Cameron Smith held off the challenge of Britain’s Paul Casey and India’s Anirban Lahiri with a thrilling, see-saw final round at Sawgrass to win The Players Championship by a stroke.
The Australian 28-year-old lives close to the iconic Florida course and he used all of his local knowledge to put together 10 birdies, including four in the first four holes, as he raced into the lead.
But Smith’s round also included five bogeys, including on the 18th when he found the water with his second shot, opening a sliver of opportunity for the chasers. Casey could only finish with back-to-back pars leaving Lahiri as the sole challenger, and the leader after 56 holes couldn’t find the birdie he needed on the last to force a play-off.
Smith had responded to his miss into the water with a brilliant chip close to the final pin, which left him a simple putt for his closing bogey, and it ultimately proved enough to scoop the $3.6m (£2.8m) first prize and the biggest win of his career to date.
An emotional Smith was watched by his mother and sister, who he had not seen for more than two years because of Covid-19 restrictions, and he said: “It’s really cool to have them here. “My main priority really was just to hang out with them and golf was second for these few weeks. It’s nice to see them and nice to get a win for them.”
Casey was frustrated after his perfect drive on the 15th found a divot in the fairway, leaving him with an almost impossible second shot and effectively killing his chances of snatching a much-needed birdie or eagle to get back into the contest. “You need a little luck,” said the 44-year-old, who eventually finished third. “But I didn’t lose it today, Cam Smith won it.”
The competition was disrupted by adverse weather which pushed the third and fourth rounds through to Monday. Lahiri was the surprise leader coming into the final round on -9, with Casey at -8 and Smith among a cluster on -7. But the Indian’s near-perfect iron play deserted him when he needed it most, and he battled to a final round three-under-par 69, matching Casey.
Only Dustin Johnson bettered Smith’s final round of six-under-par, shooting a course-record-equalling 63, but Johnson was well back at the start of the day and finished tied ninth on -7. Americans Keegan Bradley and Kevin Kisner shot four-under-par finishes to be fourth and fifth on the leaderboard respectively, with Scotland’s Russell Knox ending tied sixth.
