March 16th, 2026
By Australian Golf Digest
Travis Smyth’s persistence has paid off in spectacular fashion. The 31-year-old New South Welshman has clinched the 2025-26 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, securing his place on the DP World Tour and a spot at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale this July.
Smyth’s rise to the top was anything but conventional. Playing just the minimum four events required to qualify and relying on two tournament invites, he carved out an unassailable lead after the Heritage Classic, with one event still remaining: The National Tournament starting the following Thursday.
After a tie for fifth at last month’s Quinovic NZ PGA Championship and another fifth-place finish at the New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort, Smyth received a second invite to the inaugural ISPS HANDA Japan-Australasia Championship at Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club. There, he triumphed in a six-hole playoff over Jack Thompson, giving him a commanding points buffer heading into his fourth start of the season at Heritage Golf and Country Club.
“I wasn’t planning for this,” Smyth said after confirmation that he cannot be unseated at the top of the Order of Merit.
“I wasn’t playing these events to try and win the Order of Merit. It was never really in my mind. I just wanted to play well, keep my card for the following year so that I didn’t have to ask for invites if I wanted to play Aussie Open or Aussie PGA or any event, really.”
Winner of the NT PGA Championship prior to turning professional in 2017, Smyth’s early career trajectory looked destined for the greatest heights in world golf.
He joined the Asian Tour in 2018 and secured his first international victory at the Yeangder TPC in 2022, yet Smyth always harboured higher aspirations.
He estimates that he has spent in excess of $50,000 trying to crack it in the US through various Qualifying Schools, only to return to the Asian Tour each time exhausted and with a diminished bank balance.
In recent years, he has seen the likes of David Micheluzzi, Elvis Smylie, Ryan Peake and Anthony Quayle use the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia pathway to play their way onto major tours, all the while wondering whether he had missed his shot.
“It just feels so good that I’m that guy that played well at the right time and has gotten this break and this pathway,” Smyth said.
“I’ve just watched it over the years, so many times, guys that aren’t playing as consistently as I am, that I feel like I’m just as good as they are, if not better, and I’m watching them weave in and around tours and work their way up and I’m just like, ‘When’s it going to be my time?’”
Smyth’s timing not only wraps up playing rights on the DP World Tour for the 2027 season but will see him tee it up at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July.
The past three Order of Merit winners have also received late exemptions to the US PGA Championship and Smyth will attempt to qualify for the US Open.
Smyth’s four starts match the four that Nathan Holman played on his way to the Order of Merit crown in 2015, crediting caddie Richard Hallam for helping to turn his fortunes around.
“He’s been a godsend,” Smyth said of Hallam, who worked with fellow Aussie Wade Ormsby for more than a decade.
“I’m not really a player who, when I go play tournaments, I don’t really reach out to my coach. I’m not looking for technical things, but there is obviously turbulence at tournaments. There are times when you get frustrated, and you might try to blame your swing and work on stuff, and Rich has been really good in the almost psychological sense for me.
“It’s just been really freeing, having him there. He seems to always say the right things at the right time.
“It feels like my game’s been getting good for a while, but when you’re actually out there in the thick of it, a difference has definitely been because of Rich.”
Order of Merit Top 10 (after Heritage Classic):
1 Travis Smyth 968.79
2 Cameron John 772.42
3 James Marchesani 708.38
4 Haydn Barron 646.00
5 Will Florimo 641.91
6 Christopher Wood 636.36
7 Jay Mackenzie 633.29
8 Marc Leishman 534.66
9 Jake McLeod 509.97
10 Nathan Barbieri 501.21
RELATED: How adopting an animal-based diet helped boost Travis Smyth’s health and energy levels