Cameron_Smith_(golfer)

Cameron Smith (golfer)

Cameron Smith (golfer)

Australian professional golfer (born 1993)


Cameron Smith (born 18 August 1993) is an Australian professional golfer who currently plays on the LIV Golf League. He won the 2022 Open Championship, and has won five other tournaments on the PGA Tour, including the 2022 Players Championship. He has also won the Australian PGA Championship three times.

Quick Facts Personal information, Born ...

Early life

Smith was born in Brisbane, Queensland,[2] and grew up in the northern suburb of Bray Park where he attended Pine Rivers State High School throughout his upbringing.[3] As a two-year-old, Smith began playing at Wantima Country Club,[4] a small golf course in the northern suburb of Brisbane[5] while his father Des worked as a printer[6] and was a club captain at the club.[4] Smith's mother, Sharon, worked at the local department store.[6] Smith has a sister, Mel.[7]

Professional career

Smith turned professional in 2013[8] and played on the PGA Tour of Australasia. He was tied for second at the 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship and at the 2016 Emirates Australian Open.[9]

2014

Smith played on the Asian Tour in 2014, finishing in the top-10 seven times and finishing 5th on the Order of Merit. His best finish was tied for second at the 2014 CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters. Smith's first PGA Tour event was the CIMB Classic in October 2014, which was a co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour; he tied for 5th.

2015

In April, Smith tied for 15th in the RBC Heritage, playing on a sponsor's exemption. After qualifying for the 2015 U.S. Open, his top-4 finish earned him an invitation to the 2016 Masters Tournament.[10] The finish also earned Smith Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2015 season.[11] Smith earned his 2015–16 PGA Tour card by earning enough as a non-member to have been in the top 125 on the money list: his best three events would have been sufficient.[12]

2016

In 2016 Smith finished 157th in the FedEx points list. His performance in the Web.com Tour Finals, where he was runner-up in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship, allowed him to return to the PGA Tour for 2017.[13]

2017

In May, Smith, partnered with Jonas Blixt, won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the first team event on the PGA Tour since 1981. The pair did not make a bogey during the tournament and defeated Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner in a playoff. It was Smith's first career PGA Tour win.[14] He had two top-10 finishes on the 2017 PGA Tour, tying for 6th place at the Valero Texas Open and for 7th at the Wyndham Championship and finished 46th in the FedEx Cup standings. He started the new PGA Tour season by tying for 5th place in the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and finishing 3rd in the CJ Cup in South Korea in late 2017. Smith continued his good form by finishing 4th in the Emirates Australian Open and then winning the Australian PGA Championship the following week, beating Jordan Zunic in a playoff.[15]

2018

In December, Smith defended his title at the Australian PGA Championship, winning by two strokes over Marc Leishman.[16]

2019

In December, Smith played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Smith went 1–1–1 including a win in his Sunday singles match against Justin Thomas.[17]

2020

In January, Smith won the Sony Open in Hawaii in a playoff over Brendan Steele; his first individual victory on the PGA Tour.[18]

In finishing tied for runner-up to Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Masters in November, Smith became the first golfer in Masters history to shoot four rounds in the 60s (67-68-69-69).[19]

2021

In April, Smith won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the second time. This time he was partnered with fellow countryman Marc Leishman. The duo won in a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.[20]

Smith qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and competed in the men's competition in July/August 2021. He scored −14 across the four rounds and finished tenth. In spite of shooting 66 in the third and fourth rounds, he was still out of medal contention.[21]

2022: Players and Open Championship victories

In January, Smith won the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort on Maui, Hawaii. Smith shot a PGA Tour record of 34 under par winning by one stroke over world number one Jon Rahm. 34 under par beat the previous mark of 31 under par set by Ernie Els at the same tournament in 2003.[22] In March, Smith won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, becoming the fifth Australian to win the tournament; having hit his second shot on the final hole into the water, Smith managed to get up and down to make a bogey and finish one stroke ahead of Anirban Lahiri.[23]

In July, Smith won his first major championship at the 150th Open Championship, played at the Old Course at St Andrews. He shot a final-round 64 to come from four strokes off the lead and finish one shot ahead of Cameron Young and two ahead of joint third round leader Rory McIlroy.[24] During the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August, he struggled with a hip injury, and did not play in the second event, the BMW Championship.[25] At the end of the PGA Tour season, he won the PGA Player of the Year award.[26] In November, Smith won the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship for the third time.[27]

Joining LIV Golf

Cameron Smith at his LIV Golf introductory press conference with Marc Leishman, August 2022

At the end of August, following the Tour Championship, it was announced that Smith had joined LIV Golf.[28] The move had been speculated since The Open, with him repeatedly declining to confirm or deny the rumours.[25][29][30]

Smith finished in a tie for 4th in his first LIV start in Boston, with Dustin Johnson winning the 3-man playoff.[31] He won in his second start, scoring rounds of 66, 68 and 69 to finish on 13-under par to win by three shots ahead of previous winner Dustin Johnson and Peter Uihlein. Smith won over $5 million from his first 4 starts on LIV Golf.[32]

Amateur wins

Professional wins (12)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Players Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (4)
More information No., Date ...

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

More information No., Year ...

European Tour wins (4)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (3)
More information No., Date ...

1Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

More information No., Year ...

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

More information No., Date ...

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–1)

More information No., Year ...

LIV Golf League wins (3)

More information No., Date ...

1Co-sanctioned by the MENA Tour

LIV Golf League playoff record (0–2)

More information No., Year ...

Major championships

Wins (1)

More information Year, Championship ...

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

More information Tournament ...
More information Tournament ...
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

More information Tournament, Wins ...
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (2018 Open – 2021 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

The Players Championship

Wins (1)

More information Year, Championship ...

Results timeline

More information Tournament ...
  Win

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

More information Tournament ...

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Recognition

See also


References

  1. "Week 29 2022 Ending 17 Jul 2022" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  2. Tremlett, Sam (16 March 2022). "15 Things You Didn't Know About Cameron Smith". Golf Monthly. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  3. "Smith makes his Aussie debut at the QLD Open". PGA of Australia. 21 August 2013. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  4. "Cameron Smith". hsbcgolf.com. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  5. "Australian golfer Cameron Smith fires early at Pebble Beach". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  6. Gray, Will (22 June 2015). "Smith (T-4): Temporary membership, Masters invite". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  7. "Cameron Smith – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  8. "Cameron Smith – Results". PGA Tour. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  9. Randleman, Mike (3 December 2017). "Cameron Smith wins Australian PGA Championship". Pro Golf Now. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. "Cameron Smith defends Australian PGA Championship title by two strokes". ESPN. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  11. "Australia fires: Cameron Smith dedicates Sony Open win to homeland". BBC Sport. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  12. Wacker, Brian (15 November 2020). "Masters 2020: Cameron Smith makes Augusta history and still doesn't get a green jacket". Golf Digest. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  13. "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  14. Beall, Joel; Priest, Evin (15 August 2022). "Cameron Smith WDs from BMW Championship, citing hip injury". Golf Digest. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  15. "British Open champion Cameron Smith wins 3rd Australian PGA". Associated Press. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  16. Lavner, Ryan (31 August 2022). "Cameron Smith outlines reasons why he left Tour for LIV Golf". Golf Channel. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  17. Heath, Elliott (17 July 2022). "Cameron Smith Fails To Deny LIV Golf Rumours". Golf Monthly. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  18. "Cameron Smith finishes fourth on LIV Golf debut but still pockets over $1m". The Guardian. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  19. Jerram, Rob (17 October 2022). "LIV Golf prize money: How much every player has earned so far". Today's Golfer. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  20. Powter, Anthony (16 April 2011). "Cameron Smith double Aussie titles". iseekgolf.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  21. "2012 Australian Men's Amateur Championship" (PDF). Golf Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  22. "Smith and Lee crowned Amateur champions". Golf Australia. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  23. "Cameron Smith comes full circle with Greg Norman Medal win". Australian Golf Media. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  24. "Jessica Stenson and Athletics among big winners at AIS Sport Performance Awards". Australian Sports Commission. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.

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