Cameron Smith is off to quite the start in 2022. He took the first event of the year at the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions, then fashioned a wild final-round 66 to win the Players Championship.

Smith played birdie ball for much of the final round, coming right out with four straight and five in his first six holes, starting with a 38-footer going down at the first and then four more birdie putts of either nine or 10 feet. After riding the bogey train with three straight stumbles, the Aussie was back at it, making four birdies in a row on Nos. 10-13 to take a two-shot lead. A pair of 9-iron shots on No.10 and the par-3 13th set up two of them. A 14-foot par save on 14 and another eight-footer on 15 – only his second and third pars of the round – kept the momentum and margin intact. One more stuffed 9-iron – at the par-13 17th to four feet led to one final birdie, which was sorely needed after he bogeyed the last.

Smith’s putting and iron game worked well most of the week, with Smith ranking sixth in strokes gained/approach-the-green, picking up some six shots on the field with his Titleist T-100 irons. Unlike the main production model, Smith has his irons in all black, including the heads and KBS Tour 130x shafts. The grips are Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Super Tack.

His putter was even more clutch. Between all the birdies and par saves, Smith bettered the field average on the greens by some 11 shots, tops in the field with his Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009M (which stands for Masterful) tour prototype blade with a slant neck.

“I actually put it in the bag this tournament last year,” Smith said at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii. “It’s got a little slant neck on it. I don’t know, the putter I used beforehand just had that neck and I just like the way it felt and got the boys at Scottie Cameron to make one up and just fell in love with it.”

At the Players Championship, that putter was loving him back plenty.

What Cameron Smith had in the bag at the 2022 Players Championship

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (Fujikura Ventus Blue 60x), 10 degrees

3-wood: Titleist TSi2, 15 degrees

7-wood: Titleist TS2, 21 degrees

Irons (3): Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi; (5-9): Titleist T100; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM9

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (52, 56, 60 degrees)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009M