Unflappable Cameron Smith survives at THE PLAYERS Championship

Cameron Smith’s red-hot putter and short game make the difference in a thrilling finish at the Players Championship

The rain was unpredictable. The wind was unpredictable. Cameron Smith making everything in sight? That, at least, was very much predictable.

He poured in birdies and saved pars. He made them from 40 feet and from within 10 feet. There was barely a putt that Smith looked at on Monday at TPC Sawgrass that he couldn’t make and is the reason why this 28-year-old Australian with the bleach blonde mustache and flowing mullet is the new Players Championship winner.

Smith made 10 birdies, tying a course record, on his way to finishing the tournament at 13-under, one shot ahead of Anirban Lahiri. The victory is Smith’s fifth in his PGA Tour career and second in the last two months. With the weather forcing a seemingly endless barrage of delays, Smith’s unflappable putting and short game was the only steady component of a thrilling week in Ponte Vedra Beach.

It began on the first hole when Smith holed a 38-foot birdie putt. He birdied the first four holes—only the second player in tournament history to do so—and five of his first six. Making the turn, Smith slung in an approach shot at the 10th to within one foot for another birdie to pull out of a four-way tie for the lead.

At the 12th, a driveable par-four, Smith was in the rough to the right with the green running directly away from him. He deftly played a pitch shot to three feet for another birdie. The trophy and $3.6 million first prize were firmly in his reach. But then his nerves began to be tested.

Smith saved par from 14 feet on the 14th hole, then got up and down from the greenside bunker on the 15th. On the par-five 16th, he snap-hooked a drive into the pine straw and was able to two-putt from nearly 50 feet to save par.

Stepping to the tee on the infamous Island Green 17th with a two-shot lead, Smith pulled a nine-iron from his bag, took aim at the flag, and stuck it to four feet to thunderous applause; only one player hit it closer on the hole during the round. He led by three with one hole left, but even then Smith had to conjure up some more of that calm composure.

Smith drove into the water on the 18th twice this week, so, predictably, he kept his tee shot to the right. Too much to the right. In the pine straw, he tried to chip out but hit it too hard, the ball barreling across the fairway into the hazard. Lying four and still 60 yards from the green, Smith spun back his chip shot to three feet and saved a bogey.

Then he waited. Behind him, Lahiri had birdied the 17th to get within one and was in the middle of the fairway on the 18th. His approach shot came up short to the right, and when his chip just rolled a little to the left of the pin, Smith had, at last, secured the win.

Cameron Smith had two special fans waiting for him behind the 18th green

Credit goes, as it often does with Smith, to that magical putter of his. He one-putted 42 times this week, the fewest ever by a Players champion. “That was probably the big key today, to be honest. It kept me in it,” he told NBC after the round. “I made plenty of birdies. Had to make a lot of good par putts as well there at the end. And yeah, it’s definitely the strength of my game. And somethings I maybe lean on it too much, but it’s nice to see them go in.”

But Smith’s unshakable calmness also played a part in the biggest win of his career. In January, Smith had taken advantage of ideal scoring conditions in Hawaii to shoot a PGA Tour-record 34-under at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. This tournament, though, was different. Players complained that the conditions were perhaps unfair and cracked under the pressure. Smith didn’t, and the Gold Man trophy is now his.

Smith celebrated his win with his mother and sister, who flew in from Australia for the moment. He hadn’t seen them in two years. Tears flowed, hugs were exchanged, and Smith got to put his putter back in the bag after a job well done.

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