Austin Smotherman earned his first win on the PGA Tour in early October at the Bank of Utah Championship, checking the box of fulfilling a lifelong dream. He needed all of 22 days to get back into the winner’s circle at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Earning two wins in consecutive starts is not only career-changing, but it also brings new goals to the forefront, and the 32-year-old is by no means keeping the top one on his list a secret.
With his two wins this fall, Smotherman has earned a spot on the PGA Tour’s Championship Series debuting in 2028, exemptions into the 2027 PGA Championship and 2027 U.S. Open, and a touch more than $1.1 million. He also moved to No. 54 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), and now, moving up at least four spots and inside the Top 50 by year’s end has understandably become the focus.
“No doubt, no doubt,” Smotherman began when asked if getting inside the Top 50 was now the top priority. “Everything for next year is already pretty firm as far as where things are going to be, but I still have majors that need to be put on the schedule. That’s the one thing that’s really shifted.”
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Players inside the Top 50 in the final edition of the world rankings in 2026 earn a spot in next year’s Masters. Smotherman’s lone major championship start in his career is a missed cut at the 2026 PGA Championship.
“That’s why we wanted to go play Bermuda,” Smotherman explained. “I got asked that question a lot last week, and my caddie did as well. From Monday through Friday, people were asking, ‘What are you doing here? Why do you want to go to Bermuda? Why do you want to do this?’
“My wife and I talked about it, and she’s got things handled at home. We’re in a good routine, and I didn’t go to Japan, so I got that extra week off. That’s what we were playing for. I’m going to play Austin and the RSM Classic to try to move inside the top 50.
“If we’re 51st, we’re 51st. It’s not necessarily the end of the cutoff, because there are still other ways to get in and a little bit of time left, but having that certainty before taking time off would be nice.”
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Nice would be an understatement. Knowing a letter from Augusta National is on the way to your mailbox for next April’s event before the calendar flips to 2027 would not only come with a sense of relief, but be a dream come true, which is a feeling Smotherman has managed to achieve on quite a consistent basis this fall.
Smotherman, a former standout at SMU, defeated Seamus Power in a three-hole playoff in what was among the more unique finishes seen on the PGA Tour in quite some time.
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Due to extreme winds ahead of the final round, the event was officially cut to just 54 holes, but with Smotherman and Power tied atop the leaderboard, the pair dueled it out on the tricky Par 3 16th hole on Monday morning until Smotherman’s third consecutive par was enough to get the job done.
Smotherman will enjoy the dad life at home in Dallas over the next couple of weeks while gearing up for his next start at the Austin Championship beginning on Nov. 12.