American Jsmithers claimed his second consecutive eTour victory at the BMW International Open.
The father of five from Dixon, Illinois, real name Joshua Smith, continued his impressive form in the eTour series by defeating Young46 in the final by a 2&1 margin, taking home the $5,000 first prize.
“It feels wonderful,” said Jsmithers following his victory in the final. “Last year I was just happy to be here. Travelling to Abu Dhabi was an amazing experience and I knew I just needed to put in a little more work to get to where I needed to be”.
Smith came into the BMW International Open tournament as the second seed following another impressive qualification campaign. His opening round match saw him face eTour debutant Jalal0038 from Lebanon, in which he won five holes without reply to take the match 5&3.
Watch the live show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04tiqXEfo6I
Smith faced another debutant in the semi-final in Evan Cook, known in game as ECC370. Cook had edged through his quarter final match against Kelsp and provided more of a test for Jsmithers who was only 1 Up through thirteen holes.
However, birdies without reply at 14, 15 and 16 saw Smith secure his spot in the final and set up an exciting head-to-head with one of the WGT greats, Young46.
Young46, real name Jason Young, had a bumpier journey to the final. Following a relatively smooth victory against Luked9, Young46 faced the WGT all-time career money leader fmagnets, who many say is the best player in the game.
This would be the fourth time these players have faced up against each other on the eTour, with Young46 winning all three previous encounters including two semi-final matches.
Fmagnets was one down with two to play before making a 30-foot putt for birdie on 17 to level the match, which was no surprise to Young46.
“I thought I had him, but he kept draining long putts to keep himself in it. Typical fmags,” said Young.
The match entered extra holes following regulation pars by both players on eighteen. A series of birdies and pars were exchanged before Fmagnets failed to match his opponent’s birdie on the sixth extra hole, which meant that Young had the opportunity to secure a second eTour title of his career and first of the 2021 season.
The final got off to a hot start with players countering each other’s birdies on holes one, two and three with Smith taking a 1 Up lead onto the fourth tee. He extended that lead on seven with another birdie. Young hit back on ten with a birdie of his own and to stay within touching distance of Smithers, who never looked phased by the moment.
Smith remained one up until the 16th, where a birdie saw him extend his lead to 2 Up, placing one hand on the trophy. Another impressive iron shot into three feet on 17 saw Smith mount the pressure on his opponent. Young46 was unable to match Smith’s brilliance and graciously congratulated the Champion elect on his victory.
“It was a lot of fun and I am happy to see Josh win,” said Young46. “I will probably take a few days off now and then get back to qualification for the next eTour tournament”.
With this win Jsmithers, moves five thousand points clear at the top of the Global Finals Rankings, all but securing his spot for the Global Finals in December.
Qualification is already underway for the third eTour event of the season, The Hero Open. Learn more about how to qualify by clicking here
