The Players Championship took five days to complete with winds approaching 50 mph, temperatures in the 30’s, and weather delays from heavy rain. Cameron Smith endured the conditions and took control of the tournament on the final day with phenomenal putting and clutch shot-making to win the largest purse in PGA history, $3.6 million from a $20 million total, at TPC Sawgrass at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Monday, March 14.
The victory is his second of the season, having won the first tournament of the year at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, at Kapalua in Maui, with the lowest score in PGA history of 34 under.
The victory propelled Smith to No. 6 in world rankings, and second in FedEx points, 600 from this tournament, behind Scottie Scheffler. Smith’s only other career tour victory also was in Hawaii at the 2020 Sony Open.
The Australian native, who sports a distinctive mullet, currently resides five miles away from the iconic Pete Dye course, and shot 6 under in the final round, with 10 birdies and four bogeys. Smith shot 13 under for the tournament with the first three-round scores of 69–71–69.
Smith relished the local support, stating winning this tournament “is huge, it’s gonna take a while to sink in. I think it’s cool being here in Jacksonville where I live now.”
Smith flew in his mother Sharon, and sister Mel, with the first opportunity to visit as he had not seen his family for over two years since 2020, with the COVID-19 protocols in Australia.
“They came over last week, and golf really took a back step,” said an emotional Smith. “I hadn’t seen them for so long, and all I wanted to do was hang out with them. It’s so cool to get a win for them.”
Smith took the lead after birdies on the first four holes with phenomenal putting. He made 101 putts in total for the tournament; and had 12 one-putts in the final round, eight out of the last nine to close out the final round.
With the lead, Smith aggressively birdied the famed 17th par-3 island hole playing 135 yards; by placing his tee-shot in a tight space three feet right of the flag near the water.
“I'd be lying if I didn’t push it a little bit,” said Smith. “I was trying to hit it over the over the bunker and hold it up against the wind, and the wind didn’t really do much for maybe three quarters of the shot, and it held it up right in there. That was just awesome.”
The easy-going Aussie likes to fish and loves coffee, and plans to open a coffee shop upon retirement.
The difficult final 18th hole was made interesting as Smith pushed his drive right, avoiding the water that lines the left side of the hole. He faltered on the recovery shot back into the fairway as it landed in the water.
Following the penalty drop, Smith would be able to “get up and down” from 57 yards, for a bogey, to hold off the overnight leader Anirban Lahiri with a one-shot victory.
In the past three seasons on tour, Smith has steadily improved from strokes gained off-the-tee from 160, to 119 last year, to 95th.
Strokes gained from approach shots improved from 105th, to 53rd, to 20th this year.
Smith led the putting stats for the tournament, but improved from 46th two years ago, to 10th last year, and is 12th for this season, further confirming the old golf saying, “putt for dough.”
Lahiri, of India, received $2.18 million for finishing second at 12 under, shooting rounds of 67–73–67–69. He nearly chipped in attempting to birdie the 18th hole for a tie for first.
English tour veteran Paul Casey placed third at 11 under with rounds of 70–69–69–69 and received $1.38 million, nearly the amount for a regular tour victory.
Tour veterans Kevin Kisner finished fourth at 10 under, and Keegan Bradley took fifth at 9 under.
Tied for sixth were Harold Varner III, Russell Know, and Doug Ghim at 8 under, taking a purse of $675,000.
The PGA tour moves to the Valspar Championship this week at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.
