FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Asked to describe himself, Ben Smith hesitates for a second before taking a shot.
“I think I’m pretty chill, laid back and I don’t think I take anything too seriously,” Smith said. “Even on the golf course, I joke around some. I’m pretty comfortable out there.”
The 20-year-old Georgia Tech golfer from Novi, Michigan, will defend his 2019 Michigan Amateur title on June 22-26 when the 2020 state championship plays out on the Heather course at Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs.
Last June, he made his biggest amateur win to date look like a comfortable stroll with his clubs across the North Course at Oakland Hills Country Club. He was calm and cool about it, said all the right things after winning and was rightfully impressed with meeting a visiting Jack Nicklaus at the start of the week.
He is not given to facial expressions either positive or negative, save for some red in his cheeks when he appears locked into the task at hand. He is chill. His favorite food is not exactly something you would expect of a college kid. It’s salmon.
Smith is not one to spout adjectives either, but he did report that meeting Nicklaus – who was on hand to help the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) celebrate 100 years and raise funds for its foundation and Youth on Course program – was an amazing experience.
Mostly, when he thinks about winning the Amateur, he is especially proud that he won the stroke-play portion of the tournament to earn the No. 1 seed for match play. He then marched through the 64-player bracket to win, and ultimately topped Patrick Sullivan, a University of Michigan golfer, 2 and 1, in the title match.
He said he wasn’t really nervous for the entire tournament until the close-out hole of the final.
“I needed to two-putt from 30-feet to close it, and standing over those putts I was shaking,” he said. “It was cool to feel the nerves and to be a position to win. I hope to put myself in that position again this year. That’s what you play for.”
Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions for the GAM, said even during last year’s amateur, it was impossible to tell how Smith was playing when he walked toward the scoring table.
“You can’t tell from his face or his demeanor,” he said. “He always looks calm. It could be 65 or 75 and I think his face would look the same. It’s just him, and I don’t think it’s a negative for him. It’s probably a great thing. Some guys have a really bad poker face, but not him. He just plays and most of the time plays really well. You just don’t find out until you see his card.”
Smith will be a redshirt junior at Georgia Tech in the fall with three seasons of eligibility remaining. He played in all but two tournaments in the fall season and tied for 14th in a tournament at Olympia Fields near Chicago. He said his first action in college golf went about as expected, and in the process he has improved. He admitted there has been one somewhat surprising thing.
“It’s how good some of these guys are,” he said. “I see some players and I watch their games and it’s clear they could turn pro tomorrow, and I could see them making an impact and winning stuff. I’m seeing people at the top of the amateur game, seeing how good they are. It’s good. I can compare myself to them, learn from them, see the work ethic, the things they do to get better.”
Smith, who has an apartment off-campus in Atlanta, was able to isolate and stay in Georgia for a big part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The practice facility for the Georgia Tech golf team, and the golf courses they use in competition and for practice, are also off-campus and he was able to return to practicing well before Michigan golfers and his family and friends at Walnut Creek Country Club in South Lyon.
He said he was able to hit balls and played video games, two of his primary activities, but admitted the pandemic has made an impact on him especially after getting home in early June.
“I won’t ever take golf for granted again, or that feeling that you can do what you want when you want,” he said.
He’s excited for the Amateur. It will be his first tournament of the summer, and he previously played the Heather five or six times in AJGA competition.
“It’s a great golf course, and I think it benefits the players who are good ball strikers,” he said. “That bodes well for me. It’s going to be a great test.”
His gameplan is chill, as expected.
“I want to keep it out of the hazards off the tee,” he said. “Not a lot can go wrong from the middle of the fairway.”