SMITH WARMS TO TASK
CAMERON Smith surged into contention for the $4.9m winner’s cheque at a rain-interrupted The Players Championship by “blowing leaves around” his backyard when storms washed out an entire day’s play on the weekend.
The Queenslander was three shots behind leader Anirban Lahiri through just 10 holes of his third round when play was abandoned because of darkness, with players already battling unfamiliar conditions at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
Smith, who lives 10 minutes away from the course, was wearing hand-warming gloves and even a beanie as he returned to complete his second round and some of his third, with the $27m tournament to go into a rare fifth day’s play.
A regular at the course when not in tournament mode, he said he would not have gone near playing if he did not have to after constant rain deluges.
“I definitely wouldn’t be here playing these last couple of days. I’d be on the couch having a coffee and watching the rain go by,” he said.
“With how the conditions were yesterday, I was glad I had the day off.”
Smith spent the lay day blowing leaves around his yard in Jacksonville “only for more leaves to come down”, such were the windy conditions that greeted players when they returned to action.
“We have to do what we have to do. We have to get out there and play,” he said. “(It was) long. Long and tough. It was cold in the morning and then it kind of got chilly in the afternoon.”
British Open champ Shane Lowry negotiated the tough conditions by making a hole-in-one on the famous 17th hole, only the 10th ace at the famed Island
Green hole in the history of The Players at TPC Sawgrass – and first since Ryan Moore in 2019.
The hole has played tough all week, and 14 shots were hit into the water on Sunday alone. “You play this game, just special things happen sometimes. It’s pretty cool to do it there, one of the most iconic holes in golf,” Lowry said.
Lucas Herbert was the only other Australian to make the cut but, at one-over par through 13 holes of his third round, was unlikely to contend.
Fellow Australians Jason Day, Cam Davis, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott and Matt Jones, as well as top-10 stars Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, all missed the cut.
Officials remain hopeful of finishing the tournament on Tuesday (AEDT) after a wretched week of weather at Ponte Vedra Beach.