, but not
himself. The talented youngster is brimming
with confidence. He knows exactly what he’s
capable of and his development has been so
speedy that he’s already talking about more
majors and making Europe’s Ryder Cup
team in Paris next year.
Clearly, he’s now a world away from
playing in the back end of nowhere in front of
three men and a dog on the mini tours... “I’ve
always had the confidence it would
eventually happen,” he told us when weThere are two Jordans in the world’s top
100, a nd one of t hem i s a n E n g l i s h w i n ner
who has already proved himself in a Major
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