Australian Travis Smyth is relishing the prospect of a late-season rankings charge on The International Series, as the Sydney professional goes into the final six tournaments of the year fuelled in large part by a transformation in his approach to diet.
The 29-year-old is currently on a hot streak after finishing in a tie for fourth at the Mandiri Indonesia Open and following a second at the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea a week later.
It was after the last win in on the Asian Tour in 2022 that Smyth began to experience recurring ‘flu-like symptoms’, prompting him to explore his health, and to make radical changes to his dietary habits.
“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 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.
A graduate of the Asian Tour Qualifying School in 2018, Smyth has recently shown compelling evidence of his undoubted talent.
On the Asian Tour, he kicked off the season with a top 10 finish at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open, and he has been trending in the right direction with his results in Indonesia and at the Shinhan Donghae Open, where he lost to Kensei Hirata by one shot after a final round 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 – placing him sixth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and 10th on 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, at 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, an event in Riyadh that will offer a bumper US$5 million purse.
“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,” Smyth said.
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.
Brothers Scott and Kieran Vincent are shining examples, Scott joining Iron Heads GC after winning The International Series Rankings race in 2022, while Kieran joined Jon Rahm’s new Legion XIII team in 2024 season after claiming one of three golden tickets at the LIV Golf Promotions event.
“You look at Kieran and Scott, they’re the perfect example,” Smyth said. “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.
“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.”
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