Smylie Kaufman Is Here to Stay
By Dean Mullen
Rookie Smylie Kaufman notched his 1st PGA TOUR win on his 5th start and got his tickets to Kapalua & Augusta punched.
Ok I’ll admit it. Looking through the rookie class of this year for the PGA Tour, there wasn’t anything that really stood out. That’s until I came across a name. It was a little late at night, and I had to make sure the name was accurate. Smylie was the name, and golf is his game.
The fascination with just the name at this point got me curious, and that then led to amazement. I’m not sure what was more suprising, that he has a brother named Luckie, or that this young man has a very bright future. It’s a close call.
Just to top things off, Smylie is a graduate of LSU which is only about an hour drive from my hometown New Orleans. We could have been neighbors!
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At first, I wanted him to be good before I discovered that this guy has already put his mark on the PGA Tour.
October 25th, 2015 was the date. Some of the more notable players are out vacationing because the PGA Tour is on the downswing at this time. Technically the season begins now late in the year, although the casual fan doesn’t start to follow golf until March or April. Regardless, The Shriners Hospital For Children Open at the TPC Summerlin happened on the last weekend in October.
Smylie, which is his real name, was seven shots back coming into the final round tied for 28th. This would only be his fifth start on the PGA Tour. Smylie made a run of seven birdies and an eagle on the last 11 holes to card a 61!
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He earned a trip to the Masters and a spot this week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Oh yeah, he also earned a million dollar plus a paycheck and his PGA Tour card for the season. This is how his first win came.
Kaufman got his golf genes from his parents. They were both golfers who played at LSU. Smylie was named after his grandmother’s cousin, Smylie Gebhardt, who was an under sized All-American Defensive End at Georgia Tech.
Gebhardt was only 180 lbs and 6’1″ , so his size was a challenge in itself. Unfortunately, Gebhardt had a freak accident in 1979 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He died at the age of 51. Smiley’s father Jeff had this to say about Gebhardt:
"“He was one of those guys that was straight faced, the kind of guy you wanted your daughter to bring home. An incredible working guy, and to think of what he went through…I just always knew if I ever had a son, it was gonna be Smylie.”"
Smylie has some of that blood in him. Smylie will have a lot to live up too. The PGA Tour will be a small task versus living up to carry on the name Smylie by his family’s eyes.
There are many players that come and go from the PGA Tour. Many great players won’t even get a chance to play on the PGA Tour. Very few of those will get a win. Smylie has done both already in a matter of months.
I got a feeling somewhere that Smylie Gebhardt is looking on with great pride, and the PGA Tour is lucky to have a guy like Smylie this year.
Next: Meet the 2015-16 PGA Rookie Class
The Hyundai field is loaded with champions from the 2015 season. Don’t be suprised though to see Smylie holding his own this week.