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05/16 19:13 CDT Who is PGA Championship leader Alex Smalley? A player with the
confidence he can win
Who is PGA Championship leader Alex Smalley? A player with the confidence he
can win
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) --- Alex Smalley lived in the Wannamaker Quad, the
dorm at Duke when he blossomed into a golf star and even beat Scottie Scheffler
in a key match in the NCAA Championship.
The "Wanny," as it's called, houses sophomores and upperclassman.
He might poetically be the player hoisting the Wannamaker Trophy as the PGA
Championship winner.
"My parents and I have been joking that maybe this would be a tournament that I
would win just because of that kind of fact," Smalley said. "That's just kind
of something that we've joked about even before I made it out here."
Smalley graduated from Duke, loves travel to Disney World, and his mom and dad
caddied extensively for him throughout his career.
Here's one more fun fact for Smalley: He leads the PGA Championship --- not
Rory McIlroy or Scheffler or Jon Rahm --- and could close out his first career
PGA Tour victory, much less his first major, on Sunday.
Smalley's recent hot streak stretched into Saturday with terrific play on the
back nine at Aronimink Golf Club, with six birdies over his last 10 holes for a
2-under 68 and a two-shot lead.
The 29-year-old Smalley, out of Rochester, New York, has never finished higher
in a major than a tie for 23rd. That came at Oak Hill in the 2023 PGA in his
hometown. But his game has been trending upward, with seven top-25 finishes
this season, including a second with teammate Hayden Springer in New Orleans
and as seventh-place finish at Doral.
"I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, and I mean this in the nicest
way possible, I've had that the last couple of weeks, I've been fortunate to
play, fortunate enough to play well the last few weeks to where that's starting
to become a norm, if you want to call it that," Smalley said.
The norm just might earn him the Wannamaker Trophy.
Take a look at his accomplishments in just three rounds at Aronimink.
Smalley (67-69-68) is the only player in the field this week to shoot under par
in each of the first three rounds and he has a 54-hole lead for the first time
at a PGA Tour event.
"Anybody who wants to play golf for a living dreams of winning on the PGA Tour
when they're younger," Smalley said. "I recognize that I have an opportunity to
do that tomorrow. I recognize that it's on a stage that's a little bit larger
than most other tour events. I'm trying to downplay that as much as I possibly
can just to make it seem like any other golf tournament, because essentially
that's all it really is."
At Duke, Smalley set the school record for the lowest career scoring average at
71.32 and the single-season scoring record of 70.35. He topped Scheffler of
Texas in a 5-and-4 victory in a singles match at the 2018 NCAA Championships
that might be his biggest claim to fame.
So far.
Smalley will be paired in the final group with Matti Schmid tomorrow. Neither
player has a win on the PGA Tour.
Rooting on Smalley in his third career PGA will be his parents, Terry Smalley
and Maria Smalley. Maria has been on the bag for her son in the past and was
even dubbed a "mom-ager" for her active role inside the ropes.
"She takes videos of me when I'm out competing in a tournament. If she sees
something, she might tell me later that night like, `Hey, your tempo seemed a
little quick today. What did that feel like?'' Smalley said "Or she'll send
them to my golf coach as well so he can kind of see things."
The best highlight video awaits Smalley now, if he can hang on at Aronimink for
one more round.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
