Austin Smotherman and Kevin Roy could have never imagined they’d be seeing this much of one another this week.
Considering the two pros don’t even live in the same city, the fact they shared a flight to the Bank of Utah Championship was already somewhat of a coincidence. Now, they’ll go off together in the final grouping in Saturday’s third round after setting the pace at Black Desert Resort.
Smotherman posted 63-62 across his opening two rounds to reach 17 under, leading Roy by a shot ahead of their reunion at the first tee on Moving Day.
“If I get paired with him, we’re good buddies ... it will be some good banter,” said Smotherman, who lives in Dallas and told reporters that he and Roy sat one row apart from one another on the flight in.
Roy, who is based out of the greater Tampa Bay area, flew out of Dallas because his caddie lives there.
He has yet to make a bogey through the first 36 holes, carding back-to-back 8-under 63s. Doug Ghim (-15) and Steven Fisk (-13) have also played the first two rounds mistake-free.
An eagle at the par-4 12th hole during Thursday’s first round propelled Roy up the leaderboard, where he sat a shot back of Zach Bauchou’s lead. There was no eagle on Friday but he did finish with birdies at four of his final five holes.
“My first year here it was somewhat visually intimidating off the tee, knowing that you don’t really have too much room other than fairway and lava rock,” said Roy, who finished 60th a year ago in his first time playing at the course. “So once I started playing it more and more I realized that there’s definitely more room than it looks out there. It’s pretty special out here, the views are pretty sick.”
Roy sits No. 57 on the FedExCup’s Fall points list, and said with a laugh that his main goal this week is to “keep a job.” The top 50 have already gained eligibility for full-field and signature events next year, while someone in Roy’s position (Nos. 51 through 60) will qualify for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational via the Aon Next 10.
“Just keep going out and just trying to play one shot at a time and see where we stack up at the end,” he told reporters. “Obviously, it would be really nice to kind of feel pretty darn comfortable with say four events to go, but looking forward to the 36 holes coming up and then obviously go over to Japan and then kind of re-evaluate the rest of the year.”
Smotherman is currently 51st in points. Still eying his first career Tour win, Smotherman finished inside the top 25 six times in 2026 including a runner-up at the Cognizant Classic in February.
His 62 on Friday tied a career low, previously set during the opening round of the Cognizant. During that round, Smotherman birdied six straight holes.
On Friday, he birdied the final three holes of the back nine — repeating his finish from a day prior, where he circled holes Nos. 7 through 9 before heading into the clubhouse.
“That was a good feeling to get that last one down,” Smotherman said of his 15-foot putt at the 18th hole.
“Having a week off last week was kind of nice; I started practicing some shots at elevation,” he added. “We played Asheville at some elevation to start and then last week stayed on that same mindset with Trackman and GCQuad and putting it down and getting ready for ball going a little bit farther, which it heats up so fast here you got to know your yardages pretty quick.”
Smotherman, who made his 100th career Tour start in Utah, finished T-17 at the Biltmore Championship two weeks ago thanks to a final-round 65 in which he birdied the final four holes.
Like Roy — his flying companion turned Saturday playing partner — Smotherman is enjoying the scenery this week and believes it’s even helping boost his concentration.
“I feel like you got to focus so much on where you’re stepping you lose track of all the golf shots you’re trying to hit or think too far ahead, you’re just really trying to be where your feet are, trying not to slip on some of these lava rock paths,” he said. “But that’s okay, we’ll survive.”
