JSmithers claimed his first European eTour victory with a scintillating performance at the Portugal Masters.
The American, real name Joshua Smith, a father of five from Dixon, Illinois, in the United States had lost both of his previous two eTour final appearances in 2020 but was in a different frame of mind this time round as he claimed the first event of the 2021 season and took home the US$5,000 first prize.
The top eight players from qualification took part in a live final, broadcast on YouTube, in a single-elimination knock-out format, competing on the world’s most popular online and mobile golf game, World Golf Tour (WGT) by Topgolf.
“I am playing pretty damn good right now,” said JSmithers. “I have been working on my mental focus, which is really helping with my game. Last year I played for the fun, but this year is about winning”.
Coming into the live final, JSmithers was ranked as the number one seed after a strong showing in the qualification rounds but faced a relatively unknown player in HansTest from Denmark in his quarter final match.
The match ebbed and flowed with neither player able to take control. Smith was eventually able to take the game with a birdie on the second play-off hole, which set up an encounter with the reigning eTour champion, golfx3.
However, this was a match up that JSmithers had struggled with in the past, having been defeated by his fellow countryman four times in 2020, including twice in finals.
golfx3 was able to take the lead with a birdie on the 14th before JSmithers hit straight back with a birdie of his own on the 15th. The final three holes at the difficult Bethpage Black, were birdied by both players meaning extra holes loomed again for Smith. Birdies were exchanged on both the 19th and 20th before golfx3 missed his birdie putt on the 21st to keep the game going.
Gracious in defeat, golfx3 said: “It was a good game, I think we were both 16 under through 18 - you can’t be mad about that”.
In the second semi-final, Young46, the only player apart from golfx3 to have won an eTour tournament prior to the Portugal Masters, was up against fmagnets, the man many consider as the greatest-ever WGT player.
Yet to win an eTour tournament, fmagnets, real name is Chris Aitken, got off to a really strong start with birdies at the first and third to take a 2Up lead.
fmagnets continued to put pressure on Young46 who’s frustrations were starting to show after several near misses on the greens. fmagnets quickly closed out the game on the 15th with a 5&3 victory, which meant we were guaranteed a first-time winner on the eTour.
Jsmithers took an early lead in the final with a chip-in birdie on the first and despite birdieing the next five holes, still only found himself one hole to the good, with fmagnets fighting to stay within touching distance of his opponent.
The onslaught continued for fmagnets as Smith closed out the front nine with two more birdies and an eagle to be three up and place one foot firmly in the winner’s circle.
However, fmagnets was not going down without a fight. The man originally from the UK but now residing in Brazil, holed out for eagle on the 10th to claim a hole back, removing any assumptions that this was going to be a procession for JSmithers.
Smith quickly regrouped, and fired more birdies at 11, 12, 13 and 14, before claiming victory with another birdie on the 15th.
“That was awesome, I felt I couldn’t miss,” said JSmithers. “It was so much fun, I am absolutely over the moon right now. I got laid off with COVID, and I have been lucky enough to find other work, but the $5,000 will go a long way”.
In his post round interview, fmagnets explained just how good JSmithers' performance was: “That was the best I have played on the eTour, and I got annihilated, which shows just how good Josh (JSmithers) was”.
JSmithers now tops the rankings for the race to the Global Finals, which will see the top eight players from the five regular season tournaments earn in spot in the final event at the end of the season.
Next up on the European eTour is the BMW International Open, which will be streamed live on June 23.
To play in the qualification tournament or find out more information on the European eTour, click here.
