Now a Coach, Smith Shows He Can Still Play with 70 in Open Qualifier

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com) 

BLOOMINGTON -- Justin Smith spent the better part of a decade making a living playing tournament golf, some of it on various mini-tours, and some of it on the Nationwide (now web.com) Tour. He won three times on the old Hooters Tour, came tantalizingly close to winning on the Nationwide, and wasn't that far from making it all the way to the PGA Tour. 

It can be difficult for athletes to give up playing a sport at the highest level, and for golfers it can be really tough to relinquish the dream of playing on the PGA Tour. But Smith says that for him, the decision was easy. 

"I had a family, and there were bills to pay," he says. "At a certain point, you need to know where the next check is coming from." 

So in the fall of 2014, the former three-time All-American at the University of Minnesota went back to the Gophers, as an assistant coach, which means that now when he plays in tournaments, he plays for fun. 

If you were at Minnesota Valley Country Club on Monday watching the U.S. Open Local Qualifying in the wind and rain, it might not have looked like fun. But Smith said it was, and when you shoot a 3-under-par 70, which is what he did, it tends to be enjoyable.

Coaching duties take up most of Smith's time these days. He probably won't play in more than three tournaments this year, and he won't have nearly as much time to prepare for them as he used to. Nevertheless, the 33-year-old from Franklin, Pa.,  still plays pretty well, as he demonstrated on Monday. With that 70, he claimed medalist honors in the qualifying -- and grabbed one of four spots that were available for the Sectional Qualifying that will take place in four weeks. 

Jonathan Reigstad, an assistant pro at Keller, had a chance to tie Smith -- or possibly claim the first-place medal for himself -- with one hole to go in his round. He birdied the short, 299-yard, par-4 eighth hole, his 17th of the day, to get to 3 under, but then he bogeyed the hardest hole on the course, the 442-yard, par-4 ninth and finished with a 71.

The other two qualifiers -- Aaron McClay and Sam Matthew -- both shot 72's.

Minnesota Valley has five par-5's, and McClay birdied the first two he got a crack at, No. 1 (504 yards) and No. 5 (549), to go 2 under. The head pro at Sundance also birdied the par-5 10th (493). 

Matthew, who won the State Amateur in 2013, capped off his amateur career by winning the MGA Players (Match Play) Championship last June. (He is one of only eight players to have both of those titles on their resumes.) Then he turned pro.

The North Oaks assistant didn't exactly get off to a great start on Monday. He neglected to birdie the par-5 first, but he bogeyed the 172-yard, par-3 second. After also failing to birdie the par-5 fifth, he bogeyed the other par-3 on the front nine, the 150-yard seventh. At that point, his chances of advancing looked bleak. But Matthew then proceeded to birdie the next four holes in a row, capping off the birdie run with a 2 at the 230-yard 11th.

There were five guys right behind McClay and Matthew, with 73's, and they played off for the two alternate spots. John Hafdal knocked a 255-yard 3-wood (metal) onto the green at the first playoff hole, No. 10, and two-putted for a birdie, which made the Wilds assistant the No. 1 alternate, and Troy Burne assistant Brent Snyder, the 2013 Minnesota PGA Player of the Year, ended up as the No. 2 alternate.

There will be 10 Sectional Qualifying tournaments held in the United States, all of them on June 6. The Open itself will be played Jue 16-19 at Oakmont CC, in Oakmont, Pa.

Smith chose Woodmond CC in Rockville, Md., as the sectional site where he wants to play, not because he's played it before and thinks that's where he'd have his best chance of qualifying, but for coaching reasons.

"When I signed up for the qualifying, they were talking about playing the Big Ten tournament there in the future," he explained. "I thought it would be a good chance to scout the course. But now they've decided they aren't going to play there. That's OK. It'll be fun."

It is a measure of how much the game of golf has changed in the last 20 years that Smith, who averaged 303.9 yards off the tee on the Nationwide Tour during 2010, doesn't consider himself a long hitter. 

"I have a short, compact swing," he says, "and it repeats pretty reliably. But when I play tournaments now, I have to play smarter. When you're young and you're practicing all the time, you want to go at every pin. As a result, you try shots that you really shouldn't try, and you wind up making double bogeys. I can't afford to make those kinds of mistakes anymore, if I want to stay competitive."

He can still hit a golf ball a long way, which came in handy on Monday. Even though the tee shot at the par-5 10th hole -- his first of the day -- is substantially uphill, he was able to hit his drive 300 yards and reach the green with a 5-iron for a two-putt birdie to start his round. An 8-iron to 20 feet at the 428-yard, par-4 14th resulted in another birdie, and he converted a 4-foot putt for a birdie at 423-yard, par-4 17th.

In 2002, when Minnesota won the NCAA Championship, Smith shot a final-round 69 at the Ohio State Scarlet Course to tie for fourth individually, and it was he who made the putt on the 18th green that secured the team title for the Gophers.

That was then. This is now. He doesn't practice nearly as much as he used to, and the area of the game where the lack of practice makes the biggest difference is the short game, which is why Smith considered the chip/pitch shot he hit from behind the green at the par-5 first to have been one of his best shots of the day.

"I hit my second shot just over the green," he said, "and the rough back there was pretty thick. It was one of those little shots that you used to think was easy, but now it's not so easy anymore. But I hit a nice shot from there, to about 4 feet, and made the putt." 

The birdie helped to compensate for an untidy bogey at the 600-yard, par-5 18th. Pros absolutely hate bogeys on par-5's. 

Smith's only other bogey was the product of a three-putt at No. 3 (346 yards, par 4). But his short game came through once again at the par-5 fifth (549 yards), where he chipped in for a birdie. 

Despite the fact that he's not playing or practicing nearly as much as he used to, his performance on Monday shouldn't have come as a surprise. In his one and only tournament last summer, the State Open, Smith tied for third.

Does he miss the competition?

"No, I don't," he said. "Now that I'm coaching, I'm as amped up about that as I used to be about playing. John (Gopher head coach John Carlson) and I just want to go out into the state and promote Gopher golf as much as we can, help strengthen our alumni support for the team, and do everything we can to take the program to the highest possible level." 


U.S. Open Local Qualifying

At Minnesota Valley Country Club

Par 73, 6,800 yards

Bloomington

Final results 

1. Justin Smith, Bolstad/University GC          70

2. Jonathan Reigstad, Keller                          71

T3. Sam Matthew, North Oaks                       72

T3. Aaron McClay, Sundance                        72

5. John Hafdal, The Wilds                             73 1st alternate

6. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne                          73 2nd alternate

Did not qualify

T7. Jake Miller, Southview                             73

T7. Jacques Wilson, Chaska Town Course  73

T7. Justin Doeden, Legends Club                 73