The eventual winner after a playoff- Abraham Ancer photo Getty Images
A disastrous double bogey 6 at the final hole of the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis Tennessee has cost Australian Cameron Smith the chance of a third individual PGA Tour title.
Smith, who narrowly missed out on a playoff for the bronze medal at last week’s Olympics, led briefly in the back nine and was tied for the lead with three others when he reached the 18th tee of today’s final round at the TPC Southwind. A wild drive saw him taking two more shots to find the fairway although still 100 yards from the hole at the par 4.
He failed to get up and down from there and finished the day with a round of 72 and, when he had, he was two behind what would become a playoff between Sam Burns, Hideki Matsuyama and Abraham Ancer, Burns having earlier closed with a round of 64 and Matsuyama 63.
“Yeah, there was a little gap up there,” said Smith in trying to describe the gamble he took on the 18th.
“I had to hit like a medium flight draw and I tried to hit it. I mean, I wanted to win, I didn’t want to chip it out and leave my chances in Harry’s hands. He was still 16 under at the time. I wanted to make sure I had a good look at birdie and I just didn’t execute it.
“I’m hitting it good but I was really disappointed with how I hit my driver on the weekend. A week at home working on the driver, especially for the Playoffs, I think three tough driving courses, I need to get that in shape. The rest of the game feels really good.
“I’m looking forward to it. We’ve been pretty busy lately and it’s been hot as well, so it takes it out of you, especially being in contention as well, mentally draining. Nice week off on the boat, I’ll be happy.”
Cameron Smith checking his options at the last – photo Getty Images
Harris English, a winner at this venue back in 2013, led the event by two over Smith heading into the final round and was challenged early in his round by Smith who closed within one through 7 holes.
No sooner had Smith closed the gap however than he dropped shots at the 8th, 9th and 11th holes to trail English by five shots at that point.
Things would change dramatically over the next few holes however with Smith adding birdies at the 12th and 14th while English imploded with double bogeys at the 11th and 14th and at that point five players were tied at 16 under.
Smith had led briefly at 17 under par but bogeyed the 15th and English the 16th and when Smith stumbled at the 18th it left Burns, Matsuyama and Abraham Ancer tied for the lead and headed for a playoff.
The winner was 2018 Australian Open winner and International Presidents Cup team member, Abraham Ancer of Mexico, who birdied the second hole of the playoff to win his first PGA Tour title.
Ancer reaches his highest ever world golf ranking and will find himself just outside the top ten when the rankings are revised later today.
“Man, it’s going to take a while,” said Ancer when trying to take it all in. “I was trying to kind of let it all sink in there in the ceremony on 18. It was really surreal, something that I’ve been working for since I was a little kid.
“Definitely a dream, a dream come true to win on the PGA TOUR, and to do it on a big stage like a WGC event was really, really cool, man. It was a crazy round. I thought I was going to need a really low one to have a chance today, but it just worked out that it was like pretty much survival mode on the back nine.”
“I’ve done enough in other events to win and it just didn’t go my way. So I just stayed patient, I didn’t change anything. I just try to get better at how I play golf and keep my head cool.
“There’s obviously some rough weeks that can kind of throw you off and maybe you start looking at some things that you shouldn’t, but I learned that the first year when I was out here and I played terrible golf and I’m pretty thankful now that I learned all those lessons right away.”
Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman were the next best of the Australians when they tied for 36th.
