Yet the difference between golf’s relentless winning machine in Woods,who had no time for charity for rivals who often idolised him,and the knockabout Smith couldn’t be more stark.

There’s a picture of Smith kicking back on a poolside lounge with a can of XXXX in his hand which was used with aGolf Digest cover story on the Australian earlier this year. He’s even more comfortable fishing off the back of the jetty of his Florida home,or driving the fast cars or ride-on lawnmowers he uses to take his mind away from golf.

To people around him,it was almost inevitable he was going to be a professional and be pretty good at it if that makes sense.

Des Smith

When his mother Sharon and sister Mel visited him earlier this year for the first time in years,he won The Players Championship,at the time the richest purse in world golf. The last fortnight he saw his coach Grant Field in person for the first time since the pandemic,and then won at the spiritual home of golf.

“He’s always been able to really separate his golf from the rest of his life,” Smith’s former state and national junior coach Tony Meyer said. “Golf is just golf. He would just play,and whether he had a good or a bad round,when it was done it was done. He was very good at that.

“Every time you see him,he’s a little bit better than the last time. That’s been the case for the last 10 years. I see him three or four times a year,and every time you see him he’s better than the last time he was there. But in reality he’s a kid at heart.”

Smith’s first major win took a serious turn when he was probed in his post-tournament press conference about speculation he is about to join Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV Golf series. Smith played a straight bat to the line of questioning.

He was born just a month after the second of Norman’s two The Open triumphs in 1993,and Norman lavished praise on his fellow Queenslander through social media shortly after the momentous win,in the same week the Maroons upset NSW in the State of Origin series decider.

Rugby league-loving Smith couldn’t watch the match because it was the final day of practice before The Open. He was told the result,and then still went back to his accommodation and watched a replay anyway.

So,what’s more important to a staunch Queenslander:winning an Origin series or your son winning golf’s oldest prize?

“Origin was a very close second,” laughed Des.

Sports news,results and expert commentary.Sign up for our Sport newsletter.