2022 British Open winner: Cameron Smith ties significant scoring record in victory at St. Andrews

Who is Cameron Smith?

Smith, born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1993, initially went pro in 2013 and began competing on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

He tied for second place at the 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship and the 2016 Emirates Australian Open.

His 2015 top four finish earned him a second invitation to the 2016 Masters Tournament after he initially qualified for the U.S. Open. Additionally, Smith received a Special Temporary Membership for the rest of the 2015 season on the PGA Tour.

Thanks to his successes since then, which guaranteed his return to the Circuit in 2017, he has won six PGA Tour titles, three European tour titles, and two PGA Tours of Australasia.

Smith finished second at the Master's Tournament in 2020. However, Smith's most prosperous year was 2022, when he won the 150th Open and the Players Championship.

Champion Golfer of the Year

The Australian phenom Cameron Smith, who started the day four strokes behind leaders Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland, rode a final-round 64 to the 150th Open Championship victory and the title of Champion Golfer of the Year. Smith (-20) tied for the lowest score to par in significant championship history, and his 30 on Sunday's back nine was the lowest score for any influential champion for the entire second half of a round.

He Finally Made Amends!

Smith was magnificent as he rediscovered the special magic that initially got him to the 36-hole lead, making up for the letdown of his third round. After shooting a 34 on the front, he went low on five straight holes from Nos. 10 to 14, taking advantage of every scoring opportunity at the Old Course to steal the lead from McIlroy. He finished the day with eight birdies and no bogeys.

Despite the blitz of birdies, Smith may reflect that his par saves on the par-3 17th was the turning point in his championship. He used his best tool, the putter, to get up and down on St. Andrews' most challenging hole, the Road Hole bunker, in two.

And he wins...

The wind was taken out of McIlroy's sails when Smith became the first major champion in modern history to agree to two rounds of 64 or worse. He lost in the third round due to his aggressive play, but it was precisely this that helped him win on Sunday, joining Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win both the Players Championship and The Open in the same year.

His Golf Career

Amateur?

With his victories in the Australian Boys' Amateur, the Australian Amateur Stroke Play, and the Victorian Junior Masters in 2011, Cameron Smith added three more junior championships to his long list of accomplishments. Only five years prior, he had won the Handa Junior Masters, a no longer held junior golf tournament in Australia.

Professional

After turning pro in 2013, Cameron Smith participated in the PGA Tour of Australasia. He finished second place at the 2015 Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship and the 2016 Emirates Australian Open.

Cameron Smith moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2014 to play on the PGA Tour, and he still remains there. In his first PGA Tour event, the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he tied for fifth place.

Smith kept up his impressive play on the world stage, finishing in the top four in the 2015 U.S. Open to earn automatic entry into the 2016 Masters.

In 2017, Cameron Smith won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Jonas Blixt, who lived with Smith's caddie Sam Pinfold. This was his first PGA Tour victory. He finished the 2017 season with two top-10 finishes after this victory. The Australian PGA Championship was subsequently won by Smith in both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons.

After winning the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2020, Cameron Smith finally achieved his first individual PGA Tour triumph. With scorecards of 67-68-69-69, Smith tied for second place in the 2020 Masters and made history by becoming the first golfer to shoot all four rounds in the 60s.

In 2021, Smith again triumphed at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but this time he shared the victory with fellow Australian golfer Marc Leishman.

With his victory in the calendar-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui, Hawaii, Cameron got off to a strong start in 2022. Smith broke the previous mark by finishing 34 under par (the previous record was 31 under par, set by Ernie Els at the same tournament in 2003).