PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Throughout the memorable moments and witnessing the best golfers ever, Garry Smits has seen quite a bit of everything. Even he finds it difficult to believe that it’s been this long.
“Forty of anything, that’s a long time,” said Smits, a sports writer for the Florida Times-Union. “But when you’re an old guy, you’ve been doing everything for a long time, haven’t you?”
From Tiger Woods to Scottie Scheffler, everything in between and a lot before, Smits has covered all the angles imaginable at The Players Championship.
“It really just does feel like a short amount of time that Jerry Pate was jumping in the water over there, or that Greg Norman was setting the course record, or that David Duval was doing what he did in 1999,” Smits said.
As much as the course has changed over its 51 years, Smitter as he’s nicknamed, still remembers the early days.
“They used to have the scoring trailer right about here,” Smits said pointing to right of the clubhouse. “They took it out and expanded the short game area. The course used to be really wild. Top bunkers were a little deeper. They had some love grass out there. They had these waste bunkers. They’ve kind of softened it over the years with input from the players because it is The Players Championship.”
You can bet he remembers almost every little detail about the best golfers in the world. He’s covered legends like Woods competing in The Players Championship, but the one memory he cherishes the most: “I gravitate towards the moments that were created by players who were from here, lived here long term,” Smits said. “Mark McCumber coming up the 18 fairway in 1988, he was the first local guy to win this. I remember some kids had made a banner up on the hill.”
Smitter has been covering the tournament for so long, his first Players Championship was at the Sawgrass Country Club.
“When I was covering Florida State in the 90s, they would always have everybody pitch in,” Smits said. “The whole staff and back then we had a staff of about 12-15. I would always be out here for a couple of days here and there and I just kind of loved it to begin with. That’s how I got my first Players Championship credential. Went to two with the Clay Today, four or five with the S. Augustine Record. The rest have been with the Times-Union.”
It took one tournament to get him hooked.
“I watched a lot of golf on TV, but I had never covered one,” Smits said. “I actually didn’t know where to stand in some places. Didn’t know you weren’t supposed to say ‘hi’ to Jack Nicklaus when he was in the middle of his round. That was quite the embarrassing moment.”
After covering the Seminoles for a few years, Smitter wanted something different. When the golf writer position opened, he applied for it. His editor at the time, Joe DeSalvo believed in Smits enough, and he got promoted.
“If The Players Championship hadn’t been Jacksonville’s tournament, or the First Coast tournament, I might not have applied for this job.”
While covering a PGA Tour signature event is something that journalists dream of, Smitter also loves The Players for how it connects the local community.
“This is a world-class event and you got the best in the world have always been here,” Smits said. “I think people in the First Coast kind of treat this thing as their own.”
Smitter moved to northeast Florida when he was 25 years old after graduating from the College of Southern Maryland in 1976 and working at a weekly newspaper near his hometown. He got into sports writing like how many journalists do.
“If I couldn’t play it, I wanted to write about it,” Smits said. “I wanted to be there and still write and tell stories. That’s what these Players Championships have been. It’s been an awful lot of incredible stories.”
Forty years later, Smitter still enjoys the unique stories at The Players Championship just like it’s his first.
“Across the country everybody’s newspaper staff is contracted,” Smits said. “Being employed has enabled me to keep covering The Players. For that I’m thankful. For that I’m blessed.”
Over 300 media members are covering The Players Championship, but only a few have covered as many as Smits.
- John Hopkins, Global Golf Post: 38 Players Championships
- Kathy Bissell, Ponte Vedra Recorder: 35 Players Championships
- Gene Frenette, Florida Times-Union: 33 Players Championships
- Doug Ferguson, Associated Press: 30 Players Championships