Alex Smalley is finding his groove on the PGA Tour
When caddie Michael Burns filled in on the bag for Alex Smalley at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan in October, he came away with one overriding thought: “I have no doubt this kid is going to win,” he recalled.
Smalley, a 29-year-old pro out of Duke University, still is seeking his first PGA Tour victory but he’s finished T-2 twice in his last four starts, including at the PGA Championship two weeks ago, and recorded a T-21 or better the last six times he’s teed it up. It’s been a breakthrough season for Smalley, who two years ago finished 121st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and barely hung on to his card.
Smalley works with instructor Ralph Bauer, a putting specialist, and Smalley has made huge leaps with the short stick. He ranked 161st in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2022-23 and 168th in 2024. This season? He’s 34th. But Bauer also helps Smalley with a full swing built on rhythm and tempo, and the improvements for Smalley have been across the board. He’s vaulted from 146th to 34th to 10th this season in Strokes Gained: Total, which is a compilation of the four major sub-categories — Tee, Approach, Around the Green, and Putting — to show overall scoring efficiency.
His leap this season is reminiscent of Ben Griffin, the defending champion at this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Griffin went from a fringe player who wasn’t in any of the signature events at the start of last season to winning three times in 2025 and being selected to the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Griffin kickstarted his run with a win at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, a team event, where this year Smalley didn’t get the trophy but finished T-2. That got him into the next two signature events, and he’s been rolling ever since.
Smalley has banked more than $4 million and climbed to 15th in the FedEx Cup standings and 16th in the Presidents Cup standings. He’s made 13 of 14 cuts this season, already matching his total in 30 starts in 2024, and is closing in on last season’s total of 16 cuts in 28 starts when he finished 74th in the FedEx Cup. The pressure is off to keep his card. He’s locked in for the final two signature events – the Memorial and Travelers Championship – as well as the next three majors (2027 Masters spot booked!) and likely all the signature events next year too. He’s been admitted to a whole new world of top-tier events, and spent last week searching for places to stay for the U.S. Open, Scottish Open and British Open.
Smalley is reserved and laidback by nature and as an introvert, he found it overwhelming after turning pro in 2020 to play in front of large galleries.
“I don't like being in the spotlight a whole lot, so I'm still trying to get used to playing in front of large groups of people like there are at tournaments like this one,” he said. “Starting to get better.”
With each success, his confidence rises.
“You can have the self-confidence in yourself, but when you have results to back it up, I think that gives you that little extra mojo or that little extra confidence as well,” he said at the PGA Championship. “I know I'm a good player that can compete out here on the PGA Tour, but having some finishes that have been able to back up that success the last maybe two or three weeks has allowed me to kind of realize like, oh, OK, I can't just compete out here, I can compete for a title.”
Added Burns, who, after that T-4 in Japan, got the call from Smalley to be his regular caddie this season and has been a source of positive reinforcement that Smalley’s got game: “If we’re not in the mix now, it seems like we’re failing.”
Playing in just his fifth major championship and never having finished better than T-23 in his prior starts, Smalley handled himself admirably on the weekend at Aronimink, playing in the final group at a major for the first time.
On Saturday, he bounced back from a sluggish start to shoot 68 and take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the PGA. With all those eyeballs watching on Sunday, he made a sloppy double bogey at No. 6 and a bogey at No. 8 to lose the lead but holed a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to shoot even-par 70 and tie Jon Rahm at six under for the championship. Finishing T-2 was worth $1.8 million for Smalley, and the difference of that birdie putt at the last rather than being T-3 amounted to $822,600, or more than Smalley had ever won in any tournament of his career, which had been $652,000 for finishing T-2 at the 2023 John Deere Classic.
“I tried not to get caught up in it a whole lot. I tried to just look where my feet were going, but I heard a huge amount of support,” Smalley said of what it was like playing on the biggest stage of his career.
A first win may not be far behind. Smalley, who is making his 142nd career Tour start, has finished inside the top 2 in two of his last four events, while only finishing inside the top two twice in his 137 previous starts. Smalley has never finished better than T-27 at Colonial in four previous appearances, but recalled fond memories of playing the course at the Nike Invitational during his college days. What will the experience of being in contention at a major mean going forward?
“Maybe it's a springboard,” he said. “Yeah, I think [the PGA] will do a lot for me.”
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA Tour pro Alex Smalley eyes his first victory
What's Your Reaction?
like
0
dislike
0
love
0
funny
0
angry
0
sad
0
wow
0
