John Smoltz to be part of the field at South Georgia Classic on Nationwide Tour – Golf update
The 43-years-old John Smoltz, who currently works as a baseball analyst, is again taking sometime out to quench his thirst for golf. He will be participating in the upcoming Nationwide Tour’s South Georgia Classic starting Thursday at Kinderlou Forest Golf
Club in Valdosta, Ga. Smoltz has a sponsor’s exemption to participate in the event which has a purse of $625,000 out of which $112,500 will be the winner’s share.
John Smoltz started off his career as a baseball pitcher and had to deal with several tough choices to ultimately emerge as an established professional golfer. Playing Class A Baseball, Smoltz spent most of his leisure time fishing and playing golf when
he discovered his natural born talent for the sport. In 1986, he bid farewell to his career in baseball, where he had the honour of being the only major league pitcher who won 200 games and saved 150 of them. In his golf career which spans up to 23 years,
Smoltz went to play in some of the country’s most celebrated courses, including Pebble Beach Golf Link, Oakmont Country Club and Augusta National Golf Club.
"I'm not kidding anybody. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I just enjoy golf to the point that I want to test my mettle against the best to see what my best can be," Smoltz said in an interview. "I have a mind-set where I am not afraid of what
it looks like at the end, or the failure part of it, or what people think. What I believe is what matters the most.”
Smoltz, however, is far from an amateur. Being a self taught golfer, Smoltz has played in the amateur tournaments including Bob Hope Classic and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He was also successful in getting through the cut at the Georgia Open
last year. Smoltz being a celebrated sportsman, has far better understanding of his adopted sport than many of the contenders in the strong field for the event.
"In golf, no one is bailing you out. You're basically at the mercy of Mother Nature, your tension, your character. It's just between you and that little ball and the club in your hand," said Smoltz.
Smoltz scored his best of 63 on the course at Floridian Golf Club at Palm Beach and was appreciated by the big guns of the game including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, Arnold Palmer and many others. Woods on one occasion even said that he
had not played with an amateur who might have hit the shots Smoltz hit. Woods also said that Smoltz shot a score of 69-67 while he was playing with him and not many amateurs are able to do that under pressure.
The tournament is set to tee-off from Thursday, April 28th. Australian Ewan Porter will be the defending champion who won last year defeating Jhonattan Vegas by one shot.
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