Nationwide Tour Insider: Smock starts strong

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Brian Smock is ninth in "THE 25" standings through four events.

Six years into his career on the Nationwide Tour, Brian Smock looks around at his growing family and realizes it's not just about him.

"We have a 21-month-old and another baby on the way so I'm really playing for them at this point," said Smock, 37, who is off to a good start this season despite a nagging bulging disk in his back.

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Smock realizes he wouldn't be able to chase his dream if not for his family's support. His wife Aiden works full-time as an insurance broker and tends to their son Ty while Smock stays on the road most of the year.

"I have to give my wife a lot of credit," he said. "She works really hard so I'm pretty lucky."

The two-week break before the Nationwide Tour makes its domestic debut Thursday at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in Broussard, La., was well-timed for Smock. He got to rest his ailing back and spend some quality time chasing his toddler around the house.

"The back just flares up about once or twice a year so hopefully this is my time to have to deal with it and that will be it," said Smock, who had to withdraw earlier this month from the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open because of the injury.

A week earlier, though, Smock had finished second at the Panama Claro Championship, shooting four rounds in the 60s despite battling a cold. It was his third runner-up finish in 104 Nationwide Tour events.

In four tournaments this season Smock has made two cuts and is ninth on the money list. It's a decent start, but he has been around long enough to know that finishing in the top 30 each week isn't enough to earn his TOUR card in 2011.

"Out here you need a lot of finishes in the top five," Smock said. "What I've learned is you definitely want to take advantage of the weeks you are playing well. I've never won a tournament (on the Nationwide Tour) but that's what I'm out here trying to do and it's going to come."

Smock, whose father was in the Marine Corps, was born in Hawaii but only lived there for about two years. The family eventually settled in southern California and Smock went on to play collegiately at Fresno State.

Smock played on several mini-tours before getting his first crack at the Nationwide Tour in 1997 when he played 11 events. He made his way back to the Tour in 2005, and except for playing just two tournaments in '06, has been a regular ever since. He finished a career-high 40th on the money list last year.

Over the years, Smock has learned not to listen to unsolicited advice. He often heard he needed to change his swing if he wanted to be on the PGA TOUR someday, so he focused on that instead of course management.

"I was always trying to make my swing perfect and not really paying attention to what I needed to do on the course," he said. "You kind of get caught up in the swing part of it, instead of just playing and that's what I'm trying to do more of."

Smock says when he needs to work on his swing he does it during weeks that he's not playing.

"I'm just focusing on being prepared each week," Smock said. "Really, the last three years I've been so mechanical, and now I just want to go out and play."

Even though Smock is a Nationwide Tour veteran, he has never played in PGA TOUR event. He has tried a few Monday qualifiers and has missed by a shot or two each time, but it's not something he isn't stressing about.

"I guess I'm saving them up," he said. "It just so happens I've never gotten through but the way I figure it my time is coming."

Editor's note: John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 15 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.