With Mom and Dad outside the ropes, Monday qualifier Alex Smalley starts strong at John Deere Classic

SILVIS, Ill. — Asked, per his mother’s suggestion.

And answered with practiced caution, just as you might expect from a young man who carried a 3.6 GPA at Duke University.

The question put to Alex Smalley was this: Who is a better caddie, his mother Maria, who has carried and carted his bag since the talented North Carolinian turned professional after competing on the 2019 Arnold Palmer and Walker Cup teams; or his father, Terry, who carried throughout his junior career?

“I'll decline to comment,” Smalley slyly responded.

Thursday at TPC Deere Run, the son let his clubs do the talking as Mom and Dad watched from outside the ropes. The former Duke standout followed a successful Monday qualifying round at nearby Oakwood Country Club with a steady five-birdie, one-bogey round of 67 in the opening round of the 50th John Deere Classic.

The promising start puts the 24-year-old Smalley in good position to play on a PGA TOUR weekend for the third time in as many opportunities as a pro. He previously cashed in successive starts at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, where he posted a T22 earlier this year and a T14 in 2020.

Smalley took to Deere Run with confidence, and with the benefit Don Donatello, a veteran of 23 TOUR seasons and countless trips around the Silvis course, at his side.

“I knew the first couple holes might take me a little while to settle in,” said Smalley, who hit 83 percent of the greens while averaging 306 yards off the tee. “Thankfully I've played in a couple of these already, so I kind of knew what the deal was. Hit a lot of good shots, had a lot of good looks. So, it was mostly stress free for the day.”

Smalley’s solid round follows consecutive top 5 finishes on the Forme Tour, the eight-event U.S. circuit that this year is providing U.S.-based players a route to the Korn Ferry TOUR Qualifying Tournament with PGA TOUR Canada off-limits due to COVID-19 restrictions. That’s why the caddie who watched him those performances was unsurprised by Smalley’s morning round at the JDC.

“We know what he’s capable of,” Maria Smalley said. “He’s been playing really well.”

Donatello was unsurprised, as well. Contacted Monday evening at his home in Orlando by Smalley’s agent, Christopher Kosiba, he arrived in the Quad Cities at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, and joined Smalley for an early morning practice round just a few hours later.

“I knew the kid was pretty special right off the bat,” said the caddie, who got his start on TOUR with Chris DiMarco in 1998 and experienced recent success with Will Gordon and Adam Schenk. “You could tell just the way his demeanor is and just the way he acts. He acts like he belongs here.”

Smalley has the pedigree to belie that self-belief. As an amateur in 2018 and 2019, he became the first player since Rickie Fowler to win back-to-back Sunnehanna Amateurs, was the stroke-play medalist at the 2016 U.S. Amateur with a 65-68—133 total that was a shot shy of the record, and qualified for the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

Little wonder teeing it up on TOUR is less than intimidating.

“Yeah, I feel like I belong,” he said. “I've seen a lot of the guys I've competed with who have done well out here. There's a lot of young guns out there that are doing really well, and just hope to follow in their footsteps.”

Smalley said Donatello’s course knowledge was a definite asset on Thursday.

“He's seen all the winds out here, so there were a couple times where it was hard to feel where the wind was coming from in the trees, and he told me just to trust it, it's up there,” Smalley said. “And he's got all of his notes from previous years. So, it's nice to have that kind of reinforcement and experience on the bag.”

That’s not to say Mom is out of a job. At least, not as far as she knows.

“No. No,” Maria said. “He gave me the week off because we did so well the last couple of weeks.”