One left Sydney as a teenager to play college golf in Alabama, the other is a former PGA Trainee of the Year who has spent almost 30 years in Germany.
Mick Smith [pictured] and Paul Archbold don’t typically appear in senior men’s major championships, but the pair will this week tee it up against a host of major champions and Hall of Famers at the US Senior Open in Wisconsin.
Smith and Archbold both earned their spots in the field via Final Qualifying last month, Smith earning medallist honours at Stevens Point Country Club in Wisconsin and Archbold finishing second at Arcola Country Club in New Jersey.
Based at Summit, two hours south of SentryWorld Golf Course where the US Senior Open is being played, Smith’s qualification is one of the more unlikely within the field.
A talented tennis player growing up in Sydney, Smith switched to golf at the age of 15 and advanced quickly.
An opportunity to play golf at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama, emerged in 1997 and, other than a year spent back home playing the PGA Tour of Australasia, Smith has resided in America ever since.
He gave lessons at various golf courses, but took his consultancy to new heights when he converted his three-car garage in Summit into an indoor training centre fully equipped with TrackMan technology. Not only did it expand his client base, but ensured Smith’s own game was kept up to scratch in Wisconsin’s frigid winters.
“It saved my sanity in the winter and probably helped my golf game a lot as well,” Smith told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Winner of Wisconsin PGA Section events such as the WPGA Championship (2020, 2021) and WPGA Match Play Championship (2022), Smith’s older brother Mark has flown in from Sydney to share a week mixing with the likes of Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington and Wisconsin native Steve Stricker.
And while an admitted Ernie Els fan, Smith insists it will be all business once his name is called in the first group off the 10th tee at 10pm tonight, AEST.
“It’s not my job to worry about what they’re doing,” Smith said of his legendary contemporaries. “My job is to play my style of golf and get the ball into the hole as best I can. If I do that, then everything will take care of itself.”
Archbold has slightly more experience at the highest level, having played in the 1990 Open Championship at St Andrews and the WINSTONgolf Senior Open on the Legends Tour in Europe in 2018.
The director of golf at Golf-Und Country Club Seddiner See, six hours north of Munich, since 2009, Archbold played on tour for six years before taking on the role as head professional at Golfclub Gatow in Berlin in 1994.
Other Australians in the field are Richard Green, Peter Fowler, Stuart Appleby, Mark Hensby and Rod Pampling along with Kiwis Steven Alker and Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion.
