Alternate Lyfe

Riley Smyth was on the range at Copper Rock Golf Club for the seventh Epson Tour event of the season as an alternate, and as each threesome teed off, the reality set in 2024 might be a wasted year. Seven times Smyth made the trip to that week’s Epson events – four times as the first alternate or the first alternate on-site – and seven times, she failed to get into the event. 

The rest of the week at Copper Rock, Smyth caddied for a friend, as she had the six previous times she was on site but not in the event. She did it for free, knowing most players didn’t have extra money to pay her. 

“It helped me stay in a routine, helped me prepare,” Smyth said.

She pinched pennies by staying in host housing and driving to events as much as she could. Her parents, both retired, helped where they could.

Smyth turned pro in 2023 after a solid yet unspectacular career at the University of Virginia. She advanced through the first stage of Q-school but missed at second stage. Players who make it to the second stage earn conditional status, so Smith would have to wait for her first start. 

The former Cavalier got 10 starts in 2023 and made six cuts. Smyth fell just $116 short of skipping the first stage of Q-school, but she went to the first stage and played well, easily getting through. She then returned to finish her Epson season and had her best finish of the year, a T6. In a season defined by near misses, and despite her late-season top-10, Smyth missed keeping her card by just $63. 

At second stage, Smyth didn’t play up to her standards and missed advancing again. She would have another unpredictable year of waiting for a couple precious starts in 2024. After she missed at second stage, she had no idea her finish would mean waiting as the first alternate four times and caddying seven times in the coming year. 

One of the biggest hurdles for pros with conditional status is not putting too much pressure on yourself when those limited starts come. A made cut for a conditional member might change their entire season. A missed cut and the waiting game continues, with the chance that it might never come. Teeing it up with that pressure can be insurmountable for some. 

After caddying for her friends Kayleigh Telfer and Amelia Garvey (including both of them in the same week once), Smyth finally got into a field in Battle Creek, Michigan.This was one of her only two guaranteed starts of the season and it was a make-or-break moment. 

“I knew I was in Kansas in a few weeks, so I tried to not put too much pressure on myself in Michigan,” Smyth told me. An opening round of 4-over 76 left her well outside the cut line and added even more pressure to the second round. 

If Riley Smyth goes on to win on the LPGA Tour, she will look back at the second round of the Firekeepers Classic as a turning point. In one of the most pressure-packed rounds of her career, Smyth fired 3-under 69, which included six birdies, and was one of just 13 rounds in the 60s that day. She made the cut by two. A final round 73 meant a T35 finish, but it meant much more than that. It meant Smyth would move well up the priority list, meaning more starts. 

Smyth went into the Kansas event feeling the weight of a potentially wasted year off her shoulders. Her finish in Michigan guaranteed her more starts, so she could play freely in Kansas without worrying about where her next start would come. And it showed. 

After opening with an even par 72, Smyth fired a 5-under 67 in the second round. It was the fourth best round of the day and vaulted her up the leaderboard. Though she didn’t have the final round she had hoped for, she played solidly on the final day, signing for a 1-under 71. The T7 finish was the best of her fledgling pro career and was one stroke better than Telfer and Garvey, the two players she had previously caddied for. 

The top-10 meant Smyth’s status for the rest of the season was taken care of and she took advantage. In her following seven events, she recorded three more top-10s, including a T5 and a T4. The finishes have moved her to 41st in the race for the 15 LPGA cards available. 

Although an LPGA card is mostly out of the question with just the Tour Championship remaining, Smyth has her playing privileges locked up for next season and still has a shot for her LPGA card via Q-school. 

She will head into the Tour Championship with her sights set on the 35th spot on the points list. The top 35 are exempt from the second stage of Q-school and go directly to Q-series (final stage). 

Three months ago, Smyth thought 2024 would be a wasted year. This week, she heads into the Tour Championship with an LPGA card within reach. 

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