Of the trio who began the final round of the Masters at 12-under, four shots behind Dustin Johnson, Australia’s Cameron Smith was the only one to have any real Masters experience. Abraham Ancer and Sungjae Im had yet to play in the event prior to this week, while Smith was making his fourth start, the biggest highlight coming in the form of a T-5 in 2018.
That experience paid off for the 27-year-old. Smith got off to a fast start, making back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes to reach 14-under. After a little slip-up at the fifth, where he made bogey, he made par on six and the missed his drive way right at the par-4 seventh. Another bogey or worse appeared imminent, as he had a number of trees in between his ball and the green.
Smith could have punched out and played for par, but he got extremely aggressive instead. The Queenslander flew a wedge over everything, landing it just on the front of the green and getting it within 20 feet. “I’m not sure of any options of a bail out, to be honest,” said Nick Faldo prior to Smith’s shot. Whoops:
Over the trees and onto the green. Cameron Smith birdies No. 7 to reach 14 under par. #themasters pic.twitter.com/HPUIa48ews
— The Masters (@TheMasters) November 15, 2020
As you can see, he went on to make the putt for what has to be the most absurd birdie of the week. Well, that was until the par-4 ninth hole, where he may have just made an even more incredible birdie to get to 15-under:
Cameron Smith, this is an unbelievable shot. #themasters pic.twitter.com/Vm92xYbgDF
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 15, 2020
Just silly stuff from Smith, who was making a serious run by turning in three-under 33, drawing to within two strokes of Johnson.
In the end, it wasn’t quite enough. Yet Smith did make Masters history… by shooting a closing 69, he became the first player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s. Incredibly, it was not even close to being enough to catch Johnson, who would eclipse Smith and Im by five.
