After struggling to find his way, Kaufman joins growing youth movement with early victory

Smylie Kaufman earned his first PGA Tour victory at the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. ( Associated Press )

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By Jeff Babineau

In Birmingham, Alabama, two weeks ago, there was a nice little party thrown along the south end of town at Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint. The occasion: Smylie Kaufman, a likable son of the ‘Ham, a kid who grew up playing at nearby Vestavia Hills, had earned his US PGA Tour card. It was pretty heady stuff.
Here’s thinking that once Kaufman's redeye flight lands Monday, the next bash might be a tad bigger.
Smylie Kaufman, he of the five career US PGA Tour starts, is now a PGA Tour winner, not to mention a newly minted millionaire.
That’s really worth celebrating. He did it in style just a few miles off the glitz and glitter of the Vegas strip, winning the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday behind a sensational, 10-under 61 – becoming the second 23-year-old rookie (Emiliano Grillo) in as many weeks to win on Tour.
Kaufman played his final 11 holes in 9 under, posted his number (16 under) and then had to wait, but that’s nothing new. Some things have come easily to the gifted Kaufman, and some things, he’s learned, he has needed time to figure out, and has waited to savor.
Kaufman played four seasons at Louisiana State University, but never was a big star. Despite qualifying for the U.S. Junior at 14 and winning the Alabama State Am in 2011, he was left behind on campus in Baton Rouge during big tournaments far more frequently than he ever wanted to be.
In college Kaufman learned about himself as he expanded his golf game and eventually, before he set off on a pro career, he’d start to sort things out. He did play well as a senior, finishing second individually at the 2014 SEC Championship at Sea Island, and that same spring was part of an LSU team that posted the school’s highest NCAA finish (third) since 1967. (LSU won the NCAAs this spring.)
“I kind of struggled in college – a lot of guys were a lot better than I was,” Kaufman said on Sunday evening as he waited for the field to finish behind him. (He’d posted 61 about the time the leaders were nearing the turn.)
“It took me a really long time just to understand what my plan was, and exactly how to put all the pieces together.”
Here’s how some of those pieces have come together: As Kaufman steps out onto the Tour at age 23, he’s a terrific putter who will rank among the longest hitters on the Tour this season.
Consider this: Kaufman started 2015 with no tour status on the Web.com. He finished the year not only earning a PGA Tour card (he was sixth in regular season earnings), but was third among Web.com players in all-around ranking and birdie average (4.51), fifth in putting average (1.706 strokes/hole) and sixth in driving distance (314.7 yards).
“He’s already a Tour putter, and he drives the ball incredibly well,” said Mike Dunphy, a former college coach at Alabama-Birmingham who now is player development manager for Cleveland Golf/Srixon, whose equipment Kaufman plays.
“He’s got the two shots you need with the driver. You need to be able to pound it, and you need a safe shot. Smylie can hit it 320, but he can also hit it 285 when he needs to. He’s worked hard on that.”
Kaufman qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur very young, at age 14, and he won the Alabama State Amateur in 2011. He won a Web.com Tour start in Indiana earlier this year and now he’s a PGA Tour winner, too. Kaufman is exempt through 2017-18 and will take part in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii this January. And oh, yes, he is bound for the Masters in April.
Not bad for a kid who took a little time to find his way.
“He’s a good kid, a good athlete,” said Dunphy, who lives across the street from the Kaufmans in Vestavia Hills. Dunphy was coach at UAB, when Kaufman’s mom, Pam, was the head women’s golf coach there. In fact, there’s no shortage of golf in the Kaufman blood. Smylie’s grandfather, Alan, coached at UAB, and Smylie’s dad, Jeff, played at LSU.
At Vestavia Hills, which is a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Dunphy has been watching Smylie play golf since Smylie was 8. He said the two drove seven hours from Birmingham to Florida recently for the Web.com Tour Championship, and in the entire drive, the two hardly conversed about golf.
“He’s got moxie. Did the moment ever look any bigger than it was for him? I’m amazed that a 23-year-old has that kind of composure,” Dunphy said.
“He really loves to play. Golf isn’t hard for him. For some guys, it’s hard work, and can take a lot out of you. But it’s just part of him.”
Kaufman said he has set two big goals this season: Win the race for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, and make it to the Tour Championship at East Lake. One box he didn’t know he’d check off is getting to Augusta National. On Sunday, that was almost too much to comprehend.
“If you would have told me I had a round at the Masters,” he said, “if somebody was going to take me out . . . just to play Augusta National, I would have freaked out. But now that I'm playing the Masters, it's a joke. It's unbelievable.”
No joke. And now that he has a PGA Tour card in hand basically for three full seasons, he can find out how good he can be. Add another youngster to the growing list of fearless twentysomethings who are making their mark.
This next party should be dialled up a notch.
+SCOTSWATCH: Russell Knox earned $28,160 for a total of 277 and T38 position. Martin Laird finished T43 on 279 and earned $19,908. Knox has a career total of $4,277,013 while Laird has amassed a career total of $12,685,918.
ALL THE FINAL TOTALS
par 284 (4x71)

Smylie Kaufman

268

$1,280,571

Patton Kizzire

269

$1,080.000