TRAVIS Smyth, the Sydney professional who gate-crashed this year’s PGA Tour of Australasia and snatched Order of Merit honours in just four starts, is now pondering which tournaments to play as he prepares for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July.
It’s an entirely different situation from the one he faced in 2023 when he played his only other major, the Open at Royal Liverpool.
At that time, he was a member of only the Asian Tour, which had gone into recess, and Smyth’s Open lead-up was confined to social golf, practice and random Monday pre-qualifiers for the Korn Ferry Tour.
This year, Smyth’s choices are wide and varied. With the Australasian Tour now over, he can return to the Asian Tour, in particular to its lucrative International Series, or he can campaign on the Japan Tour, courtesy of the status he won when he took the Japan-Australasia Championship in Auckland in March.
His thrilling victory in the International Series Japan on the Easter weekend also gives inside running for a re-entry to the LIV tour. He now leads the International Series order of merit, with the top two gaining promotion to the LIV circuit at season’s end.
Smyth has made no secret of his desire to return to LIV golf, where he had success four years ago.
For a golfer who has been criticised in the past for failing to close out tournaments, Smyth’s successive victories – in New Zealand and Japan – have confirmed his status as one of Australia’s finest players.
“People don’t understand how hard it is to win, you know,” said Smyth. “It’s such a mind game with yourself out there. In the past, you’re always trying to come up with excuses as to why you might not be leading, or why you might not be hitting the shots under pressure that you want to, but I don’t know, I’ve been able to turn a corner.”
Smyth, enjoying a career high world ranking of 134, has been studying the schedules of the Asian and Japan tours, and has discovered that several attractive events clash. He plans to concentrate on the Asian Tour this year, and play the occasional event on the Japan Tour.
With a victory in New Zealand, locking up the top spot on the Australasian Tour Order of Merit, followed by an International Series victory in Japan, Travis Smyth has enjoyed an outstanding run of form early in 2026.
“There’s also a US Open qualifier in Japan, and the last few winners of the Australian Tour Order of Merit have been invited to the US PGA Championship,” he said. “I’m hoping I will be, too.”
He may not have to just hope. He is currently second on the International Federation Ranking, behind only South African Casey Jarvis, with the top three receiving an exemption into the US PGA, to be played at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania from May 14-17.
These are heady times, indeed, for the 31-year-old who turned professional nine years ago and earned a spot on the Asian Tour the following year by finishing third at Q School. In June
022, he followed the Asian Tour to the UK where he contested the International Series England.
It was a career-changing moment for the young man from the NSW beach town of Shellharbour, south of Sydney. He finished second, collected $US220,000 and qualified to play in the first LIV tournament in London the following week.
He shot 10-over-par in that 54-hole event at the Centurion Club, earning prizemoney of $US146,000. But his real stroke of luck was to be named part of the group that finished second in the team’s event, returning him another $US375,000. That meant he’d collected $US741,000 for seven days’ work.
Later that year he would win the Asian Tour’s Yeangder TPC in Taiwan.
Smyth’s hit and run campaign on the Aussie tour this season began when he received an invitation to play in the NZ PGA Championship at Paraparaumu Beach in February. He tied fifth, then again finished fifth in the New Zealand Open the following week.
He received another invitation into the Japan-Australasia Championship at Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club, surviving an agonising six-hole playoff to beat Jack Thompson.
He finished only 19th in his final tour start, at the Heritage Classic in Victoria, but by then he’d accumulated enough points to take OOM honours, part of the reward being entry into this year’s Open.
He also won a place in next year’s DP World Tour.
“I wasn’t planning for any of this,” Smyth said. “I just wanted to play well enough to keep my card for the following season so I didn’t have to ask for invites into any of the events.
“It’s been a cool year,” he said. “It’s so good that I played well at the right time and got these breaks.”
With so many opportunities ahead of him, Smyth is mindful that he needs to set a schedule that doesn’t leave him tired and drained. He’s planning on contesting no more than 25 or 26 events, arriving in the UK a fortnight before the Open in July.
He says his game has been good for some time but believes he has not yet reached his peak.
“I’m nowhere near my potential as a golfer,” he said. “There’s a lot of improvement still to come.”
O’Donovan named Rookie of the Year
Following The National tournament and the conclusion of the 2025-2026 Australasian Tour, 22-year-old New South Welshman Declan O’Donovan was named Rookie of the Year following an impressive start to his professional career.
A two-time winner of the NSW Amateur Championship, then the victor of Canada’s national amateur title last year, O’Donovan turned pro in late 2025, before securing his first win just his seventh start.
Declan O’Donovan, named the Australasian Tour’s Rookie of the Year.
Coming from behind on the final day, O’Donovan showed his immense ability, along with maturity beyond his years, with a five-shot victory in the Webex Series Castle Hill event.
In addition to the win, O’Donovan recorded three top 10’s in 12 events played while finishing 14th on the final order of merit.
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