Cameron Smith

Smith's father, Des, a well-known club baseballer before becoming a scratch golfer, got Smith started in the game at age 3, taking him to Wantima Country Club just outside of Brisbane, Australia. Smith was playing six-hole competitions as a 5-year-old with cut-down clubs, and by age 10, had a single-digit handicap. His amateur wins included the 2013 Australian Amateur Championship, 2012 Australian Junior Championship, 2012 Australian Stroke Play Championship and 2011 Nomura Cup individual title. He also represented Australia at the 2012 Eisenhower Trophy.
Played in two events on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2013: Missed the cut at the Mylan Classic and T-61st at Price Cutter Charity.
Finished 5th on the 2014 Asian Tour Order of Merit as a rookie. Had seven top-10s in nine starts. Finished T-5th in his debut on the PGA Tour at the CIMB Classic in the fall of 2014 (2015 season) five strokes behind champion Ryan Moore. Smith was the first player to finish in the top-10 of a PGA Tour event in his debut since Chris Wood's T-5th at the 2008 British Open. In fact, other than Smith and Wood, only Anthony Kim (T-2nd at the 2006 Valero Texas Open) and Andres Romero (T-8th at 2006 British Open) have picked up top-10 finishes in their Tour debuts since 2000. Like Russell Henley, who won the 2013 Sony Open in his first professional start on the PGA Tour, others had competed previously in Tour events as amateurs.
2015 Notes: When Smith finished T-5th at the CIMB Classic, he earned an exemption into the next PGA Tour event. So at the last minute, it was off on a 25-hour trek to Mississippi, where he missed the cut. After that, he received other invitations to play on the PGA Tour through sponsor exemptions. Smith experienced another magical moment at the U.S. Open. After missing the cut at The Memorial, he played in the U.S. Open qualifying, where he shot 69-67 to earn a spot in the field. At the U.S. Open, he posted a pair of 70s, then a third-round 69. In the final round, he shot even par on the first nine and was one over par through 15, but birdied 16 and eagled 18 to shoot 68 and finish T-4th. The importance of his eagle at the last hole meant he would play at the Masters in 2016. With the good finish at the U.S. Open, he was able to climb to 89th in the Official World Golf Ranking, which secured a spot at the PGA Championship. With the finish, Smith also picked up non-member FedExCup points. He was at 362 points, which placed him about 10 positions away from possibly getting a crack at a full PGA Tour card for 2016. Smith finished T-25th at the PGA Championship and T-18th at the Wyndham, enough to put him into the top 125 of the FedExCup points list as a non-member, so he earned his PGA Tour membership for 2016. Ended his year with a T-36th at the UNIQLO Masters, T-13th at the Emirates Australian Open, and 5th at the Australian PGA Championship.
2016 Notes: Made 13 cuts in 24 PGA Tour starts. Best finish was T-11th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He ranked 157th in both the FedExCup standings and money list. Because he lost his PGA Tour card, he went to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. After a T-28th at the DAP Championship and missed cut at the Albertsons Boise Open, he made his third career Korn Ferry Tour start at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship, where he moved into the final-round lead with birdies at three of his first four holes on the back nine. Bogeyed the par-4 15th to eventually finish runner-up, one stroke behind winner Grayson Murray. Secured a return to the PGA Tour for the 2016-17 season by finishing 7th in the final priority-ranking order.
2017 Notes: Got off to a good start in the new season, finishing T-11th at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T-10th at the Shriners Hospitals Open. At the end of the calendar year, he returned to Australia, where he finished T-2nd at the Australian Open and T-15th at the Australian PGA Championship. Finished T-6th at the Valero Texas Open. The next week won his first PGA Tour event with a birdie at the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with teammate Jonas Blixt, defeating the team of Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown. The duo shot 67-62-68-64 and went bogey-free for all 76 holes played (including the playoff), earning 400 FedExCup points and $1,022,400 each. At 23 years, 8 months, 13 days, Smith became the fourth-youngest Australian to win on Tour (three players) behind Jason Day (22) and Adam Scott (23/twice). Finished T-7th at the Wyndham Championship and played in the first three FedExCup events. Earned a T-12th result at the BMW Championship, but it wasn't enough for him to get into the top-30. He finished 46th in the FedExCup standings.
2018 Notes: Played 24 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with seven top-10 finishes. Was 12th in the FedExCup standings. Got off to a great start, finishing T-5th at the CIMB Classic and 3rd at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, just a stroke out of the Thomas/Leishman playoff. Finished 4th at the Emirates Australian Open and won the Australian PGA Championship, defeating Jordan Zunic on the second hole of a playoff. Finished T-6th at the Genesis Open and lost to Alex Noren, 4 & 2, in the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship. Finished T-5th at the Masters, six shots behind Patrick Reed. Entered the FedExCup playoffs at 53rd in the standings before finishing T-3rd at the Northern Trust and 3rd at the WGC-Dell Technologies Championship, three strokes behind winner Bryson DeChambeau. Reached the Tour Championship for the first time, finishing 20th.
2019 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour events, making 17 cuts with three top-10 finishes. Ranked 84th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-7th at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, then T-10th at the Emirates Australian Open. For the second consecutive year, won the Australian PGA Championship, two strokes better than Marc Leishman. Was T-9th at the Farmers Insurance Open and T-6th at the WGC-Mexico Championship. In the FedExCup playoffs, finished T-59th at the Northern Trust. Ended his year with a T-27th at the Emirates Australian Open and T-10th at the Australian PGA Championship. In his first Presidents Cup, played in three matches, was 1-1-1, defeating Justin Thomas 2 & 1 in singles.
2020 Notes: Played in 19 PGA Tour events, making 13 cuts with two top-10 finishes. Ranked 24th in the FedExCup standings. Was T-3rd at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges. Won the Sony Open in Hawai, defeating Brendan Steele in a playoff. Struggled when he returned after the COVID-19 break. In the FedExCup playoffs, finished T-18th at the Northern Trust, T-20th at the BMW Championship, and T-24th at the Tour Championship.
2021 Notes: Finished 11th at the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek. The following week, finished T-4th at the Zozo Championship @ Sherwood, four shots behind winner Patrick Cantlay. Finished T-2nd at the Masters, five-shots back of winner Dustin Johnson. Shot scores of 67-68-69-69 to become the first player in tournament history to card four scores in the 60s in one year. Shot a final-round 67 to finish 4th at The Genesis Invitational, three shots back of the Max Homa/Tony Finau playoff.