VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2026

Jordan Smith

Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead)

Quick Quotes

Q. Incredible round today. How would you describe the battle that you had out there?

JORDAN SMITH: Tough, yeah. I think everyone that's coming in to this week knows that it's going to be a challenging week with the course setup, the small greens, the thick rough. But, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was tough.

Q. You entered the final round seven shots back from the lead. Did you ever expect that you were going to be able to catch up?

JORDAN SMITH: Well, I was just going out there and just you never know what can happen. So we got off to a nice quick start, and then before you know it, we were in the hunt there. So it's just nice to know that we can get there. But, yeah those last few holes are playing quite tough hitting the fairway, so you just never know what might happen coming in.

Q. Are you a leaderboard watcher? At what point did you realize that you were in the mix?

JORDAN SMITH: Yeah, I'm always watching leaderboards. Yeah, I don't know how players don't, to be fair. Yeah, we knew that we were tied for the lead, and we just knew we just stick to our game plan and keep firing at the pins and see what happens.

Q. You won on the DP World Tour twice, were there any nerves out there or did you feel pretty comfortable?

JORDAN SMITH: I'm not going to lie, there were some nerves, yeah. I think anyone would be lying if they said there wasn't any nerves. So, yeah, I didn't really want to leave myself that 3-footer on the last there. But yeah, throughout the day, I was fairly chilled. I think it was just 17 and 18 got the juices flowing a little bit. So, yeah, it was good fun.

Q. Regardless of how this plays out, this is your best finish on TOUR. What do you take away from this week?

JORDAN SMITH: Just really proud of myself. We struggled early on Friday and really had to dig deep, at one point I think we were on the cut line. So yeah, just really proud of myself of how we handled that situation and how we played this week and stuck it out. Yeah, we got to sort of tied for the lead so it's nice to know that.

Q. Did you have to work on your mental game or everything to get into this position?

JORDAN SMITH: Yeah, I mean, I've been working on it quite a lot for the last couple of years. We knew, or I knew what to do in these situations, which was really nice and comforting. It's just nice that in those situations I know what to do so yeah.

Q. What is next for you?

JORDAN SMITH: Well I'll be playing the next two in Texas, and then at the moment we're going back to the U.K. for a bit of time off. But, yeah, you never know what might happen.

Q. At what point in the round did you realize that, hey, I've closed the gap and I'm within a shot or two?

JORDAN SMITH: I think on the par-5 14. I made birdie there and had a glance at the leaderboard and saw that we were there. So, yeah, like I said, I always watch the leaderboards, I like to know where I am. So, yeah.

Q. Did that kind of change your mindset or your approach to the closing holes?

JORDAN SMITH: No, no. Not really, no. We knew what we had to do coming in. We knew we had to just play good golf. We hadn't been in that situation before, so we just had to enjoy it and sort of do the job that we had in hand.

Q. It was really, really bunched through really the end of your round. Does that make it any different in terms of just knowing that one shot could change the entire dynamic?

JORDAN SMITH: Definitely. I think it works both ways. Drop a shot, you know it's quite bunched, you're not that far off so you can catch 'em up. So I guess that's nice to know that if you do drop a shot you're still within one or two shots of the leader. So, yeah, I think with the way the course is set up you know that it's going to be a struggle out there for a lot of people.

Q. On a golf course like this when you're chasing how do you handle the urgency of being behind the leaders and wanting to chase with also course management?

JORDAN SMITH: Yeah, I think you just got to see where you are on the hole. So, for instance, 16, we're in the right rough, we couldn't go at the pin. We just had to hit it 50 feet away and take a 2-putt.

Then 17, we just thought we would go for it, and managed to hit a shot there close.

I think it just depends where you are on the course, and if you're in the fairway or the rough you can attack the pins or have to play safe. So I think it just depends how it's going.

Q. Are you going to head to the range or?

JORDAN SMITH: I think, yeah, I think we're just going to chill here for a little bit, and then keep an eye on the leaderboard and see if we need to go over to the range to clip a few, yeah.