USC alum Matt NeSmith looks to continue PGA Tour climb
Meet Matt NeSmith, self-proclaimed golf nerd.
On this Monday, he’s at Forest Lake Club watching youngsters who will compete in the American Golf Junior Association tournament that bears his name. He remembers events like this. He used them to earn AJGA player of the year honors and a springboard to the All-American recognition at the University of South Carolina and on to the PGA Tour.
Next week, he’s off to Greensboro to wind up the Tour’s regular season in the Wyndham Championship before beginning the playoffs in New Jersey. Then ... maybe the playoffs’ second stage or maybe time off to begin the Tour grind again in September.
In between, if schedules permit, perhaps he will be at Aiken’s Palmetto Golf Club in duels with fellow PGA Tour pros Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown.
Be sure, though, his focus on improving his game will never be out of his mind.
“I want to get better,” said NeSmith, a North Augusta native who now makes his home with wife Abigail in Aiken. “I want to learn anyway I can.”
Thus, the “golf nerd” description he tagged on himself.
“I watch other guys practice, seeing what they do best and how they do it,” he said after risking writer’s cramp to autograph 85 pin flags for the AJGA players. “Every (Tour player) is so good; they’re hard to separate. I want to pick up anything I can from them.”
NeSmith earned the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year Award in 2012, forged a college career that included running away with the Southeastern Conference individual championship in 2015 and helping the Gamecocks reach match-play in the 2016 NCAA Championships.
Injuries slowed his climb in the professional ranks before he broke through to win the Boise Open in the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He has spent the past two years learning the ropes and adjusting to life on the game’s biggest stage.
His goal now is taking another step forward.
The current season “has been OK,” said NeSmith, 27, who enters the season’s final events ranked 102 in the FedEx Cup standings. “I’ve had a couple of top 10s (in Phoenix and Las Vegas tournaments), and I know I have to get better to get where I want to be.”
He made the 2015 U.S. Open, won the prestigious Players Amateur and advanced to match play in the U.S. Amateur in his college days, and reaching that same plateau in the pros is his quest. Regular Tour events are great, but “where he wants to be” is in major championships and the World Golf Championship tournaments.
To get there, he is working on his putting and his attitude.
“Attitude is a way to differentiate,” he said. “Take players with the same talent but different attitudes and the scores will be different. I’m working to be more comfortable.”
The putting? Ugh; he ranks ranked No. 3 in greens in regulation, but he is 173rd in the stroke-gained-putting category.
“You can have the best (putting) stroke and make every (putt) on the practice green, but if you can’t read the greens (in competition) ...,” he said “I’m working to figure that out. It’s not technical; I don’t have to worry about that part of it.”
His quest for excellence and his desire to compete in the majors can be traced to his growing up in North Augusta and attending the Masters each year.
“I didn’t have a ticket, and I had to hope and pray someone gave me one for at least one day each year,” NeSmith said. “Watching Tiger in 2000, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal ... that fueled my fire. Watching players like that make me excited to play good golf.”
He pondered those junior golf days and recalled playing in The Blade Championship at Thornblade Club in Greer.
“I remember thinking, ‘That’s Lucas Glover’s house,’ ” he said. “He had won the U.S. Open, and now he’s a friend on the Tour. Playing in the Wyndham next week will always be special; I played in my first PGA Tour tournament there (a reward for winning an AJGA event).”
Now, an AJGA tournament bears his name for the second straight year, and it’s his way of providing youngsters of today with the opportunity he had not all that long ago.
Is there a future PGA Tour player in the field? Time will tell, but if one emerges, he can look to the title sponsor for direction. NeSmith not only provided the opportunity, but he also provided a guiding light.
His credo — always strive to improve and never stop learning — is always foremost in his mind.
This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 7:11 AM.