March of 2026 is turning into a memorable one for PGA Tour pro Austin Smotherman. His wife is expecting their third child within days. Not only that, but Smotherman holds a share of the lead at the 2026 Players Championship. (UPDATE: After an even-par round on Friday, Smotherman fell to T10 heading into Saturday’s third round).
On Thursday night following the end of play at TPC Sawgrass, Smotherman revealed that should the baby come early this weekend, “the plan is to stay” and fight for a Players victory. Even if it means missing his baby’s birth.
Here’s what you need to know.
Austin Smotherman explains ‘wild’ plan if baby is born during Players
While Smotherman faces a tricky situation this week, it’s mostly positive. If all goes well, he’ll soon be a dad for the third time. And after shooting an opening-round 67 at TPC Sawgrass, he’s leading the PGA Tour’s biggest tournament, with a winner’s prize of $4.5 million.
That last fact would have been unthinkable to the veteran pro one year ago. That’s because last year Smotherman didn’t play on the PGA Tour.
A former Tour card holder, the 31-year-old had fallen back to the Korn Ferry Tour in recent seasons. But last year, he won two Korn Ferry events to finish third in the season-long points race.
With that, he reclaimed his PGA Tour card for 2026, and he’s making it count. He finished T8 at the American Express, then T2 at the Cognizant Classic.
He lost the Cognizant Classic but didn’t leave PGA National empty-handed
Now he’s firmly in contention at the Players Championship. A win this week would be life-changing, both for the huge payout the Smothermans will receive for their growing family, and for the career security and opportunity it would provide.
After play was suspended Thursday evening, Smotherman talked to reporters and shared how he and his wife had decided to deal with the impending birth of their child and his burgeoning career.
“Her due date is March 23rd, Monday of Houston. I left a couple weeks ago to go play the Florida Swing, and my job was just to go play golf until I got back to hopefully Houston and could just drive up to Dallas if the baby came then,” Smotherman began.
As for this week, Smotherman said his wife has approved the plan to “keep rolling” no matter what. Even if the baby comes early.
“My wife’s giving me the okay to play this week, just keep rolling no matter if I was shooting five-under or five-over, I guess.”
That plan could extend into next week, too.
“The plan’s to still play Valspar next week. We’ll reassess, depending upon whatever goes on here,” Smotherman said. “It’s still just 17 and a half holes in, so just keep playing golf, go have a baby whenever the baby shows up. She’s not getting induced or anything, so we’re just kind of letting it roll. Our first two were a week and two weeks late, so at least an on-time arrival would be early enough, late enough.”
