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Tour notebook: Cameron Smith continues to perform at a high level since winning The Players

garry smits, florida times-union
·8 min read
Cameron Smith admires the "Gold Man" Trophy he earned in March for winning The Players Championship.
Cameron Smith admires the "Gold Man" Trophy he earned in March for winning The Players Championship.

Cameron Smith hasn't rested on his Players Championship laurels.

The Australian native and First Coast transplant tied for 13th last week at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills and is the only player this season to have finished among the top-13 in The Players and the first two major championships, The Masters and the PGA.

Smith, who scrambled for a bogey at the final hole to beat Anirbarn Lahiri by one shot at the Players Stadium Course, tied for third at The Masters. In the three biggest tournaments of the season so far, he's a cumulative 20-under par and has a stroke average of 69.8, only marginally higher than his overall average of 69.153 — which is second on the PGA Tour.

Smith has seven of 12 rounds in the 60s at the Players, Masters and PGA and his highest score was a 3-over 73 in the third round at Southern Hills.

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The Ponte Vedra Beach resident has crept to second on the FedEx Cup standings, behind Scottie Scheffler, and is now third on the world golf rankings, behind Scheffler and Jon Rahm.

While Smith is still battling his accuracy off the tee (he's 136th in driving accuracy), he's find the putting surface and then making putts. Smith is second on the Tour in strokes gained-approach the green and seventh in strokes game-putting.

Here are a couple of numbers that explain how he's scoring this season: Smith is first on the Tour in proximity to the hole from 100-to-125 yards out at 14 feet, 7 inches, and he's first in putting from 3 feet and in, making all 319 of his attempts. Smith also is 12th on the Tour in most putts made from inside 10 feet, at .902.

Smith has missed only two cuts this season and finished inside the top-25 in seven of his 11 starts.

Duke's Riley leads APGA ranking

Duke senior Quinn Riley has finished first in the final 2021-22 Advocates Professional Golf Association Collegiate Ranking, earning him an exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour's Rex Hospital Open in nearby Cary, N.C., and at the 2023 season-opening APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines.

Riley recently earned one of five qualifying spots during a local qualifier for the 2022 U.S. Open and was the medalist at the Stitch Intercollegiate in April at Lonnie Poole GC in Cary. He led Duke with a top-20 finish at the ACC Championship in Panama City Beach two weeks ago.

Getting a spot in the Rex Hospital Open is special to him: he started playing at a local First Tee program in Raleigh and attended the tournament when he was 11 years old for a First Tee Clinic.

“I can remember that one professional in particular gave me some extra attention that he didn’t have to,” Riley said in a statement. “That really stuck with me. It’s come full circle. If I can give a little extra attention to young golfers who come after me, I can continue that cycle. I attended the Rex Hospital Open last year and I remember walking around as a fan. When you see the difference that one year can make, I was a fan last year watching Mito Pereira play and now look at where he is and look at the opportunity that I have. Golf is amazing in that regard and I’m so excited to have this chance.”

The rest of the top-five on the APGA Collegiate Ranking was top-heavy for the Tar Heel State: Jeffrey Cunningham of Drexel, Kasoma Paulino of Henderson State, Xavier Williams of North Carolina A&T and Travis Jackson of North Carolina Central. The top five have exemptions to the nine remaining APGA Tour events, an exemption to this year's Korn Ferry Tour national qualifier and will receive assistance with travel costs associated with each full-field APGA Tour event entered.

Eligible players are Black golfers from NCAA Division I and II programs – including HBCUs – who exhaust a minimum of four years of college eligibility. The APGA Collegiate Ranking is based on players’ Golfstat adjusted scoring average, designed to evaluate the top players positioned to qualify for APGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament access.

Watson out with knee injury

Bubba Watson, who contended at last week's PGA Championship into the third round, picked an odd way to announce he will miss more than a month with a knee injury — buried in a congratulatory tweet to Justin Thomas for winning.

"Congrats @justinthomas34 on #2 @pgachampionship," Watson said in the tweet, referring to Thomas winning the PGA for a second time. "It was a great event this year, just didn’t pan out how I hoped. Also I’m disappointed to have to pull out of [this week's Schwab Challenge]. Recent knee issues turned out to be a torn meniscus so I’ll be out for 4-6 weeks. Hope to be back soon!"

Bubba Watson watches a shot sail down the first fairway during last week's PGA Championship.
Bubba Watson watches a shot sail down the first fairway during last week's PGA Championship.

Watson shot 63 in the second round at Southern Hills, tying the low score in the tournament. He then bogeyed three of his last four holes in the third round for a 73, and struggled with a 75 in the final round to finish in a tie for 30th.

If Watson's window is on the long side of his four-to-six weeks, he will miss the U.S. Open, plus an event at which he's had success, the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.

His timetable would allow him to play the British Open July 14-17 at St. Andrews.

Golden Isles courses cited

Three golf courses on Georgia's Golden Isles were listed among Golfweek's top-200 Modern Courses, defined as those opening after 1960 as new courses or re-designs.

But topping the list of area facilities, in no surprise, was the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course, which opened in 1980.

Davis Love III watches a shot on the seventh tee of the Sea Island Club Seaside Course during a recent RSM Classic. The club was one of three on the Golden Isles cited by Golfweek as one of the top-200 modern courses in the nation.
Davis Love III watches a shot on the seventh tee of the Sea Island Club Seaside Course during a recent RSM Classic. The club was one of three on the Golden Isles cited by Golfweek as one of the top-200 modern courses in the nation.

The Stadium Course, designed by Pete Dye and the home of The Players Championship, is tied for 15th overall and is the top-rated course in Florida by Golfweek.

The Sea Island Club Seaside Course, built in 1929 and re-designed in 2000 by Tom Fazio, is 83rd on the list. Ocean Forest, built in 1995 and designed by Rees Jones, is 84th and the Fredrica Golf Club, designed by Fazio and Sir Michael Bonallack, was built in 2005.

PGA TOUR

Event: Charles Schwab Challenge, Thursday-Sunday, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth.

At stake: $8.4 million purse ($1,512,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).

Defending champion: Jason Kokrak.

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday, 2-5:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-2 p.m.); CBS (Saturday, 5:30-7 p.m.; Sunday, 2-6:30 p.m.).

Area players entered: Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox, Trey Mullinax, J.T. Poston, Doc Redman, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg.

Notable: Kokrak opened with rounds of 65-65 and held off Jordan Spieth to win by two shots. ... Spieth leads a field that includes PGA champion Justin Thomas, his playoff opponent at Southern Hills last week, Will Zalatoris, 71-hole PGA leader Mito Peirera, Masters champion and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Bryson DeChambeau.

LPGA TOUR

Event: Bank of Hope Match Play, Wednesday-Sunday, Shadow Creek, Las Vegas.

At stake: $1.5 million purse ($225,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Ally Ewing.

TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday, 1:30-4;30 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, 7-10 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 6:30-9:30 p.m.).

Area players entered: Chella Choi.

Notable: Ewing made a short birdie putt on the 17th hole to beat Sophia Popov 2 and 1 in last year's championship match. ... Minjee Lee, who leads the Race to the CME Globe after her victory in the Founders Cup, at No. 4 is the highest-ranked player in the field. ... Also playing is Jennifer Kupcho, who won the first LPGA major of the year at the Chevron Championship.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

Event: KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Harbor Shores Resort, Benton Harbor, Mich.

At stake: $3.25 million ($585,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Alex Cejka.

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 1- 4 p.m.; Saturday, 1-2 p.m.; Sunday, 3-4 p.m.); NBC (Saturday, 2-4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4-6 p.m.).

Area players entered: David Duval, Vijay Singh.

Notable: Cejka had weekend rounds of 68-67 at Southern Hills to beat Tim Petrovic by four shots. ... Colin Montgomerie, Rocco Mediate and Paul Broadhurst previously won Senior PGA's at Harbor Shores. ... Steve Stricker won the first PGA Tour Champions major three weeks ago at The Tradition.

KORN FERRY TOUR

Event: NV5 Invitational, Thursday-Sunday, The Glen Club, Glenview, Ill.

At stake: $750,000 purse ($135,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Cameron Young.

TV: None.

Area players entered: Chris Baker, Blayne Barber, Chandler Blanchet, A.J. Crouch, Luke Guthrie, Phillip Knowles, Colin Monagle, Carl Yuan.

Notable: Young shot 64 in the first round and went on to beat Adam Svensson by five shots. ... Monagle, a Bishop Kenny and JU graduate, is a Monday qualifier.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Cameron Smith continues to perform at a high level since winning The Players