LIV’s Travis Smyth Wins on the Asian Tour

Another week, another six-figure paycheck for Travis Smyth.

Smyth fired a 6-under 66 to win the Asian Tour’s Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The win, the first on the Asian Tour for the 27 year-old Australian, came with a first prize check of $126,000 USD, which is less than he’s earned on any of the three events he’s played on the LIV Golf Tour. Smyth’s best finish on that circuit–a 22nd at Bedminster–earned him $172,000.

Smyth entered the day one stroke clear of hometown favorite Lee Chieh-po after shooting his first 66 of the weekend on Saturday, the best round of the day. He duplicated the feat on Sunday to win by two over Chieh-po, stacking eight birdies on the day, with his only stumble coming on a double bogey at the 15th hole. That slip-up gave Chieh-po momentary hope, cutting Smyth’s lead to two strokes with two holes to play, but Smyth bounced back with a birdie on number 17 to get the lead back to three strokes, and coasted home.

Smyth, currently #447 according to the Official World Golf Ranking, shouldn’t expect too much of a bump in those rankings after his first Asian Tour win. Under the OWGR’s new system, which went into effect last month, Smyth will receive only 2.287 points for the victory. Under the prior system, he would’ve received at least 14 points, the minimum amount allocated to a winner on the Asian Tour. Smyth expressed his displeasure with the development on Twitter Sunday.

is that all i got 😂😂😂 what a joke

— Travis Smyth (@travsmythg) September 25, 2022

The win moves Smyth to sixth place on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit. Smyth has not announced whether he will participate in any additional LIV Golf events this season. That tour’s next event is outside Bangkok at Stonehill Golf Course from October 7-9.

Be sure to check back with The Golf Spectator for more LIV Golf and Asian Tour news.