Cameron Smith

Australian Cam Smith survived a scare – and a potential $2 million mistake – on the last hole to claim victory in the Players Championship in Florida.

It hasn’t sunk in, I am not sure what I am going to do with it,” he said. “I thought it was going to come out tumbling and just roll out onto the fairway. “The heart was in the throat there for a second,” he said. With two big wins already this year, Smith’s form has him well primed to claim his first legitimate major title at the Masters next month. I was trying to hit it 30 yards less than that,” Smith said. By virtue of 10 birdies and an amazing 13 one-putts in the final round, Smith’s 66 saw him finish with 13-under and win by a stroke.

It was described in commentary as a “wild and emotional” ride but Australian Cameron Smith showed “nerves of steel” to hold strong and take out the Players ...

He is one of the top putters from ten feet and in, especially on the PGA Tour and he has shown that.” I played really well today. Really well all week. “It kept me in it. It’s going to take a while to sink in. It was just the latest recovery for Smith, who could have been in trouble earlier on the 14th when he drove into the right rough but recovered for a 13-foot putt to save par, with Paul McGinley calling it a “huge putt” from the Aussie. Smith appeared to have suffered a major setback in his bid to finish on top when he hit a duck hook on the 16th but the Australian recovered well to find the middle of the green on his third shot. “But to do it in this situation and set a mark for the players and himself over the first third of this final round in remarkable fashion. It was a rollercoaster from start to finish for Smith, who made 10 birdies and just four pars — tieing the fewest in the final round of a PGA Tour win in the last 40 years. It was described in commentary as a “wild and emotional” ride but Australian Cameron Smith showed “nerves of steel” to hold strong and take out the Players Championship – the biggest event on the PGA Tour. Smith found himself in the pine straw with his tee shot down the 18th and went for a conservative shot out of the trees but put too much power on it and sent the ball into the water. Already holding a two-shot lead, Smith took on the pin at the par-3 17th and hit one of the shots of the day as he sent his tee shot to around six feet.

He quickly jumped to No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking after setting the PGA Tour scoring record at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on his way to ...

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Cameron Smith made his record-tying 10th birdie of the round on the 17th hole, helping power his 1-shot victory at the Players Championship on Monday.

It was the only shot he dropped all day, and his best finish on the PGA Tour came with a $2.18 million consolation prize. Instead of a mid-iron into the par-5, he had to punch it out short. After a penalty drop, his 60-yard wedge spun next to the hole to 3 feet for a bogey. Keegan Bradley was among four players who had a chance over the last hour. He shot 68 and finished fifth. The wind didn't really do much for maybe three-quarters of the shot, and it held it up right there at the end. The bone-chilling temperatures Sunday made it tough on everyone. The ball ended up 4 feet away, and the Australian golfer made his record-tying 10th birdie of the round. They arrived a week before the Players Championship to see Smith in his adopted hometown of Ponte Vedra Beach. Only after the 28-year-old Australian capped a long week with the biggest win of his career did he lose control of his emotions. It's nice to see them and nice to get a win for them.'' When he punched out from under the trees and into the water on the closing hole, he never panicked.

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“It’s nice to see them and nice to get a win for them.” A stunning blunder on the treacherous final hole, which saw Smith put his second shot in the water, almost derailed the 28-year-old before he held his nerve to get up and down for bogey to seal a win at golf’s unofficial fifth major. Cameron Smith just about held it together on a rollercoaster ride to win the Players Championship and a cool $5 million winner’s purse.

On an (extra) long week at the Player Championship, we'll remember Cam Smith's putting, Anirban Lahiri's gumption, a rules dust-up and much more.

“The past couple years when you show up, you can feel the weight of what the Players means to everyone, and I think that's the coolest thing. He continues to look out of sorts with the putter and still has not won a tournament, at least not officially, since the 2021 U.S. Open. Hovland and Morikawa are breathing down his neck. But then other weeks if I haven't hit many chip shots the whole week and then, suddenly, I have one that's a little awkward, I think I have a tendency of maybe guiding it a little too much.” He called it the “coldest I’ve ever been on a golf course,” and that’s coming from a Pacific Northwesterner. Francesco Molinari, who has followed this game all around the globe, called it “freezing.” Viktor Hovland’s got Viking in his bloodline, and he wore mittens all day. He looked up at his caddie, Joe Greiner, and gave the same look you give to your buds when you’re about to tee off in a 40-mph wind. He’s not one to get fast and loose with the rules, and there’s little chance he was trying to pull a fast one. He would’ve been a fitting champ on an unpredictable week, for even the sharpest touts can’t claim to have backed the Indian this week. In competition, the group is tasked with coming to a consensus on judgment calls. Berger thought his ball crossed over the hazard line up by the green, which would mean he gets to drop his ball up by the green. And it wasn’t just that he made the putts, it’s how he made them. The stats say he picked up 11.5 shots on the greens for the week, most in the field, and more than four in the final round alone. And with all due respect to the mallets out there, there’s something about a blade that makes the whole thing look a little better.