Media Center Interviews
April 2, 2026
First Round Interview with Austin Smotherman
Q. Not a bad day, huh? Hole-in-one?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Yeah, hole-in-one. Yeah, it was a good 6-iron right at it, landed short right, somehow kicks a little left and someone on the tee box said "go in" and it goes in. It was pretty sweet.
Q. Just continued the celebrating then, right? Busy week for you?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Yeah, fun week. My daughter was born on Monday night. I was stuck here in the hotel watching on FaceTime. It happened so fast we couldn't get back in time driving or flying. So yeah, I'm staying here playing the rest of the week and they're doing good at home, baby and mom are healthy, so all good.
Q. Where was that?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Oh, I live in Dallas, so I was going to try and probably get back Monday, Tuesday if my wife went into labor at a decent hour. But middle of the night, no flights, no nothing, but God's plan. We're here playing, we're good.
Q. You didn't know the gender?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: No.
Q. You talked about it at THE PLAYERS, you've got three girls.
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Three girls, yeah. We were dead set on thinking it was a boy. Like late last minute our boy name was all ready, and she was unnamed for about 15 hours or so. We were going back and forth. Her name's Grace Elizabeth Smotherman. Some family names in there, so pretty cool.
Q. Is there a little bit of a weight off your shoulders now that that's behind you?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Yeah. That and the fact that the labor and delivery were all super smooth and easy. I think that would have been the one thing, had something been complicated or something like that and I was still here, it wouldn't have been the same. But she's home, her mom's there with her, got friends coming into town this weekend. So unless we win, I'll be there next week. Looking forward to that.
Q. You withdrew from Houston, right?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Yeah.
Q. You were worried that the baby might come?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Yeah. Her due date was that Monday of Houston and I didn't mind a little extra rest just getting back and body right after a good stretch of golf. Kind of felt like I could afford a week off. I would have loved to play, but the way the schedule is shaping up, it seems like we've got a lot the events in a row coming up.
Q. And what was the conversations like about coming to play this one?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Oh, she wanted me I mean, I was excited. I wanted to be here. Love this course. Played here in Korn Ferry one time, played here in college, played here twice before. This course kind of fits my style of play, ball-strike it around. I was doing a lot of that. Very soft bad wedges coming in and grindy pars, and then missed a fivefooter on the last. Not how I wanted to finish the day, but we'll take it. We're doing a lot of good so I can't get caught up on that fivefooter right now.
Q. Have you had any holes-in-one on the Tour before?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: Never on the PGA TOUR. Once on the Korn Ferry maybe five or six years ago. I have to look back at it. That was 8-iron, my most recent one. This was by far the longest one I ever had, 6-iron 211, 204 front just trying to cover the front, one hop, goes in.
Q. On a scale of 1 to 10, how was your reaction?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: I'd probably give it like a 7. I had a reaction, but it was also like it was pretty much shock for at least five seconds and then everybody else is screaming, yelling and walking up, getting some cheers, picking the ball up out of the hole too.
Q. What time was the baby born?
AUSTIN SMOTHERMAN: 11:54 p.m. She went into labor at like 9:30, thinking it was labor at 9:30, nothing really confirmed until like 10:00, and the baby was here two hours later. I would have been halfway there. Getting there, turning around, driving back, just too much effort if I was going to play this week. And she wanted me to play. Here we are.
