Matt NeSmith excited for life on PGA Tour. Up next: wedding bells
Matt NeSmith passed every test in his climb up the golf ladder: Rolex national player of the year in the junior ranks; All-American, SEC champion and top 10 in the world amateur golf rankings at the University of South Carolina; and success on the Korn Ferry Tour that earned him a spot in his sport’s major league for the 2019-20 season.
He interrupts his quest to make his mark on the PGA Tour this week for the best of reasons. NeSmith and Abigail Pait will be married on Friday (Nov. 1) in Augusta.
“I’ll miss (the) Bermuda (tournament) and have the next week off,” he said, “then I’ll play the last two tournaments of the fall season and head to Hawaii in January.”
NeSmith will compete in those events brimming with confidence. After struggles on the Canadian Tour and an injury delayed his post-USC progress, he prospered on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour and, he said, every step of the way “has been a learning experience.”
In the big picture, “it’s the same game at a higher level,” NeSmith said. “It’s still tee boxes, fairways and greens with holes cut in them, but the competition is tougher. The main thing is, I will be able to set my schedule early in the year.”
The Korn Ferry Tour is a marathon and players seldom take a week off. NeSmith figures he spent five days at home in the four months between the Masters and the end of the Korn Ferry playoffs, then 12 days before he teed off at the Greenbrier to open the PGA Tour schedule.
“It’s grueling, and I started the (PGA) season tired,” he said.
He missed the cut in four of his five starts — “two by one shot and one by two shots,” he said — and notched a tie for 18th in the other, at Las Vegas. Being refreshed will make a big difference, he said, and “I’m 100 percent confident” looking ahead.
Matt and Abigail will make their home in Aiken and the couples’ house will be will stocked with symbols of athletic excellence. While Matt racked up all-star honors on the Gamecocks’ golf squad, Abigail earned her share on the USC equestrian team.
NeSmith grew up in North Augusta and received his early instruction from his dad Darren, then from Hall of Fame teaching professional Jackie Seawell at Houndslake in Aiken. He now practices with established PGA pros Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown at Palmetto in Aiken.
“They have been great mentors,” he said. “Scott told me he can’t make me play better golf, but he can tell me how to practice and things that can help me play better golf. Like I said, it’s a learning experience.”
If history repeats, NeSmith is destined for success in the big time. He zoomed from a good junior player to AJGA player of the year almost overnight. After his first college win, he played like gangbusters and carved out a special niche for himself in the Gamecocks’ record book. He won again in the Korn Ferry Finals, perhaps providing a springboard into the future.
“It’s been great and I’ve learned a ton,” he said. “I just need to play good golf.”
He has always done that.
Chips shots. After struggling for two rounds, USC’s men posted the low team score in the finale, a 7-under-par 281, to finish 10th in a stellar field in the Tavistock Invitational in Windermere, Fla. Senior Jamie Wilson led the final charge with a 6-under 66. ... Taylor Lance, who played at Newberry College and recently won the Greenville County Women’s title, has joined the WSCGA staff as tournament coordinator and assistant to executive director Clarissa Childs. ... The team of Abby Driscoll and Conner (Moore) won the overall title, and the combo of Lea Anne Brown and Mark Hoover (Mt. Pleasant) captured the senior championship in the SCGA-WSCGA Mixed Team tourney at Dataw Island. ... Karl Vilips (Wesley Chapel, Florida), who will play at Stanford next fall, dominated a star-studded field to win the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational at the CC of Spartanburg.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 5:12 PM.