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Monday, March 18
The Indiana Daily Student

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Jackie Gallagher-Smith returns to competitive golf in home state

Jackie Gallagher-Smith

FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Jackie Gallagher-Smith is still learning.

Many teachers say they learn as much from their students as the students learn from the teachers. But, after more than 40 years of receiving golfing advice from caddies and coaches, it’s a group of preschool children in Florida providing Gallagher-Smith with a new perspective on life.

The 50-year-old native of Marion, Indiana, and former professional golfer on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour now resides in Jupiter, Florida. 

She’s traded in her clubs for markers and her scorecard for a whiteboard, but she was able to return to her home state from Oct. 15 - 17 to play in the 2018 Senior LPGA Championship at The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.

She said she didn’t expect to be a preschool teacher. After instructing a golf lesson at the school seven years ago, Gallagher-Smith got an offer to be a teaching assistant before taking on her current role as a teacher.


Jackie Gallagher-Smith
Senior professional golfer Jackie Gallagher-Smith chips onto the green on hole 15 in the Senior LPGA Championship on Oct. 15.  Dylan Wallace


“It’s pretty cool to be able to work with little ones and just to see how they change and grow,” Gallagher-Smith said. “It’s a pretty important role, really, and the impact you can make on their lives and give them that love and help them be confident little human beings.”

Gallagher-Smith finished the three day, three-round tournament in a tie for 19th place with a score of 10-over par, 18 shots back of tournament-winner Laura Davies.

It’s one of the few tournaments Gallagher-Smith has played during her second act as a professional golfer on the Legends Tour, a professional golf tour for women aged 45 years and older.

Her first act lasted nearly 20 years, with a full-time playing career that started in June 1990 after she became a professional. A lone win in 1999 at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic in Ohio remains her only LPGA victory. But winning is no longer front and center in her mind when she approaches the tee box.

Memories of her husband, children, friends and those pint-sized preschoolers are some of the things she thinks about when reflecting on her career.

“We were like a big family on the tour,” Gallagher-Smith said. “I think that’s why it’s so special for the Legends Tour. To get back together with a lot of the people we spent so much time with on the tour.”

Gallagher-Smith’s golfing journey started at Meshingomesia Golf Course in Marion, where her father, Jim Gallagher, was the golf pro. It’s a course Gallagher-Smith said she’s played thousands of times.

She started playing golf at the age of five and was also on the golf team at Marion High School, but she said her father never pushed her to play the sport.


Jackie Gallagher-Smith
Senior professional golfer Jackie Gallagher-Smith putts on hole 16 at the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Indiana, for the Senior LPGA Championship from Oct. 15-17.  Dylan Wallace


“The golf course was just outside my backyard,” Gallagher-Smith said. “I just kind of took to it and just enjoyed the game.”

Gallagher-Smith’s older brothers, Jim Gallagher Jr. and Jeff Gallagher, also gave her inspiration to play golf professionally, she said.

Jim Gallagher Jr., seven years older than Gallagher-Smith, won five times on the PGA Tour, meaning their brother-sister pairing is one of two to win on both the PGA and LPGA tours.

Jeff Gallagher also had a professional career after attending Ball State University, winning twice on the Nationwide Tour, now-known as the Web.com Tour.

Gallagher-Smith said she followed in their footsteps when she went to Louisiana State University to play college golf.

“I knew I wanted to get out of the cold,” Gallagher-Smith said. “If I would have stayed in Indiana I would have gone to IU.”

Her time as a professional golfer came with a hectic schedule — she had to change her honeymoon destination from Ireland to Maui to be able to play in the 1992 U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont Country Club. Gallagher-Smith credits her husband, Eddie Smith, a former PGA Tour employee, with supporting her during her career.

She has two sons, 13-year-old O’Connor and 11-year-old Sullivan, who have both gravitated to the sport of baseball more than golf.


Jackie Gallagher-Smith
Senior professional golfer Jackie Gallagher-Smith talks with her caddy about her upcoming putt on hole 15 at the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Indiana.  Dylan Wallace


Each summer, Gallagher-Smith and her immediate family return to Marion for a couple weeks. She said Sullivan enjoys golf more, but he still hasn’t stuck with the game.

“Every time there’s drama on the baseball team I’m like ‘you sure you don’t wanna play golf?’” Gallagher-Smith said. “I haven’t persuaded him yet.”

But to even have the chance to play this week, Gallagher-Smith turned to her family for assistance.

Eddie Smith was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia in November 2017. He went through chemotherapy in January and spent more than three months in a hospital in Miami.

“It was like I just needed a reprieve,” Gallagher-Smith said. “He was gracious enough to take care of the boys and let me come.”

Gallagher-Smith said her last competitive round of golf was two or three years ago, and that she didn’t have a specific goal for this tournament other than to have fun and enjoy seeing her friends.

On the par-four 15th hole during her first round Monday, Gallagher-Smith hooked her second shot from the fairway into the rough on the left side of the green. She managed to chip out of the thick rough, sink a putt for par and then clenched her right fist and fist pumped.

It was like she never left competitive golf.

“I was kinda in rhythm and it was cool to be able to fist pump again,” Gallagher-Smith said. “It’s kinda fun when you get to have those kind of feeling and emotions.”

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