Golf
Everything You Need to Know About Masters Contender Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith might not be the biggest star on the PGA Tour but he’s quietly become one of the best golfers in the world. The 27-year-old Australian isn’t the longest hitter in the world but his short game is superb, as those who’ve watched The Masters over the last few days have seen. Yes, it’s going to be difficult for Smith to catch Dustin Johnson on Sunday at Augusta National as the No. 1 player in the world is playing incredible golf. But stranger things have happened, right? Smith has shot three rounds in the 60s and began his Masters Sunday in a tie for second, four strokes back of DJ.
For those who aren’t overly familiar with Cameron Smith, here’s a quick profile.
Cameron Smith was introduced to the game of golf by his father
Cameron Smith isn’t the only talented golfer in his family. He was introduced to the game at a young age by his father, Des, who was a scratch player and a former club champion at Wantima Golf Club in Brisbane, where Cameron was born in August 1993.
As a teenager, Cameron Smith was one of Australia’s top amateur players. He won the Handa Junior Masters in 2009 and two years later won the Australian Boys’ Amateur, the Australian Amateur Stroke Play, and the Victorian Junior Masters. He repeated at the Amateur Stroke Play in 2012 and won the Australian Amateur in 2013 before turning pro later that same year.
He finished in the top five in both his PGA Tour debut and major championship debut
Cameron Smith began his pro career splitting time between the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour. He carded seven top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour in 2014 and finished fifth on the Order of Merit. Smith also made his PGA Tour debut that year at the CIMB Classic and finished tied for fifth.
He made his major championship debut at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay the following year and finished tied for fourth, which earned him temporary membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of 2015. Smith earned a second consecutive top-25 finish at a major at the 2015 PGA Championship, which helped him earn his PGA Tour card for the 2015-2016 season.
Smith finished 157th in the FedEx Cup standings in 2016 and earned a return to the PGA Tour in 2017 by finishing second at the Web.com Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour) Finals.
Cameron Smith has two wins on the PGA Tour
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In 2017, Cameron Smith earned his victory on the PGA Tour at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the tour’s only team event. He partnered with his good friend, Sweden’s Jonas Blixt, to defeat Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown in a playoff. The duo didn’t make a bogey the entire tournament. He carded two more top-10 finishes that season and finished 46th in the FedEx Cup standings.
He began the 2017-2018 season with two consecutive top-5 finishes on the PGA Tour and then returned home to finish fourth at the Emirates Australian Open. The following week, he won the Australian PGA Championship, a tournament he won again in 2018.
Cameron Smith made his Presidents Cup debut in 2019 and went 1-1-1 in three matches at Royal Melbourne, his victory coming in singles play against Justin Thomas. In his first tournament in 2020, Smith earned his second PGA Tour victory with a playoff win at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
As mentioned, Smith has shot three rounds in the 60s at Augusta National this week, firing rounds of 67-68-69 to begin his final round at 12-under. If he can shoot another round in the 60s on Sunday, he would be the only player in Masters history to shoot four rounds in the 60s in a single Masters. Abraham Ancer has the chance to accomplish the feat as well.
Cameron Smith entered the week at No. 45 in the Official World Golf Ranking.