Smith and reigning PGA Professionals Championship winner Samuel Eaves are the new faces in the PGA team that will be captained by four-time PPC champion Matt Docking and feature Mount Coolum Golf Club\u2019s TJ King for a third time.<\/p>\n
Canada is the host nation for the biennial matches between the respective PGAs of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, the Aussies out to defend the title they won at Moonah Links in 2023.<\/p>\n
A graduate of the PGA\u2019s Membership Pathway Program in 2023 and based at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club on the Gold Coast, Smith has been waiting for the chance to represent on the international stage since golf was readmitted to the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that I ever thought that I\u2019d play the Olympics, but it\u2019s one of those things where I was like, imagine how cool that would be to actually play golf for Australia,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really something that you do too often. It\u2019s always pretty individual in that you go on tour and you represent Australia, but realistically you\u2019re representing yourself more than anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time I actually tried to get in, so luckily I\u2019ve gone through.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome from the PGA to be able to provide us with a pathway to still be competitive in that aspect because the reality is it\u2019s not the be-all and end-all for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not our career. We\u2019re not trying to make cuts to make money but still being able to go and scratch that competitive itch a little bit is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
While ready to embrace the opportunity to mix with PGA Professionals from Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, Smith\u2019s focus is very much on a PGA of Australia win.<\/p>\n
He has played a half dozen rounds of the course they will be playing at The Pulpit Club at a simulator centre in Cannon Hill in Brisbane and makes no secret of his willingness to come home a winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m a pretty competitive person by nature,\u201d said Smith, who became a father for the first time a month ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as the socialising stuff will be good and I\u2019ll definitely be keen to do that more off the course, but in all honestly, on the course I want to beat everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve still got that competitive burning in my belly, so first and foremost, want to win and then socialise afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really looking forward to the team aspect with a good group of fellas going over, so looking forward to being a part of that aspect as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
King will be the familiar face for Smith, the pair having come through the Membership Pathway Program at a similar time and played events together on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.<\/p>\n
The one constant in the PGA of Australia team since the inception of the Four Nation\u2019s Cup, King believes the contacts he has made has helped him back in his role at Mount Coolum.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the camaraderie amongst the players, you learn how different PGA associations run their businesses, their pro shops and coaching-wise, just get different ideas from all the other countries,\u201d said King.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, you want to win as well. During the 18 holes, there\u2019s not much chat, but then afterwards the teams get together, have dinner together and chat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to find out how different people are doing the same job in different countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025 Four Nation\u2019s Cup will be played at The Pulpit Club an hour outside Toronto from Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smith and reigning PGA Professionals Championship winner Samuel Eaves are the new faces in the PGA team that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-109381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}