An emotional reunion with his mother and sister plus his beloved coffee machine are getting Cameron Smith through a weather-interrupted Players Championship.
Smith kept himself in contention at TPC Sawgrass through two rounds with a gutsy 71 to improve to four-under-par after included a valiant bogey on his last hole.
With Tom Hoge (71) and Sam Burns (69) at seven under, Smith is in position to make a run and won’t have to wait long given the world No.10 is back out on Saturday afternoon for his third round.
Smith had taken his score to fiver under through 17 holes before snap hooking his tee shot into the water on the 18th. While an alligator lurked just feet away in the water, Smith took a drop only 110 metres from the tee and still had 285 metres for his third shot into the par 4.
The Queenslander eventually made a 14-foot putt for bogey to salvage an under-par round and to stay in contention at golf’s unofficial fifth Major.
With inclement weather and storms wreaking havoc on the tee times and schedule at the Players, Smith, who lives only minutes from TPC Sawgrass, said his coffee machine had been put through its paces the past few days.
“At home I can hang out and do my own thing; it’s like I’m having another day off so I’m pretty lucky,” he told Australian Golf Digest in between his second and third rounds on Saturday.
“The coffee machine has definitely been getting a workout; a few early starts with these weather delays and completing rounds from the previous day in the mornings. I was dozing off in the afternoons a few times.”
Added Smith when asked what his handicap would be as a barista, Smith said with a laugh: “A solid 8 … I can’t do latte art. I think you have to be low single digits (as a barista) to do latte art.”
The four-time PGA Tour winner Smith had six birdies and five bogeys in a rollercoaster round that included Smith chipping off the putting surface at the par-5 16th, over the apron, to secure a birdie. He joked that TPC Sawgrass superintendent Jeff Plotts wouldn’t be angry, because he’s a friend.
“I actually know Jeff Plotts pretty well. So I would have texted him and said sorry if I had,” Smith joked with reporters.
He also nearly aced the par-3 13th.
So close.
Cameron Smith nearly hops one in for an ace at No. 13. pic.twitter.com/lr3oPnZjwi
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2022
Smith had a poor record at TPC Sawgrass until a tie for 17th last year. But he hopes the company of his mother and sister – over from Australia from the first time in more than two years due to Covid-19 – will inspire him to a victory.
“I hadn’t seen mum in about 2.5 years, basically so it’s been a long time,” he told AGD. “I picked her and my sister up from the airport. It was quite emotional my mum and my sister broke down in tears … it’s great to have them here.”
Smith is currently the top Australian while Lucas Herbert is Smith’s only countryman to make the 36-hole cut.
The cut fell at two over and it meant an early exit for Jason Day, Cam Davis, Marc Leishman (three over), Adam Scott (four over) and Matt Jones (five over).
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