Cameron Smith wins The Players 2022

In the final round on Stadium par72 of TPC Sawgrass golf complex, Smith hit 66 strokes, including 10 birdies and four bogeys. Despite the negligence on the last hole, Smith still dropped one stroke from runner-up Anirban Lahiri. Lahiri received $2.18 million in a $20 million bonus fund. He is the only Asian representative in the top 50 finalists.

Cameron Smith wins The Players 2022

On the closing day of March 14, the Organizing Committee arranged a starting point at hole 1 and hole 10 to close the curtain in the evening, according to local time, due to the storm delaying the schedule by a day.

Lahiri entered the final round with the advantage of holding the top of the table (-9), two strokes away from Smith. Through six holes with five birdies, Smith took the lead with a two-stroke advantage, with the highlight of the six-hole birdie from a 2.7-meter putt.

After bogey from hole 7 to hole 9, Smith opened a string of four birdies from hole 10. At 17th par3 oasis with the target on the back of the green, about 3.6 meters from the edge of the lake, Smith ventured to shoot the pennant straight. . The ball stopped 1.2 meters from the hole for him to birdie. At this point, he led three sticks.

But on the par4 18 hole, he missed again – hit the tree line to the left of the fairway, the second hit the water hazard on the left. After dropping the ball, with a penalty stroke, Smith hit the green with a wedge 0.9 away from the target, then locked the bogey and finished at -13.

Meanwhile, Lahiri went up to -12 after birdie on hole 17. He needed to birdie on par4 18 to drag Smith into the three-hole playoff. But the Indian player only kept par due to three new shots on the green. The whole game, Lahiri scored an eagle, three birdies and the only omission was a double bogey on the 8th hole.

In addition to Lahiri, Paul Casey was in the same group and competed with Smith. On the par5 16th hole, Casey was two strokes from Smith, thinking he had a chance to get close when he hit the fairway, and his opponent played in the pine line.

But unfortunately Casey, when the ball stopped right at the foot prints of his colleague ahead, and the field was not completely dry after the rain. So, after the shot, Casey was 210 yards from the pennant, but only 207 yards more for the next two shots. He entered the green on the fourth shot and kept par with a 2.1-meter putt. Smith also closed par after hitting 111 yards out of the jungle, a third on the green and two putts.

Adding The Players 2022, Smith, 28 years old and nine years professional, won five PGA Tour championships. When he finished first in the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii on January 10, he raised the PGA Tour championship ceiling to -34, while the old record was at -31. This week, Smith is sixth in the world, four places higher than last week.