JUPITER, FLORIDA | It’s rehearsal evening upfront of the inaugural Golf Channel Video games at Trump Nationwide Golf Membership Jupiter, an elaborate and generally charmingly chaotic made-for-television abilities competitors that includes Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler with Smylie Kaufman there to be Smylie Kaufman.
It’s a cool and breezy December night when the frilly lighting system is being examined, the format is being defined and Kaufman, an integral a part of the published crew, is enjoying relay golf with fellow announcers Johnson Wagner, Brad Faxon and Keith Mitchell to offer the tv crew a way of what’s coming the subsequent evening.
The purpose is for 4 gamers to play a gap as rapidly – and in as few strokes – as doable. Mitchell hits the tee shot on the par-4 first gap, the ball disappearing into the evening sky earlier than all of a sudden reappearing simply earlier than touchdown, Johnson scurries over to hit the method shot, Faxon performs the third shot on the inexperienced and Kaufman, his hoodie flapping as he runs, begs the ball to cease rolling as he hustles over to make the par putt, all in underneath 40 seconds.
They’re like youngsters on the clock in a frenetic Easter egg hunt with comparable power and laughter and Kaufman, by nature, is on the coronary heart of it, high-fiving Faxon after they get the ball within the gap. One evening later, Kaufman will likely be on digicam, offering shade commentary whereas shuttling gamers from spot to identify in a golf cart, spanning the 2 sides of his skilled profession.
“He was born to do it and it’s an intangible you
both have it otherwise you don’t. … There are quite a lot of guys that wish to have it. He has it.”
— Tom Knapp, Golf Channel govt vice chairman
“I feel I knew, like, inside the first two or three days, that [broadcasting] is one thing that I needed to pursue. I knew that this was like a calling. I simply didn’t know the way or why, as a result of I felt like I may do it. It was pure,” Kaufman explains that night, sitting at a small desk within the ornate clubhouse, throughout a break in his prep work.
A decade in the past, Kaufman might need been one of many eight gamers taking part within the Golf Channel Video games, his golf star ascending after a late-blooming faculty profession at Louisiana State however that was, not less than in profession phrases, a lifetime in the past.
In case you’ve forgotten, Kaufman was within the remaining twosome on Sunday on the 2016 Masters, paired along with his buddy Jordan Spieth and one shot off the lead with 18 holes remaining. What most individuals keep in mind is that Spieth unraveled on the ultimate 9 holes, not that Kaufman closed with 81, and that Danny Willett was the unlikely winner.
From there, Kaufman’s enjoying profession started to fray and as 2026 involves life, the 34-year-old has change into one of many sport’s most entertaining and informative voices largely by being himself. Kaufman has the reward of having the ability to speak to viewers and listeners, not at them, a refined however important distinction, like inviting somebody in for a cup of espresso moderately than speaking to them with the entrance door half open.
What started as an unsure tryout on the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills has grown right into a multi-layered media profession. Kaufman will work as an on-course reporter for NBC Sports activities this 12 months, he’ll host his fashionable Friday afternoon blissful hour segments with Kevin Kisner on Golf Channel and his podcast – “The Smylie Present” – will air on Wednesday mornings on Golf Channel beginning Jan. 14.
“He was born to do it and it’s an intangible you both have it otherwise you don’t. … There are quite a lot of guys that wish to have it. He has it,” says Tom Knapp, govt vice chairman and normal supervisor of Golf Channel.
*******
It was Sunday, April 10, 2016, at Augusta Nationwide and Kaufman stood on the primary tee at 2:45 p.m., one stroke behind his buddy and event chief Spieth. A morning that had dawned chilly had step by step warmed into the low 60s and the wind, which had tormented gamers on Saturday, had settled right into a smooth spring breeze.
Kaufman had jumped into competition with a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday, the bottom rating within the third spherical. Six months earlier, Kaufman shot 61 on Sunday to return from seemingly nowhere to win the Shriners Hospitals for Kids Open in Las Vegas however he understood as he awaited the ultimate tee time within the Masters that he was in a special place.
Requested Saturday night how he anticipated to deal with his Sunday nerves, Kaufman stated half-jokingly that it could be simpler than watching his beloved LSU Tigers play soccer whereas acknowledging each the second and the chance.
“I don’t actually have an important reply,” Kaufman replied within the media heart. “I’m simply sort of going with the circulate and simply going to attempt to play golf and simply do the identical factor I’ve been doing.”
Named Smylie for a paralyzed relative his father at all times admired, Kaufman was born with a pure optimism and curiosity. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, enjoying golf and basketball, placing one sport away when the opposite was in season.
He was profitable membership championships by the point he was 15 however it wasn’t till his senior 12 months at LSU, the place he had been a part-time participant, that Kaufman’s sport caught up along with his goals.
“The worst factor in faculty golf is to be the sixth man. Smylie had by no means actually differentiated himself,” says his father, Jeff. “Impulsively, growth, there was any individual who was carrying his crew.”
Kaufman turned professional after graduating in 2014, certified for what’s now the Korn Ferry Tour and went 0-for-5 on the circuit’s swing by means of South America in early 2015, both lacking the reduce or failing to get into occasions. Again within the States, Kaufman popped like spring flowers, profitable the United Leasing Championship in late April and incomes a PGA Tour card come season’s finish. By Halloween, he was a winner on the large tour, hanging along with his pals Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler on the street.
Good day, yellow brick street.
On the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in March 2016, the 4 pals went to dinner on Saturday evening with their then-girlfriends, the sort of factor they could usually do in an off week, however hardly ever with one event spherical to play. Thomas remembers being nervous as a result of he had solely been relationship his now-wife Jillian for 2 months, it was her first event on the street with him and the drinks had been flowing.
When it got here time to pay the invoice, they determined to play bank card roulette.
“Poor Smylie was handed this $2,500 tab,” Thomas says. “We felt so unhealthy. He was tremendous however of the 4 of us he was much less far alongside [in his career] than we had been.
“In each sport of bank card roulette, there’s at all times somebody you wish to lose and somebody you need to not lose. We didn’t need Smylie to lose.”
Kaufman was left to choose up the hefty examine.
“I simply was coming off the Korn Ferry Tour. I’d simply gotten a home, possibly proper round that point. I used to be in a twin mattress a 12 months previous to that at my dad and mom’ home. You’ll be able to think about 100 bucks was nonetheless quite a bit to me regardless that I used to be making some huge cash on the golf course,” Kaufman says.
“I’d had this run within the fall, I had some cash, clearly, however nonetheless, whenever you’re nonetheless 23 years previous, it’s not like all that cash is in your pockets. So whenever you get that, you by no means had a invoice like that … oh my gosh.”
Right here’s the kicker: Kaufman wanted an excellent spherical on Sunday to safe a spot within the prime 50 on the planet rating and a spot within the U.S. Open that summer season, and the eating expertise had stayed with him.
“I’m clearly not feeling precisely one hundred pc and I shoot 71, which was like simply sufficient, completed eighth, and people guys nonetheless speak in regards to the biggest spherical they’ve ever witnessed from me,” Kaufman says.
A month later, Kaufman and Spieth had been collectively within the remaining Sunday pairing on the Masters.
Kaufman matched Spieth’s birdie on the par-5 second to remain inside one of many Masters lead however then his Sunday started to soften away. By the point it ended, Kaufman had made 9 bogeys and one double bogey and signed for a 9-over par 81 to complete tied for twenty ninth. It was obscured to a level by Spieth’s epic collapse – he was 5 forward with 9 to play however a bogey-bogey-quadruple bogey begin to the second 9 opened the door for Willett’s unlikely victory.
A couple of days after their respective Masters disappointments, Kaufman and Spieth joined Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler for his or her model of a spring break journey to Baker’s Bay within the Bahamas, sharing their sun-splashed adventures on social media. A 12 months later, they did it once more within the Bahamas, fueling a social media frenzy that in the end haunted Kaufman as his enjoying profession, undone by his tendency to hit one or two wayward tee pictures each spherical, started to evaporate.
A decade faraway from the Masters, Kaufman insists he thinks principally in regards to the good elements.
“I do as a result of not many individuals had the chance to play in that occasion, and I received to expertise each like doable factor you possibly can. I made a hole-in-one within the Par-3 Contest, I received to play within the occasion I dreamed of enjoying, after which attending to the ultimate group and actually, like, legitimately feeling like I had an opportunity to win the Masters,” Kaufman says.
“In the event you instructed me three years prior after I’m sitting there on the cellphone with my dad (speaking about) ought to I play professional golf and now I’m sitting there within the remaining group on the Masters, it’s like … I completed quite a bit in a brief time period.”
However as social media commentary was burning itself right into a bonfire, Kaufman grew to become a goal. Movies exhibiting him playing around within the Bahamas along with his buddies had been mocked. The extra he struggled along with his sport – Kaufman had simply three top-10 finishes in his PGA Tour profession after the 2016 Masters – the extra he grew to become a goal.
“Individuals don’t perceive how rapidly it might occur on this sport. (Kaufman) went from remaining group of the Masters to inside the subsequent 12 months or two being in a totally completely different place along with his sport and profession. It’s so laborious and it sucks.”
— Justin Thomas
“I caught a blunt power of the pretend accounts, you already know, they appeared to wish to give me a tough time, like the net sort of bullying nature that I used to be sort of coping with. … I needed to be on social media, however I knew it wasn’t a wholesome place for me on the time, as a result of it was such a destructive place, and so many individuals had an opinion, and it simply is the lifetime of being knowledgeable athlete,” Kaufman says.
“So I spent not less than two plus, three years with out it, and it was so a lot better. However there was at all times that at the back of my thoughts after I would put the tee within the floor, that I feel I misplaced my function of why I used to be enjoying, as a result of I needed to show individuals unsuitable so badly that generally I sort of received in my very own means.”
Jeff Kaufman watched as his son struggled to maintain his tee pictures in play.
“He wasn’t having any enjoyable enjoying. It was not enjoyable going on the market banging your head every single day. He noticed on social media individuals simply hammering him. I feel it received to him,” he says.
As Smylie struggled, his dad and mom would obtain occasional messages from Rod Fowler, Rickie’s father, and Mike Thomas, Justin’s dad, encouraging them to hold in there. There have been good rounds however few good weeks, which become months after which into years.
“Individuals don’t perceive how rapidly it might occur on this sport. He went from remaining group of the Masters to inside the subsequent 12 months or two being in a totally completely different place along with his sport and profession. It’s so laborious and it sucks,” Justin Thomas says.
“As a buddy, you by no means wish to see anybody undergo it. As a golfer, to have the competitor, he had that style and he had gained and he’d been there … he is aware of what it looks like and to not undergo that or really feel you are able to do that when you’ve got, it’s laborious to clarify and laborious to swallow.
“I used to be gutted for him.”
*****
It’s quiet contained in the clubhouse at Trump Nationwide Golf Membership Jupiter apart from a handful of individuals strolling by means of the primary room as Kaufman settles right into a seat not removed from a hearth. The vacation decorations are up however what motion there’s on this Tuesday evening one week earlier than Christmas is outdoors the place dozens of individuals are placing the ending touches on the buildout for the Golf Channel Video games.
Kaufman has simply left a gathering with the gamers and the assist workers, going over what is going to occur in 24 hours whereas having fun with face time with Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and others. He’s carrying a wedge with him, at instances leaning on it, at different instances spinning it in his arms whereas making small speak with the gamers and his broadcast companions.
The 2022 Puerto Rico Open was Kaufman’s final PGA Tour begin. Rounds of 78-79 led to a different missed reduce, his 58th in 93 profession begins on the large tour. He was 30 years previous and drifting.
“With the sport of golf, I noticed each little bit of excessive and each little bit of low and never a ton of like within the center. So … after I was actually struggling for like, three plus years, like grinding so laborious, hitting extra golf balls than anyone, however in some way nonetheless getting worse, I used to be simply, like, exploring. Identical to, is there anything I may do on this sport? As a result of I really feel like I possibly I’ve one thing to supply to this sport nonetheless, and I simply wasn’t certain fairly what that might be,” Kaufman says within the quiet of the clubhouse.
When his supervisor, Jimmy Johnston, talked about that ESPN was concerned with utilizing Kaufman to do function group commentary for its digital protection of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, Kaufman rapidly stated sure.
It’s certainly one of Kaufman’s endearing traits – he sees alternatives greater than obstacles. In center faculty and highschool, he was concerned in pupil authorities, and at LSU Kaufman sought out management roles. It’s one thing he took from his father and from an older buddy who tended to run towards issues moderately than away from them.
Tv work was one other a type of issues. Kaufman is aware of the sport. He is aware of the gamers. He is aware of how one can speak.
“The people who I talked to prior, they’re like, yeah, it’s like sink or swim, like you possibly can both do it or you possibly can’t. I used to be like, oh, that’s encouraging, like, that’s not precisely what I needed to listen to, about to doubtlessly get into a brand new profession, and that it might be over in 18 holes if it doesn’t go proper,” Kaufman says.
When Kaufman utterly botched certainly one of his first on-course calls – he stated Will Zalatoris can be fortunate to get his method shot on the inexperienced from behind a tree on Southern Hills’ tenth gap solely to see the participant stuff it 4 toes from the opening – he saved shifting ahead.
Now greater than three years into an increasing profession, Kaufman remembers a bit of recommendation from veteran broadcaster Steve Sands.
“He stated that even when these gamers show your opinion unsuitable that doesn’t imply that the decision was unsuitable. It’s vital to name it the way you see it, and generally you simply give the gamers the advantage of the doubt of, wow, that was one thing that I didn’t assume was doable,” Kaufman says.
“Once I received into this media place, it was like, oh God, I’m lastly away from this rattling sport. I could be myself once more. It’s just like the protect sort of got here off of me.”
— Smylie Kaufman
Working with Sands, Dan Hicks, Curt Byrum, Terry Gannon and others, Kaufman immersed himself in studying his new craft. He understood what to say and what the gamers had been considering however wanted to discover ways to say it in seven-second bursts.
As a result of he was a up to date of the gamers he was overlaying, Kaufman had immediate credibility and he understood the boundaries of what he may say, what he shouldn’t say and when to be their buddy and when to be a reporter.
Kaufman has a boyish congeniality that radiates by means of tv units and laptop screens and most locations Kaufman reveals up.
“My pals from residence that he’s been round, all of them love him,” Thomas says. “It’s not a state of affairs like, ‘Who was that man?’ It’s ‘that was the time when Smylie got here to city and we went and did this.’ ”
It’s that twinkle, that power that put Kaufman on the well-known sixteenth tee on the Waste Administration Phoenix Open in February 2023. NBC Sports activities, then the father or mother firm of Golf Channel, had tried to get Jimmy Fallon to host a happy-hour model present inside golf’s most well-known stadium however it didn’t work.
As a substitute, they put Kaufman and the cleverly sarcastic Kevin Kisner collectively on the sixteenth tee and instructed them to have enjoyable. Unhealthy climate had disrupted the event to the purpose that the leaders had been on the alternative aspect of the golf course when the blissful hour debuted, forcing Kaufman and Kisner – who can personal any room they’re in – to improvise.
“We had the unhealthy wave coming by means of and Kiz and I simply had been, like, unfiltered, as a result of there was nothing to speak about. And these guys are eight to 10 to 12 pictures again of the lead, and we simply emptied the financial institution and simply principally had means an excessive amount of enjoyable. Everyone cherished it, and so they needed to maintain it going and so they had been like, ‘Let’s have you ever host it,’’ Kaufman remembers.
The very best in nearly any discipline have a present of constructing one thing tough seem simpler than it’s. That’s certainly one of Kaufman’s skills.
“He’s simply being himself. When it’s time to be severe, he’s severe. He is aware of Friday and Saturday we will possibly joke round and inform a joke in regards to the guys we all know and other people love that. They like to listen to you speaking about individuals you already know. That’s what he does so nicely. He is aware of the fellows,” Kisner says.
When Kisner reveals up for the present, Kaufman is there with a file stuffed with notes, most of them freshly mined on website that week. In the identical means he labored at his golf sport, Kaufman works to be pretty much as good behind the mic as he could be.
“To have the ability to at all times have the phrases whenever you don’t know what to anticipate, he’s accomplished a loopy good job of that,” Kisner says.
Kaufman by no means formally introduced he was completed enjoying skilled golf and he’s nonetheless able to enjoying at a excessive stage however his life has modified. The daddy of two younger youngsters, Kaufman nonetheless lives in Birmingham however he’s a media persona now.
His podcast has been so fashionable that it’s now a weekly present on Golf Channel. He has the respect and belief of his friends and the ear of his viewers.
As Kaufman sits close to the fireside within the clubhouse, Johnson Wagner, one other tour participant who has transitioned efficiently to tv, walks by and gently faucets Kaufman on the shoulder and offers him a smile, realizing rehearsal outdoors is moments away.
“I feel due to the journey that I went by means of quite a lot of instances, I wish to convey that out in different individuals and simply attempt to get them to be sincere. I feel the vulnerability that I ultimately developed, that I didn’t have for a lot of, a few years after I was enjoying and particularly struggling … that’s one thing that I want I might have had extra of and talked to extra individuals and simply been extra open,” Kaufman says.
“I really feel like I used to be a shell, like, I simply was not myself, was not the Smylie that I had been in after I was enjoying nicely. I simply felt like I used to be trapped in a field and I couldn’t get out.
“Once I received into this media place, it was like, oh God, I’m lastly away from this rattling sport. I could be myself once more. It’s just like the protect sort of got here off of me.”
They’re calling for Kaufman outdoors because the rehearsal resumes. He grabs his wedge, excuses himself and heads towards the primary tee, smiling as he goes.
Prime: Smylie Kaufman sits on the bench on the sixth tee field throughout the third spherical of the 2025 Open Championship in Portrush, Northern Eire. Ben Jared, PGA TOUR through Getty Photos
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