Cam Smith lost the PGA. But it didn’t look close

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Cam Smith was here before. But he had never been there here for a while.

As the Philadelphia sun beat down on Aronimink’s 18th green on Sunday, Smith surveyed the fairway, which was getting colder by the minute. When the Australian started his final round at the PGA Championship, he had a number in his head. He saw Justin Thomas come out and post a 5 under and noticed the leaderboard was full of traffic behind him struggling for points as the course tightened. He wouldn’t make it to his target, 6 under, but he had 14 feet between him and a closing birdie to match Thomas and tie the clubhouse lead. Fourteen feet to get the slimmest chance of staying alive on the No. 2 major.

“I just wanted to make the putt,” Smith said.

Smith, who has been riding a hot putter all Sunday at Aronimink, made one smooth stroke and sent the ball into the hole. It was trailing but broke at the last second for a closing par and a 2-under 68 to come home at 4 under, courtesy of Thomas’ one shot. A few hours later, it would be five shots behind the winner, Aaron Rai, leaving Smith with T7.

But at the time, what mattered was that Cam Smith was close to where he wanted to be. Since they have been close for a very long time.

In 2022, the Australian rose to the top of the golf world. He won the Players and then ran down Rory McIlroy on Sunday at the Open to win in St. Andrews. He joined LIV Golf later that summer and remained one of the best players in the world until mid-2024. Beginning with the 2024 PGA at Valhalla, Smith missed six of the eight major cuts and fell outside of being seen as a legitimate tournament threat.

Missing out on the Masters in April left him despondent. He heard all the noise about joining LIV and losing his competitive drive. It was nonsense. He never lost his edge; his game was just smooth. He has been grinding to find it and be his old self. But sometimes golf doesn’t always give you what you think it should.

“You don’t work hard to play crap, and it’s frustrating, and the last few years have been frustrating,” Smith said Sunday at Aronimink. “I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and not getting anything out of it.”

This week at Aronimink, Cam Smith finally made another appearance. Eventually the work paid off.

Smith started Sunday’s final round four shots behind 54-hole leader Alex Smalley but held firm in the major tournament. He made birdies on Nos. 3, 5 and 9 to reach the middle of the lead and send a jolt through the Philadelphia crowd. He was firmly back in the pot, the place he longed to return to. That’s when he felt free, or at least he did.

But when you haven’t been under the big gun of a tournament for a long time, it all feels new for a while. Smith accepted the emotions and the pressure. If you’ve been looking for a way back to where you want to go, finally knowing you’re on the right path can fill your soul, even if you haven’t reached your destination yet.

“Thanks for bringing that up. I’ve been gone for a while. You’re right,” Smith said, laughing. “It was great. I love that stuff. That’s why we compete. We compete to win, and it was nice to get your heart rate up and, you know, feel your hands and your legs get a little jelly. It was cool.”

Sunday at Aronimink was vintage Cam Smith. He drove all of Donald Ross’s gold medal, reaching a lot of places that major tournament competitors don’t plan to be on a Sunday afternoon. But every time it looked like he was about to break free, Smith’s weapons — his short game and his putter — bailed him out.

He made momentum-saving par putts on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 15th. Smith’s fans cheer as he walks between the tees and shares a laugh with his caddy as they prepare for each shot. The high pressure of a championship can do all kinds of things to all kinds of golfers, regardless of their resume. But on Sunday, as the PGA Championship was decided, Cam Smith looked home. He finally got back to where he was supposed to be.

“I feel like I’ve been hitting the bigs my whole career,” Smith said. “I feel like I was able to play my best golf in the majors, and that kind of fell through. I don’t think it was for lack of hard work. I just think you lose a little bit of confidence in your swing and maybe in your mind, and it can all happen so quickly. I’m proud of the way I hung in there today, and I’m proud of the way I showed up this week with a new mindset, with a new mindset.”

That new mindset and new dynamic came when Smith made the “bad” decision to fire his longtime swing coach, Grant Field, who he had worked with since he was nine, and hire Claude Harmon. It’s a decision that still haunts Smith, but this week at Aronimink was proof that he’s finally on his way back to being Cam Smith.

Cam Smith felt it. Everyone else saw it on Sunday.

When that last birdie attempt was missed, and the end of Smith’s PGA Championship was sealed, he took off his hat and kissed his caddy. He threw the ball at a young fan when he was going to score. This was a long time coming. Cam Smith traveled through a lot of darkness to attend Philadelphia’s big sunday at Aronimink, win or lose.

“I’ve had so many bad weeks or bad weeks the last couple of years that you just expect it to explode,” Smith told GOLF near the Aronimink clubhouse. “It was good that it went ahead and didn’t do that.

“I’m happy with how I stayed there, and I believe I’m doing the right things.”

As Sunday at Aronimink went down, the majors left the field empty-handed, throwing away a missed opportunity to add to their studies. But Cam Smith felt differently. He left Philadelphia with something he had been chasing – he finally felt like Cam Smith again.