AUGUSTA, Ga. – When Cameron Smith picked apart The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in March, making 11 birdies en route to winning the PGA Tour’s flagship event in his adopted hometown, course superintendent Jeff Plotts couldn’t have felt prouder.
“Since the Fed Ex Cup (in August), I’ve been saying he was primed to get it. I told him he needed to believe and go for it,” said Plotts of Smith, who practices at the club and has become a good friend.
“I felt like a family member had won the Players. I’ve been telling him all year that he was going to win it. It was pretty special to see that come to be.”
Smith celebrated that Monday night at TPC Sawgrass and didn’t get home until about 10:30 p.m., when he proceeded to light a bonfire and drink a few beers with his family and mates. Fellow Aussie and former PGA Tour pro Aron Price plays money games with Smith and his caddie, Sam Pinfold, all the time and could see this victory coming too, going so far as to stock Smith’s fridge with his beer of choice, Kona Longboard Lagers and Big Waves, for a potential victory party.
“I knew,” Price said shortly after Smith sealed the deal for a one-stroke win over Anirban Lahiri. “You know how there are people who are outwardly confident, but are really insecure? Cam’s the opposite. He won’t say it but he’s convinced that head-to-head that he can beat anyone in the world.”
The fire from the victory party after the Players may have gone out but the fire within still burns bright to add a major championship to his resume.
“I feel pretty hungry, mate,” Smith said when asked about the Masters during his pre-tournament press conference. “Pretty good time of year to be playing good golf.”
Indeed, it is. Smith is coming off an extended three-week break after he withdrew from a scheduled start at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play two weeks ago so he could spend more time with his mother and sister, who visited from Australia. A native of Brisbane, Smith hasn’t been able to get back to Australia since COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. His father visited last week and Smith played his first round at TPC Sawgrass on Friday since his brilliant final-round 66 alongside his father, Des, and 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott.
The 28-year-old Smith is making his sixth appearance at the Masters and has never missed the cut. In three of the last four years, he’s finished in the top 10, including 2020 when he tied for second and became the first player in tournament history to shoot four rounds in the 60s. When asked to explain his success around Augusta National, Smith said, “I think it’s just my creativity. I feel like I play my best golf when I’m creative.”
That creativity was born during his childhood when he used to love to take a sand wedge and make a golf ball spin to a stop on the makeshift backyard green designed by his father. These days, there are few tour pros, if any, more highly regarded for their short-game artistry than Smith.
“It’s almost like his shots are a little butterfly, they land so soft, and he’s got a little remote control on the ball,” Golf Australia’s high-performance director Brad James told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“I’m not afraid to hit different shots around here,” Smith said. “I feel really confident in my game. I feel like I can play any shot under any circumstance, and yeah, I’m ready to go out there.”
Smith is attempting to become the ninth winner of the Players to win a Green Jacket too, with only Tiger Woods having achieved that double in the same year. Plotts, for one, believes Augusta National is made for Smith.
“It’s hard to beat a great putter,” he said. “I’m rooting for the ‘The Cam Slam.’ ”
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