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met at his home course of Bowood, “but
probably just not this quickly. I can and I
can’t believe what’s happened... sometimes I
have to pinch myself.”
Smith has taken everything in his stride
and nothing seems to faze him – including
the multi-major winning superstars around
him. So what’s the secret? Playing with a
smile rather than a grimace on his face has
helped.
“I haven’t had anything to worry about so
it’s literally been a case of going out there
and enjoying myself and not putting any
pressure on myself. It’s just been a matter of
going out and enjoying golf, not thinking
about any pressures.
“Obviously I set my goals at the start of
each year, from keeping my card and thenwinning an event to finishing in the top 20 in
the Order of Merit. I did think I could win,
too. I had a good year on the Challenge Tour
last year and learnt how to win and had a
really good start to this season, coming third
in South Africa.
“I followed that up with a couple of other
good results and thought ‘you know what, we
can go on and do this.’ I seem to be able to
step up my game at the right time – and I
quite like playing in front of large crowds.”
Not unlike somebody else with the same
initials... “Actually I’ve been called ‘Spieth’ a
lot of times by mistake... but I wouldn’t mind
following in his footsteps.”
He’s made a decent start, though Smith is
well aware he’s far from the finished article.
“To get that first win gives you a lot of kudos,
but you still want to keep improving and get
to the next stage. You can’t afford to takeINTERVIEW
New Jordan in town...
Smith made his Major
debut at Quail Hollow and
finished as leading Brit.First of many?
Smith shows off his
Porsche European
Open trophy.No fear
The big names and big
crowds have proved no
problem for Smith.FOLLOWING IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS...
Having tasted success
once, Jordan Smith is
determined to taste
more. He doesn’t want
to be a one-hit wonder,
and aims to follow in
the footsteps of these
first-time European
Tour winners who went
on to achieve bigger
things...2007 YE Yang
(HSBC Champions)
Two years later he
disposed of Tiger
Woods to claim the
US PGA
Championship.2008 Martin Kaymer
(Abu Dhabi Champs)
Won 2010 US PGA,
2014 US Open, was
world No.1 in 2011 and
sank the winning Ryder
Cup putt in 2012.2009 Rory McIlroy
(Dubai Desert Classic)
The Nothern Irishmane
is a four-time major
winner who’s been
world No.1 for a total of
95 weeks.2009 Alex Noren
(European Masters)
Has since registered
eight more wins,
including this year’s
BMW PGA
Championship.2010 Louis
Oosthuizen(Andalucia
Open) Later that year
won the 2010 Open at
St Andrews and has
finished runner-up in
all four majors.‘I can and I can’t
believe what’s
happened...
sometimes I have
to pinch myself’