Sarah Jane Smith snapped a 15-year victory drought in her native Australia, beating a field full of men in the process.
Smith, 38, shot 63-65 over the weekend at the Webex Players Series TPS Murray River mixed-gender event to win by five shots over Victorian Andrew Martin and Queenslander Shae Wools-Cobb. Of the eight events that have been staged in the series, women have won three of them, joining Australia’s Hannah Green last year and South Korea’s Min A Yoon at Rosebud the week prior to Smith.
Smith, whose last victory came on the Epson Tour, was joined by husband Duane and their 3-year-old son Theo at Cobram Barooga Golf Club. After losing her full LPGA card last season, Smith wasn’t sure if she would keep on playing. She finished 170th on the CME points list.
Then the Orlando-based Smith spent some time during the offseason with Cameron Smith’s instructor, Grant Field, back home in Australia.
“He’s been drumming into me that ‘it’s not over unless I want it to be,’ ” Smith told Australian Golf Media. “To see everything come together this quickly is incredible. Because I was basically done at the end of last year, unless something changed drastically. I’m pretty happy, a little bit surprised with this.”
Next up for Smith is this week’s Vic Open at 13th Beach.
