The defending champion The Players is going to go fishing

The Players Championship 2023 will take place from March 9 to 12 at the Stadium course at the TPC Sawgrass golf complex in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It's near Jacksonville, where Smith has lived since 2016 and where he used to practice golf while on the PGA Tour.

Last year, Smith won first place at The Players, then picked up another major The Open in July, before leaving for the LIV Golf League invested by Saudi Arabia. That decision made him famous for deserting and being banned by the PGA Tour again. As a result, Smith lost his ticket to this year's game and also his former champion-only parking and membership in TPC Sawgrass.

This week, Smith plans to go fishing around his home in Jacksonville.

"I think the rivers and lakes will be quite empty because everyone is busy watching the tournament. Thanks to that, I can fish freely," Smith shared how to entertain The Players this week on Golf Digest. It is his hobby in his free time golf. The golfer who retains his Australian citizenship is deciding between being a field spectator and watching the tournament at home on TV.

Including Smith, The Players, since its opening in 1974, have recorded four players winning one season and then the next. All three previous cases were absent due to trauma – Tiger Woods (2014, back pain), Jerry Pate (1983, shoulder pain) and Steve Elkington (1998, sinusitis). And Smith could not return due to conflicts with the old governing organization. Sharing the same fate as Smith, Anibarn Lahiri and Paul Casey finished third at The Players 2022.

However, in the home club The Players still hangs a caricature of former champion Smith as usual, with a summary of his achievements and the pitching wedge he used on his way to the podium.

The Players is implied to be the fifth major because of the list of many PGA Tour stars and the European first-place system DP World Tour, equivalent to the prestigious major quartet, including the Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and The Open.

Smith is 29 years old, has been playing professionally since 2013 and two years later entered the PGA Tour. In seven years in this arena, Smith won a total of six cups, including The Players and major The Open as well as setting a final point record in PGA Tour history, at -34 when holding his fourth title - Sentry Tournament of Champions 2022.

After six months of quitting the PGA Tour to return to the LIV Golf League, Smith, despite one more cup, fell three places, down to fifth in the world because the new arena had not been recognized on the world professional golf table (OWGR).