Cameron Smith (golfer)

Early life

Smith was born in Logan City, Queensland, and grew up in the northern suburb of Bray Park where he attended Pine Rivers State High School throughout his upbringing. As a two-year-old, Smith began playing at Wantima Country Club, a small golf course in the northern suburb of Brisbane while his father Des worked as a printer and was a club captain at the club. Smith's mother, Sharon, worked at the local department store. Smith has a sister, Mel. In 2010, Smith represented Australia in the boys' division of the Trans Tasman Cup alongside Ryan Peake.

Professional career

Australasian Tours

In 2013, Smith turned professional. He played on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Smith finished tied for second at the 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship and at the 2016 Emirates Australian Open.

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.

PGA Tour

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. The finish also earned Smith Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2015 season. 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.

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.

In May 2017, 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. 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.

In December 2019, 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.

In January 2020, Smith won the Sony Open in Hawaii in a playoff over Brendan Steele; his first individual victory on the PGA Tour. 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).

In April 2021, 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. During the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August, he struggled with a hip injury, and did not play in the second event, the BMW Championship. At the end of the PGA Tour season, he won the PGA Player of the Year award. In November, Smith won the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship for the third time.

LIV Golf Series

At the end of August 2022, following the Tour Championship, it was announced that Smith had joined LIV Golf. The move had been speculated since The Open, with him repeatedly declining to confirm or deny the rumours.

Smith finished in a tie for 4th in his first LIV start in Boston, with Dustin Johnson winning the 3-man playoff. 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.

Amateur wins

• 2011 Australian Boys' Amateur, Australian Amateur Stroke Play, Victorian Junior Masters
• 2012 Australian Amateur medallist
• 2013 Australian Amateur

Professional wins (12)

PGA Tour wins (6)

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

European Tour wins (4)

1Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–1)

LIV Golf League wins (3)

1Co-sanctioned by the MENA Tour

LIV Golf League playoff record (0–2)

Playoff record

Asian Tour playoff record (0–1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (2018 Open – 2021 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

The Players Championship

Wins (1)

Results timeline

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

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play

NT = No tournament

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur

• Nomura Cup (representing Australia): 2011 (winners)
• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Australia): 2012
• Bonallack Trophy (representing Asia/Pacific): 2012
• Sloan Morpeth Trophy (representing Australia): 2012
• Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches (representing Queensland): 2010 (winners), 2011 (winners), 2012, 2013 (winners)

Professional

• World Cup (representing Australia): 2018
• Presidents Cup (representing the International team): 2019

Recognition

• 2020 – Greg Norman Medal
• 2022 - Australian Institute of Sport Male Athlete of The Year

References

References

1. Tremlett, Sam. (16 March 2022). "15 Things You Didn't Know About Cameron Smith".
2. Tucker, Jim. (6 April 2016). "Bray Park golfer Cameron Smith will put two-day 'recce' to test at world famous Augusta National". [[The Courier-Mail]].
3. Cleary, Matt. (18 July 2022). "Cameron Smith is Australia's newest major champion and golf's everyman". [[The Guardian]].
4. Bilton, Dean. (17 July 2022). "Cameron Smith's road to Open triumph a story of one fearless Queenslander whose humble beginnings made a champion". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
5. Brown, Oliver. (15 July 2022). "Meet the man behind the mullet – Open leader Cameron Smith shows he can do it his own way". [[The Daily Telegraph.
6. (18 July 2022). "The PVC pipe that started Cameron Smith on the path to superstardom". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
7. Ryan, Peter. (2025-03-03). "A bikie sent a letter from jail to a golf coach. Now he’s headed to the British Open". The Sydney Morning Herald.
8. (21 August 2013). "Smith makes his Aussie debut at the QLD Open". PGA of Australia.
9. (2024-02-08). "Cameron Smith".
10. (12 February 2016). "Australian golfer Cameron Smith fires early at Pebble Beach". The Sydney Morning Herald.
11. Gray, Will. (22 June 2015). "Smith (T-4): Temporary membership, Masters invite". Golf Channel.
12. "Cameron Smith – Profile". PGA Tour.
13. "Cameron Smith – Results". PGA Tour.
14. (1 May 2017). "Cameron Smith-Jonas Blixt team wins Zurich Classic in a playoff". ESPN.
15. Randleman, Mike. (3 December 2017). "Cameron Smith wins Australian PGA Championship".
16. (2 December 2018). "Cameron Smith defends Australian PGA Championship title by two strokes".
17. Dusek, David. (15 December 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks".
18. (13 January 2020). "Australia fires: Cameron Smith dedicates Sony Open win to homeland".
19. Wacker, Brian. (November 15, 2020). "Masters 2020: Cameron Smith makes Augusta history and still doesn't get a green jacket".
20. (25 April 2021). "Australian duo Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman win Zurich Classic in playoff". ESPN.
21. "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021".
22. (9 January 2022). "Cameron Smith (34 under) sets PGA Tour record, outlasts Jon Rahm at Sentry Tournament of Champions". ESPN.
23. Jackson, Andrew. (15 March 2022). "Aussie Cam Smith seals 'wild' $5m Players Championship win after 'rollercoaster ride'". Fox Sports.
24. Livie, Alex. (17 July 2022). "Open Championship 2022: Cameron Smith reels in Rory McIlroy to win Claret Jug and eclipse Tiger Woods record".
25. (15 August 2022). "Cameron Smith WDs from BMW Championship, citing hip injury".
26. (29 August 2022). "Cameron Smith Captures PGA of America Player of the Year Award & Rory McIlroy Wins Vardon Trophy". PGA of America.
27. (27 November 2022). "British Open champion Cameron Smith wins 3rd Australian PGA". Associated Press.
28. (31 August 2022). "Cameron Smith outlines reasons why he left Tour for LIV Golf".
29. (17 July 2022). "Cameron Smith Fails To Deny LIV Golf Rumours".
30. (30 August 2022). "LIV Golf: Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann join Saudi Arabian-funded series". BBC Sport.
31. (5 September 2022). "Cameron Smith finishes fourth on LIV Golf debut but still pockets over $1m". The Guardian.
32. Jerram, Rob. (17 October 2022). "LIV Golf prize money: How much every player has earned so far".
33. Powter, Anthony. (16 April 2011). "Cameron Smith double Aussie titles". iseekgolf.com.
34. "2012 Australian Men's Amateur Championship". Golf Australia.
35. (22 January 2013). "Smith and Lee crowned Amateur champions". Golf Australia.
36. (25 March 2021). "Cameron Smith comes full circle with Greg Norman Medal win". Australian Golf Media.
37. (15 December 2022). "Jessica Stenson and Athletics among big winners at AIS Sport Performance Awards". Australian Sports Commission.