Follet-Smith aims for greatness

By The Standard | Oct. 29, 2017

IT’S barely been a month since promising young Zimbabwe golfer Ben Follett-Smith turned professional.

BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE

He never thought he would turn professional before December this year, until a discussion with Zimbabwe Professional Golfers’ Association president Gary Thompson pushed him to make the big leap last month.

And in his first month, the 23-year-old golfer has earned $12 500 in prize money following his triumph on his professional competition in the National Aids Council (NAC) HIV and Cancer Prevention Drive Pro-Am and a second place finish on the West Africa Golf Tour in Ivory Coast.

After such an auspicious start to life on the pro circuit, Follett-Smith has given himself the target of making it to the lucrative US PGA Tour and competing for the major championships.

His ultimate goal is to follow in the spike marks of Zimbabwean great Nick Price by reaching the number one spot on the world golf ranking.

“Obviously, to be number one in the world is one of my goals. I am also looking to win many majors. I have big dreams but I have to look at the nearer goals that get me there, that is playing in the Sunshine Tour possibly play Asia Tour, then move to the European Tour to win a couple of events there,” Follett-Smith told The Sports Hub in an interview.

“I am talking about six or seven years’ time I should be a professional golfer playing on the PGA Tour and being in the mix for winning the big four tournaments, that’s my long-term goal,” he added.

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Follett-Smith, a Mississippi State University marketing degree graduate, was back at the Royal Harare Golf Club on Wednesday morning after a disappointing outing in Hwange last weekend where he finished eighth.

He was struggling with his putting game, a factor he attributed to his perfomance in Hwange.

“I have played three tournaments since I was at the European Qualifying School first stage in Essex, London where I missed by three shots mainly because of blisters on my hand. I played Nac Pro-Am and won, finished second in Ivory Coast and then Hwange where I came eighth. I regret playing there because now I am struggling with my putting,” Follett-Smith said.

While Follet-Smith has been doing quite well at the initial stage of his professional career, it is the lack of tournaments in Zimbabwe that is a cause for concern for the young golfer.

“I think by now I have done all I could possibly have done. If I had won in Ivory Coast and Hwange I would still be here without tournaments to play. But if I was an amateur I could play amateur tournaments in South Africa right now,” he said ruefully.

Follett-Smith comes from a golfing family where both his late grandfather and father played the sport.

Already, he is the leading light in the family as the only one to play professionally.

His father Rob who introduced him to the game when he was five could have played professionally but for a nasty motorbike accident that left him with an injured hand back in the day.

The former St John’s College golf team captain paid tribute to respected local coach Lewis Muridzo who coached him from the tender age of five.

“I used to go for lessons with him from when I was five until I was 11, then I started going to Rodger Baylis. I still go back to Lewis a lot because he taught me the golf swing that I use now. I can safely say he started my golf career,” he said.

Follett-Smith is part of the golden generation of young Zimbabwean golfers who are hoping to maintain the country’s proud golfing heritage.

He made it into the 2011 Eisenhower Zimbabwe team, won the Zimbabwe Amateur champions, qualified for the British Junior Open in 2011 and represented Zimbabwe at the All-Africa Team Championships.

However, Follet-Smith’s golf did not flourish in collegiate competitions as he struggled to strike the right balance between his academics and golf to the extent that he had to sacrifice more time to his degree.

“I struggled to balance academics and golf in the US. I was never a scholar so I had to concentrate on academics more. I got my degree and that’s why I am now excelling on the course.

“Education will be the last option in my life but I will be a very disappointed guy if I don’t make it in golf. I have put a lot of work into it so I will give it my all in the next 10 years,” he said.

His next event will be in Equatorial Guinea in December while he will play at Asia Tour qualifier in January 2018.

Tournaments Follet-Smith participated in since 2017

Since the beginning of 2018, Follet-Smith has appeared in 23 tournaments spread across the Sunshine and Big Easy Tours. In 2018, the young golfer played in 15 tournaments, zig-zagging between the two tours.

After missing four of his first five cuts in 2018, the Zimbabwe-native slowly gained steam in the following five tournaments, climbing up the leaderboard with each finish.

At the Investec Royal Swazi Open, Follet-Smith made his first cut and finished 46th. But five weeks later, the 22-year old broke out with a 6th place finish at the Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge.

Follet-Smith, however, saved his best for the Big Easy Challenge 9 at Kyalami Country Club.

Starting strong with a five-under first round, Follet-Smith, unfortunately, gave the lead back with a second round 76.

With one day left, the young golfer knew he would have to fire a sharp round to rebound and win the tournament. With the help of four birdies and one eagle, Follet-Smith fired a final round 68 for a one-shot win over three other golfers.

“I played some really good golf in the final round. It felt like I didn’t make any mistakes out there…Golf is not easy and that taught me not to get too comfortable. “Today, I played to win,” he said after the victory. He definitely reminds us of another young golf sensation, Sim Tiger.

Follet-Smith’s Biggest Achievement in 2019

For Follet-Smith, his main accomplishment this season has been his win at the RAM Cape Town Open.

Follet-Smith ran away with the tournament after a terrific back-nine. After making a par on the 10th, the young Zimbabwean posted three straight birdies before knocking home another par on 14.

But Follet-Smith wasn’t done. He traveled even more and carded three more birdies before he tapped in on the 18th for his first win on the Sunshine Tour.

“I am happy to be able to show that I can win,” Follett-Smith said. “It is a great thing for me, at least, and not to prove anything to anyone else that I can win.

“I will be able to establish myself on Tour and be able to say I am actually worthy of being here… It is really great for me to win this at this stage of my career.”

After his two-stroke win for the Cape Town title, Follet-Smith has only made the cut of two of his next six tournaments, with a 34th place finish at The Tour Championship and a 42nd place finish at the Zambia Open.

Regardless of his rough luck as of late, the young golfer continues the 2019 season as one of the brightest stars on the Sunshine Tour. His swing was stunning, as shown by golf swing analyzers.

World Ranking

Follet-Smith started the 2018 season ranked 1936th in the world. After his win at the 2018 Big Easy Challenge 9, two top-ten finishes and eight-weekend finishes, Follet-Smith ended last year with a ranking of 921st in the world.

At the beginning of the 2019 season, Follet-Smith found himself in even better shape, as he had risen to be ranked 814th in the world by the Official World Golf Ranking system. But that ranking changed dramatically after his win at the RAM Cape Town Open.

Now Follet-Smith finds himself nestled in the mid-300s, a rise of almost 500 spots in the world, due to his Cape Town win.