Cameron Smith (born 18 August 1993) is an Australian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. He won the 2022 Open Championship, and has won five other tournaments on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

, including the 2022 Players Championship.

Early life

As a two-year-old, Smith began playing at Wantima Country Club, a small golf course in the northern suburb of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. 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.

Professional career

Smith turned professional in 2013 and played on the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

. He was tied for second at the 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship and at the 2016 Emirates Australian Open.

2014

Smith played on the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

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 The CIMB Classic was a professional golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour. Played in the fall, the event debuted in 2010 and moved to the West Course of the TPC Kuala Lumpur in 2013; the first ...

in October 2014, which was a co-sanctioned event with the

; he tied for 5th.

2015

In April, Smith tied for 15th in the

RBC Heritage The RBC Heritage, known for much of its history as the Heritage Classic or simply the Heritage, is a PGA Tour event in South Carolina, first played in 1969. It is currently played in mid-April, the week after The Masters in Augusta, Georgia. T ...

, 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 2016 Masters Tournament was the 80th edition of the Masters Tournament, held April 7–10 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Danny Willett won his first major championship, three strokes ahead of runners-up Lee Westwood an ...

. 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.

2016

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 The Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship is a golf tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour. It was played for the first time in July 2007 at Ohio State University Golf Club, The Ohio State University Golf Club's Scarlet Course in Upper Arlington, ...

, allowed him to return to the PGA Tour for 2017.

2017

In May, Smith, partnered with

Jonas Blixt Jonas Blixt (born 24 April 1984) is a Swedish professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. He is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, with his most recent win coming at the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Amateur career Blixt ...

, won the

Zurich Classic of New Orleans The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, currently held at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, a suburb southwest of New Orleans. Beginning in 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly play ...

, the first team event on the PGA Tour since 1981. The pair did not make a bogey during the tournament and defeated

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State * Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...

and

Kevin Kisner Kevin James Kisner (born February 15, 1984) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Early life Kisner was born in Aiken, South Carolina and attended South Aiken High School. He played college golf at the University of Geor ...

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 The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Val ...

and for 7th at the

Wyndham Championship The Wyndham Championship is a professional golf tournament in North Carolina on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in Greensboro and was originally the Greater Greensboro Open. History Founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open, it was usua ...

and finished 46th in the FedEx Cup standings. He started the new PGA Tour season by tying for 5th place in the

in Malaysia and finishing 3rd in the

CJ Cup The CJ Cup is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The tournament was played for the first time in October 2017 at the start of the 2017–18 season, and is sponsored by CJ Group. The first three editions were played at the Nine Bridges ...

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 Australian PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA. Since 2000 it has been held in the South East Queensland region. The tournament was part of the OneAsia Tour fro ...

the following week, beating

Jordan Zunic Jordan Zunic (born 27 December 1991) is an Australian professional golfer. After winning the 2013 Tasmanian Open and the 2014 China Amateur, Zunic turned professional in January 2015. He won the 2015 BMW New Zealand Open in March. Personal li ...

in a playoff.

2018

In December, Smith defended his title at the

, winning by two strokes over

Marc Leishman Marc Leishman (born 24 October 1983) is an Australian professional golfer. He has won six times on the PGA Tour. In 2009 he won the Rookie of the Year award on the PGA Tour, the first Australian to win the award. Career Leishman was born in W ...

2019

In December, Smith played on the International team at the

2019 Presidents Cup The 2019 Presidents Cup was the 13th edition of the Presidents Cup golf competition, held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, from 12 to 15 December 2019. Royal Melbourne previously hosted the tournament in 1998, at which the ...

Royal Melbourne Golf Club Royal Melbourne Golf Club is a 36-hole golf club in Australia, located in Black Rock, Victoria, a suburb southeast of Melbourne. Its West and East courses are respectively ranked number 1 and 6 in Australia. The West course is ranked in the t ...

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 Justin Louis Thomas (born April 29, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and is former World Number One. In 2017, Thomas experienced a breakout year, winning five PGA Tour events and the FedEx Cup championship. H ...

2020

In January, Smith won the

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian ...

in a playoff over Brendan Steele; his first individual victory on the PGA Tour. In finishing tied for runner-up to Dustin Johnson 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).

2021

In April, Smith won the

for the second time. This time he was partnered with fellow countryman

. The duo won in a playoff over

Louis Oosthuizen Lodewicus Theodorus "Louis" Oosthuizen (; born 1982) is a South African professional golfer who won the 2010 Open Championship. He has finished runner-up in all four major championships: the 2012 Masters Tournament, the 2015 and 2021 U.S. Op ...

and

Charl Schwartzel Charl Adriaan Schwartzel ( ; born 31 August 1984) is a South African professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series and has previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won one maj ...

. Smith qualified for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

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.

2022: Players and Open Championship victories

In January, Smith won the 2022

Sentry Tournament of Champions The Sentry Tournament of Champions is the calendar-year opening tournament of golf's PGA Tour season, played in Hawaii on the island of Maui. The tournament was founded in 1953; for most of its history the field was restricted to golfers who won a ...

Kapalua Resort Kapalua Resort is a golf and beach resort in Kapalua, Hawaii on the northwest shore of the island of Maui near Lahaina, Hawaii. It is owned by Maui Land & Pineapple Company. Description Surrounded by from the verdant mountain ridges and summi ...

Maui, Hawaii The island of Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th largest island in the United S ...

. Smith shot a PGA Tour record of 34 under par winning by one stroke over world number one

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ac ...

. 34 under par beat the previous mark of 31 under par set by

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

at the same tournament in 2003. In March, Smith won

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as The PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The P ...

TPC Sawgrass The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass (TPC at Sawgrass) is a golf course in the southeastern United States, located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, southeast of Jacksonville. Opened in the autumn of 1980, it was the first of several Tournament ...

, 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 Anirban Lahiri (born 29 June 1987) is an Indian professional golfer. He has played on the Asian Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Lahiri is recipient of the 2014 Arjuna Award. He is also recipient of "Sera Bangali" award (in 2015), g ...

. In July, Smith won his first major championship at the 150th Open Championship, played at the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

. He shot a final-round 64 to come from four strokes off the lead and finish one shot ahead of

Cameron Young Cameron Young (born May 7, 1997) is an American professional golfer. He has twice finished in the top three in major championships and has several other runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour. He has also won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour. He was vo ...

and two ahead of joint third round leader

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in tha ...

. During the

FedEx Cup Playoffs The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

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 The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

award. In November, Smith won the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship for the third time.

Joining LIV Golf

At the end of August, following the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

, it was announced that Smith had joined

LIV Golf LIV Golf () is a professional golf tour financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The name "LIV" refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied and the number ...

. 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 Dustin Hunter Johnson (born June 22, 1984) is an American professional golfer. He has won two major championships, the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club with a 4-under-par score of 276 and the 2020 Masters Tournament with a record score ...

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 Peter Uihlein ( ; born August 29, 1989) is an American professional golfer who formerly played on the PGA Tour and the European Tour and now plays LIV Golf. He was a member of the victorious U.S. team at the 2009 Walker Cup, where he compiled a 4 ...

. Smith won over $5 million from his 4 starts on LIV Golf.

Amateur wins

*2011

Australian Boys' Amateur The Australian Boys' Amateur is the nations premier junior golf championship for boys. It is run by Golf Australia. It is a 72-hole stroke-play event for players under the age of 18. Until 1993 the age limit was 21. Winners Source: See also * ...

, Australian Amateur Stroke Play, Victorian Junior Masters *2012 Australian Amateur medallist *2013

Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has b ...

Professional wins (10)

PGA Tour wins (6)

PGA Tour playoff record (3–1)

European Tour wins (4)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (3)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–1)

LIV Golf Invitational Series wins (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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (2018 Open – 2021 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2020 Masters – 2021 Masters)

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

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

Nomura Cup The Nomura Cup, also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, is a biennial amateur team golf championship for men organised by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. The inaugural event was held in 1963 and it has been played in odd ...

(representing Australia): 2011 (winners) *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

(representing Australia):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

* Bonallack Trophy (representing Asia/Pacific): 2012 *

Sloan Morpeth Trophy The Sloan Morpeth Trophy was an amateur team golf tournament, played between Australia and New Zealand. It was contested irregularly from 1947 to 2016. The trophy was presented by Sloan Morpeth in 1956. From 1993 to 2005 the two countries played ea ...

(representing Australia): 2012 *

Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played a ...

(representing Queensland): 2010 (winners), 2011 (winners), 2012, 2013 (winners) Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Australia):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

(representing the International team):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Recognition

*2020 –

Greg Norman Medal Greg Norman Medal is awarded annually to best male or female professional Australian golfer on the world stage. The award was established in 2015 by the Professional Golfer's Association of Australia (PGA) with the support of the Australian Ladies ...

*2022 - Australian Institute of Sport Male Athlete of The Year

References

External links

Cameron Smith
at the

official site * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Cameron Australian male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour of Australasia golfers Asian Tour golfers LIV Golf players Winners of men's major golf championships Olympic golfers of Australia Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Brisbane Sportsmen from Queensland 1993 births Living people