THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607140191
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 51 lines
Taylor Smith's entry in the PGA Tour's official media guide is small. He shares Page 268 with three other players while such tour stars as Greg Norman get two pages all their own. Three if you're Jack Nicklaus.
But ``Turned pro at 19'' has a way of jumping off a page.
``I had a pretty decent freshman year and then went and played the mini tours in Florida as an amateur,'' said Smith, who won the Big South Conference tournament while playing for Augusta College. ``I went down there and finished second three times and had a couple other top-five finishes and figured, `Why not turn pro?' ''
He remembers calling Ernie Landford, his college coach who now coaches at Florida State, to break the news.
``He told me he'd up my meal and book money if I came back,'' laughed Smith.
Smith figured he'd already missed out on $10,000 worth of paychecks on the mini tours. The up side was he hadn't had to pay entry fees to continue playing; his previous week's winnings kept carrying over to cover entry fees.
Ten years later, Smith has made it to the big show, the PGA Tour, and finds himself on the leaderboard heading into Sunday's final round for only the second time. After rounds of 69-68-68, Smith is tied for seventh, seven shots behind third-round leader Scott Hoch.
Smith was on a Sunday leaderboard earlier this year in Greensboro before a final-round 75 dropped him into a tie for 23rd.
He's won $41,538 this season, ranking him 168th on the PGA Tour money list. But he talks as if a victory out here could happen at any time.
``I've won at every level in getting here,'' Smith said. ``I won on the Space Coast Tour, the Hooters Tour and the Nike Tour. I feel I'm ready to win on this tour now.''
Asked if he felt he missed out on anything in dropping out of college to turn pro, Smith shrugged his shoulders and said, ``I was making $75,000 a year on the mini tours and having a really good time doing it. In college, I got to play in a tournament a month. This way I was playing a tournament every week.''
Attending Augusta College also gave him the opportunity to play Augusta National, home of the Masters.
``I played it four times and my best round was (even-par) 72,'' Smith said. ``But I went around it more than that. I worked as a caddy there while in school. The tips weren't real good. The members always told their guests we'd be taken care of at the caddy shed. We got $25 a bag. I hear they get $50 now.''
Smith, who will play with John Wilson in the fourth-to-last group today, says he still has some pull at Augusta National.
``You wanna play it?'' Smith said. ``I can get you on . . . anytime after 10 p.m.'' by CNB