Smith posts hat-trick
Cameron Smith made it a hat-trick of titles at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship with a three-shot victory after a weather-affected final round at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
The 150th Open Champion held an overnight three-shot lead but was caught early on the back nine, shortly after the second of two separate suspensions because of lightning which saw more than two hours of play lost.
Three birdies in a five-hole stretch from the 12th saw the World Number Three reassert his command as a closing three-under-par 68 saw him claim victory in the season-opening tournament, which is co-sanctioned with the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.
Australian Jason Scrivener and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune finished in a share of second at 11 under after posting rounds of 67 and 65, respectively.
I really didn’t think I had it in me at the start of the week.
Another home favourite Min Woo Lee was two shots further back in fourth alongside England’s Challenge Tour Graduate John Parry, who along with Hisatsune made a closing 65 to match the best score of the week.
Smith, who won this event back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, is now a four-time winner on the DP World Tour having made his Major Championship breakthrough at St Andrews in July.
“I really didn’t think I had it in me at the start of the week,” he said in his post-round interview.
“I was a bit scratchy and the game has got better and better as the week went on, other than the front nine today.”
Reflecting on the weather-enforced delays in play, he added: “You are in the mojo a little and for it to be stopped not once but twice was a little frustrating but I just held on and played really solid those last eight holes.”