Australia’s Cameron Smith has taken the lead midway through the final round of the Players Championship.
Players 2022 updates:
6:24pm (9:24am AEDT): CAM SMITH WINS!!!!!!!!! Anirban Lahiri’s chip comes up shy, a valiant effort but securing the victory for Australian Cam Smith, who lives closeby here in Jacksonville Beach. Smith wins the biggest first-place prize in tour history ($US3.6 million) and the biggest event of his career. Congrats to Cam, who has his mother and sister over from Australia … such a cool scene for Cam!
And Lahiri is devastated, but like we said, what an incredible display for the 322nd-ranked player in the world, who will secure solo second and the $2.18 million prize.
6:21pm (9:21am (AEDT): Needing a birdie to tie Cam Smith, Anirban Lahiri pushes his tee shot and leaves it just short of the green to the right. He’ll need to chip that in for a birdie to force a playoff. But hey, a par would mean solo second place for $US2.18 million … but judging by Lahiri’s reaction, he’s playing for the win … he’s upset with himself as he walks up to the green. He should be proud of his play all week at TPC Sawgrass.
6:17pm (9:17am AEDT): A clutch up-and-down for bogey for Cam Smith to card a 7-under 65 … good currently for a one-shot lead over Anirban Lahiri with Lahiri yet to play his approach on 18. Smith needed just 101 putts through 72 holes … absolutely incredible.
6:14pm (9:14am AEDT): After the drop and playing his fourth shot, Cam Smith scares the hole and knocks it to 2 feet. We’d expect that to be holed for 5 … meaning that Anirban Lahiri will need a birdie at 18 to force the playoff.
Lahiri STRIPED his tee shot on 18, meaning he’ll have a real shot at birdie. (There have been only six birdies at 18 by the way.)
6:11pm (9:11amAEDT): Cam Smith has made this VERY interesting down the stretch. With his second shot punching from the right trees, the Aussie put too much heat on the escape and it rolled into the water! OH MY. He’s going to need to get up and down now for 5, because Anirban Lahiri just rolled in the birdie putt from 13 feet at the 17th hole. A double bogey would mean a playoff here at TPC Sawgrass …
6:05 p.m.: Cam Smith is dry with his tee shot on the 72nd hole. He took driver somewhat surprisingly, especially considering he hit his tee shots in the first and second rounds into the water on this hole. But he went right into the pine straw … he’ll just need to avoid disaster from there to lock up the W.
Casey went with fairway wood and found the fairway, though he still has 205 yards left.
Back on the 17th, Anirban Lahiri hit a terrific tee shot to 13 feet, which looks like it could at least lock up a solo second-place finish which is a TON of money.
6pm (9am AEDT): Cam Smith capitalises on that incredible tee shot by converting the four-footer for birdie to grab a three-shot lead as Casey and Lahiri both par. Barring another Cam Smith duck hook (ducks after typing that), this is his tournament.
5:52pm (8:52am AEDT): Cam Smith just hit the Rickie Fowler tee shot on 17! He went RIGHT at the tucked right-hand pin and sticks it to 4 feet, 4 inches (!!!). Was that where Cam was looking with a two-shot lead? We would doubt it … but even if he pushed it, it ended up perfectly. It’s actually the only shot to end up right of the pin. WOW. Cam Smith … Players champion has quite the ring to it after Paul Casey played to the center of the green and Anirban Lahiri played a poor third shot at 16.
5:42pm (8:42am AEDT): Cam Smith played out of his mistake with such sensibility here at the 16th hole. He took his medicine and punched out with his second, then hit a terrific shot from 238 yards out onto the left side of the green—giving himself a chance for a two-putt and a par that you thought might’ve been nearly impossible after his drive.
Cam is used to one-putting these greens … but he’s setting himself up for a two-putt that will likely clinch the tournament.
OH MY. The Aussie nearly holed the putt from 49 feet … but it rolls about 3 feet by. An incredible effort.
Meanwhile Paul Casey probably made the sensible play, too, by laying up with his second shot given the awful depression his ball was sitting in, giving himself 100 yards for his third shot. But Casey misses his mark and overspins the shot off the green.
Cam Smith makes the par of the tournament to remain at 13-under, taking a two-shot lead into the 17th hole. Casey does the same—a much more disappointing par than Smith’s … but he does have a shot as they walk to the island 17th.
5:35pm (8:35am AEDT): Keegan Bradley hurt his chances with his three-putt at the 17th hole, but he just cost himself a ton of money with his play on the 18th hole. After missing way right with his tee shot, he tried to play a scooting punch through the trees … and it just scooted too much and never cut, rolling right into the water.
5:28pm (8:28am AEDT): OH MY … the drama here at the 16th hole. Cam Smith just duck-hooked his drive off the tee … a complete smother. He is deep in the trees in the pine straw – he will just have a punch shot left. Cam has been miraculous with the scrambling this week … it appears he’s going to need to conjure that magic just to make another par.
Meanwhile, Paul Casey stepped up after Cam’s drive and hit an absolute bullet down the middle of the fairway. And he just got one of the most unlucky breaks you’ll see in the heat of a golf tournament. His ball rolled into someone else’s ball mark. The Englishman must think his drive is in position A … and it’s going to be a rude awakening when he seems his poor luck.
2.20pm (5.20am AEDT): The straight-faced Kevin Kisner is all business today, but we wouldn’t blame him if he cracked a smile. The pride of Aiken, South Carolina, is 2-under thru six holes; three back of Smith.
Lahiri, after a couple nervy pars settles in with a smooth birdie at four to get to 10-under. He hasn’t made any big mistakes, but now trails by one, despite being 1-under thru four. There’s a bit of separation between him and everyboody else now. Casey, Kisner and Knox are next closest, at 8-under. Russell Henley and Viktor Hovland are each mounting a bit of a charge. Henley has a 5-under round going, though he only has five holes to play. Hovland is 3-under thru nine. Both are four back at 7-under.
1:53 pm (4.53am EAST): And there is our second ejection of the day. Doug Ghim goes for the par-5 second in two, finds the greenside bunker and … walks away with a double bogey. That is going to sting. The good news is he’s only four back and still has almost the whole course to play.
Russell Knox looks determined to not let Cam Smith have all the fun. A third birdie in his opening four holes moves him to 9-under, in a tie with Lahiri, one back of Smith.
1:47 pm (4.47am EAST): And there is our second ejection of the day. Doug Ghim goes for the par-5 second in two, finds the greenside bunker and … walks away with a double bogey. That is going to sting. The good news is he’s only four back and still has almost the whole course to play.
Cam Smith is now the outright leader at 10-under. The Aussie burries a nine-footer on three for a third consecutive birdie to open. Can’t birdie them all unless you birdie the first three.
1:33 pm (4.33am EAST): And there is our second ejection of the day. Doug Ghim goes for the par-5 second in two, finds the greenside bunker and … walks away with a double bogey. That is going to sting. The good news is he’s only four back and still has almost the whole course to play.
Cam Smith has tied the lead at 9-under. Like Knox, he is 2-under thru two. Twelve players are within three shots of the lead. At four, an all-world par save from Kisner after a skulled fairway bunker approach shot flew the green into long rough. A flop shot played away from the flag to the top of a slope and 13-foott putt later, and he moves to the fifth still two shots back. That’s why he’s leading the field in SG: Around the Green this week.
1:25 pm (4.25am EAST): And there is our second ejection of the day. Doug Ghim goes for the par-5 second in two, finds the greenside bunker and … walks away with a double bogey. That is going to sting. The good news is he’s only four back and still has almost the whole course to play.
Hello, hello. Russell Knox is 2-under thru two. A pair of birdies to open and the Scot is one back.
MEANWHILE, we just got a “highlight” package on the broadcast of World No. 1 Jon Rahm depositing two balls in the water and making a NINE on the par-4 fourth. He did birdie the next hole, to his credit, but that’s not going to do much. Thanks for playing, Jon.
1:19 pm: And there’s our first ejection of the day. Muñoz’s second from the fairway bunker on one finds “unknown” left of the left greenside bunker. He is stuck in the pinestraw right behind a bit of shrubbery and short-sided. His third barely makes it through the bush. His fourth is still short of the green. A tidy chip nestles to a few feet and it looks like double at the first. Oof size: large.
His playing partners show no signs of being affected by that display, however. Both Ghim and Lahiri tap in for stress-free pars. Must be nice.
1.10pm: And big putts are already dropping. Cam Smith puts a circle on the card right away, holing a 38-footer to get within one shot of the lead. Paul Casey drops a 13-footer on top of him, but that’s for par to stay one back. Ahead, Kevin Kisner drains a birdie from 20 feet on the par-5 second to get within two. Things are getting spicy, folks.
1.07pm: And the final group is on the course! If Anirban Lahiri had any first tee nerves, they didn’t show. The No. 322 player in the World Ranking pipes his drive down the middle, Sebastián Muñoz finds the right rough and Doug Ghim is the last man off the tee with a fairway finder of his own.
