In-form Travis Smyth is relishing the prospect of a hectic late-season rankings charge on The International Series, and the Australian goes into the final six tournaments of the year with renewed confidence, fuelled in large part by a transformation in his approach to diet.
The 29-year-old, currently on a red-hot streak after finishing T4 at the Mandiri Indonesia Open and second last week at the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea, has two professional wins under his belt - one Asian Tour win in 2022 at the Yeangder TPC in Taiwan and one on the PGA Tour of Australasia in 2017.
It was after the last win in 2022 that Smyth began to experience recurring ‘flu-like symptoms’, prompting him to explore his health, and make radical changes to his dietary habits while also continuing to work hard on his game.
“It was hard to put it down to one thing,” he said. “Obviously, I'm working hard on my golf game and that is one thing that I'm always trying to improve. It's working, but it's not just golf, it's my diet as well. For about just over a year now, I would say I'm very strict with my diet.
“I did all this because I was getting really sick. I got blood tests and the doctor said I was fine. He advised taking multivitamins and that sort of stuff day-to-day, and my gut instinct was telling me this is not going to work.
“I was very fortunate that my golf coach, Dean Kinney, lives an insanely healthy lifestyle, and he put me in touch with a leading gastroenterologist.
“We started talking about what I eat, what I don't eat, and what I should eat and basically, I'm eating the way he told me to and it's working. I feel great almost all the time now so that's obviously going to help a lot with my consistency. Over the space of 12 months or so, I've played the most consistent golf of my life and it's definitely the nutrition side of things that has added a lot to that.
“I want to have a long-lasting, successful career and I want to be the guy that's walking around and looks like he's having a goodtime.”
A graduate of the Asian Tour Qualifying School in2018, Smyth has shown compelling evidence of his undoubted talent recently.
On the Asian Tour, he kicked off the season with a T9 at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open, and he has been trending in the right direction with his T4 in Indonesia and his outright second finish at the Shinhan Donghae Open, where he lost to Kensei Hirata by one shot after a final round of 64 that included an astonishing eight birdies and par on the outward half.
On The International Series, the 10 elevated events on the Asian Tour, he has been a picture of consistency this season, with a T10 in Oman, a T14 in Macau, a T5 in Morocco and a T30 in England - fine form that has placed him sixth in the Asian Tour Order of Merit and 10th in The International Series Rankings.
Smyth is getting ready to contest six tournaments in a hectic eight-week spell on The International Series, with a place on the LIV Golf League at stake for the rankings champion and spots on the LIV Golf Promotions event available to around 30 high-ranking players.
The run in starts with a double-header in Thailand next month; the Black Mountain Championship (17-20 October) and International Series Thailand (24-27 October), and ends with the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers from 4-7 December, a star-studded event in Riyadh that will offer a bumper US$5 million purse.
He said: “I feel like I’m playing good golf and really feel like a win is going to be coming very soon but I need to go out and earn it. I can’t get in my own way and think about winning too much. It’s going to require a lot of patience, digging deep and focusing on those good shots. What do I have to do to hit those good shots? Then I think I’ll be in a good position.”
The Sydneysider admits he is putting all his focus into The International Series this year because of the ‘life-changing’ rewards that are up for grabs.
He highlights brothers Scott and Kieran Vincent as shining examples. Elder brother Scott joined Iron Heads GC after winning The International Series Rankings race in 2022, while Kieran joined Jon Rahm’s new Legion XIII team for the start of the 2024 season after claiming one of three golden tickets at the LIV Golf Promotions event.
Smyth, who played on the first three LIV Golf Invitational tournaments back in 2022, said: “You look at Kieran and Scott, they're the perfect example. They've come out to the Asian Tour and The International Series and played really well and got themselves onto LIV, which is life changing.
“The way I view it is, there's only 10 events on The International Series. So I try to plan my year around those 10 weeks. I'm trying to peak, as you might say, to play as best as I possibly can and put all my focus into The International Series, because it's just so life-changing to be able to get onto that tour (LIV Golf League). I look at those 10 events on The International Series as my majors.
“I've had a little bit of a taste of that tour. I got to play three events when the tour first got off the ground. I felt how amazing that tour was, so I'm doing everything I possibly can to try and get back there. That's where I want to play.”
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
