Players claim to miss childbirth if necessary: ​​’Plan is to stay’

March 2026 is shaping up to be a memorable one for the PGA Tour pro Austin Smotherman. His wife is expecting their third child in a few days. Not only that, but Smotherman holds a share of the lead in the 2026 Players Championship.

Thursday night after play at TPC Sawgrass, Smotherman revealed that if the kid comes early this weekend, “the plan is to stay” and fight for a Players win. Even if it means missing the birth of his baby.

Here’s what you need to know.

Austin Smotherman explains the ‘wild’ plan if the baby is born during the players

While Smotherman faces a tricky situation this week, she’s mostly positive. If all goes well, he will soon become a father for the third time. And after shooting an opening-round 67 at TPC Sawgrass, he’s leading the PGA Tour’s biggest tournament, with a $4.5 million prize money.

The latter fact would have been unthinkable for the veteran pro a year ago. That’s because Smotherman didn’t play on the PGA Tour last year.

A former Tour card holder, the 31-year-old had fell back on the Korn Ferry Tour in recent seasons. But last year, he won two Korn Ferry races to finish third in the season points race.

With that, he regained his PGA Tour card for 2026and he is making it count. He finished T8 at the American Express, then T2 at the Cognizant Classic.

now he is determined to compete in the Players Championship. A win this week would be life-changing, both for the big payday the Smothermans will receive for their growing family and the security and career opportunity it would provide.

After play was suspended Thursday night, Smotherman spoke to reporters and shared how he and his wife had decided to deal with the impending birth of their child and his burgeoning career.

“Her due date is March 23rd, Houston Monday. I left a few weeks ago to play the Florida Swing and my job was just to go play golf until I got back to Houston and could drive to Dallas if the baby came then,” Smotherman began.

As for this week, Smotherman said his wife has approved of the plan to “keep rolling” no matter what. Even if the baby comes early.

“My wife is giving me the opportunity to play this week, just keep rolling no matter if I’m shooting five-under or five-over, I guess.”

This plan may extend into next week.

“The plan is to still play Valspar next week. We’ll re-evaluate, depending on what happens here,” Smotherman said. “There’s still only 17 and a half holes, so just keep playing golf, go make a baby whenever the baby comes. She’s not pushing or anything, so we’re just letting it roll. Our first two were a week and two weeks late, so at least one on time would be pretty early, pretty late.”

If the child comes during players’ weekSmotherman isn’t sure if his wife will tell him. That’s because, as he put it, “she doesn’t know” what she’s going to do.

“I don’t know what she’s going to do. She doesn’t know if she’s going to try to contact me, contact my caddy and then figure out if he’s relaying the information or if I’m just playing. We just don’t know. I’m just playing golf.

He concluded, “Yeah, yeah. The plan is to stay. Wild.”