After winning the Bank of Utah Championship earlier this month, Austin Smotherman arranged for a taco truck to park outside his home next Thursday and invited family and friends over to celebrate the first PGA Tour-sanctioned title of his career, earned in his 100th career start.
There was only one problem.
On Monday, Smotherman won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in a three-hole playoff over Seamus Power in his 101st career start, meaning he captured a second title before he ever got around to celebrating the first.
“I guess we’re going to celebrate them both,” he said Tuesday in a phone interview.
Smotherman, 32, has spent years chasing the kind of breakthrough that can change a career. Now, after a remarkable run of success, he is beginning
to understand how quickly things can happen when belief catches up with ability.
For Smotherman, the difference has been a combination of confidence, improved putting and a commitment to focusing on quality shots rather than outcomes. The results have been transformative. He became the first player to win on both the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour in back-to-back weeks, establishing himself as one of golf's emerging success stories.
Ranked No. 54 in the world following his recent success, Smotherman now sits within striking distance of the top 50, a position that would put him in line for a first Masters invitation.
The downside of his weather-shortened Bermuda victory, reduced to 54 holes because of the course was deemed unplayable in high winds, was a smaller allocation of Official World Golf Ranking points. As a result, despite winning twice during the FedEx Cup Fall, where victories no longer provides an automatic berth into the Masters, Smotherman still has not satisfied any of the major's qualification criteria.
He plans to keep pushing toward that goal, with the Austin Championship in two weeks and the season-ending RSM Classic among the events remaining on his schedule. The opportunity to compete at Augusta National, rather than attend as a guest, carries special meaning for a player who has already experienced the Masters from the other side of the ropes.
If belief has fueled Smotherman's breakthrough, putting has helped deliver the results.
He began experimenting with a LAB Golf putter in May 2025 after a member at his home club loaned him two models to try. After combining elements from both, Smotherman worked with LAB Golf to create a customized version. It arrived in time for a Korn Ferry Tour event in Greenville, South Carolina, where he promptly shot 25 under and won.
The putter stayed in the bag through the FedEx Cup regular season until Smotherman visited LAB Golf headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, for an extensive fitting ahead of the fall schedule. The session led to another adjustment, including a switch to a VZN.1i model. The results were almost immediate.
“My season-long stats don't necessarily say I became a better putter, but I definitely felt more confident,” said Smotherman, who began endorsing LAB Golf equipment earlier this year. “I knew there was a good putter in me deep down there somewhere.”
Smotherman has not made the climb alone.
Josh Gregory officially joined his team as a putting coach before the Cognizant Classic in late February, where Smotherman finished tied for second. Gregory's energy, encouragement and structured approach to practice have helped him approach the greens with more freedom and confidence.
The relationship also carries a personal dimension. Gregory recruited Smotherman to play at Southern Methodist University, and the two have remained close over the years. Their partnership proved especially valuable in pressure-packed moments, including before the final round in Utah. Gregory recognized the nerves and reminded his player that he belonged on the stage.
“You’re built for this,” was the message Smotherman recalled, along with a reminder that he had already won at every level.
He also credits longtime coach Cameron McCormick, who has worked with him since 2013. For Smotherman, the combination has proved powerful: McCormick's long-term guidance, Gregory's putting expertise and the confidence to trust both.
The payoff extends beyond individual victories. Smotherman’s latest success has secured exempt status to the Championship Series through 2029, and valuable stability after years in which maintaining status often dominated the closing weeks of a season.
But in professional golf, there is always another goal waiting just beyond reach. For Smotherman, that goal is the Masters.
He first visited Augusta National in 2016 as part of the entourage of Bryson DeChambeau, his college teammate, whose appearance as an amateur gave Smotherman a rare behind-the-scenes look at the tournament. The trip included a drive down Magnolia Lane, access to the clubhouse and a first-hand glimpse of the traditions that make the Masters unique.
“It was the whole nine yards other than hitting golf shots,” he recalled.
Smotherman returned in 2019 while playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, and that visit produced an unforgettable Sunday. He watched DeChambeau make a hole-in-one at the 16th hole and then witnessed Tiger Woods capture the Green Jacket in one of the most celebrated victories in golf history.
He would love to return to Augusta, but this time as a competitor. With the race for the top 50 tightening, the Masters has become a tangible target rather than a distant dream.
“I’ve had invites to play there but it’s kind of the feeling of I don’t want to play it until I know I’m in the field and really make it special,” he said. “But then again, it’s Augusta National and really hard to turn that down.”
For all the attention surrounding his recent surge, Smotherman's success has also created opportunities to appreciate the people who helped him get there. The celebrations began with a dinner at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, attended by friends and members of his support team. Then, he and his wife spent time in Las Vegas, where a relaxed day included a spa visit for her. Back home in Dallas, the festivities continued at Trinity Forest, where club members gathered for a cocktail hour in his honor.
Then came a surprise that may have topped them all.
While Smotherman was receiving physical therapy before a workout, a club member arranged for a four-piece mariachi band to walk into the gym and serenade him for roughly 30 minutes. The performance brought the gym to a standstill and left Smotherman with a story he won't soon forget.
It was a fittingly unconventional celebration for a player whose career has suddenly surged forward. For now, the trophies are being engraved and shipped home, tangible reminders of accomplishments that are still sinking in. But the victories have given Smotherman something even more important than hardware.
They have given him proof that he belongs.
And with a Masters invitation still within reach, he has another reason to keep believing.
Adam Schupak is a senior Golfweek writer covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 2 wins, 1 goal: Austin Smotherman continues chasing a Masters invitation
