Cameron Smith earns play-off victory at Sony Open

Cameron Smith claimed a late play-off victory over Brendan Steele to win the Sony Open

Cameron Smith birdie the 72nd hole at the Sony Open to tie the lead with Brendan Steele, and went on win the first individual PGA Tour win of his career with a par on the first play-off hole. 

The Australian, whose only other PGA Tour win came at the 2017 Zurich Classic with partner Jonas Blixt, fired a two-under 68 in difficult conditions to get to 11-under and force sudden death, before a two-putt par on the first trip up the 10th was enough to secure victory. 

“That’s been one that I’ve wanted to tick off for a long time,” Smith said of his first individual PGA Tour title at Waialae Country Club. “I’ve been out here four or five years now, and to finally say that I have won an event by myself is quite good.

“My first individual win on the PGA TOUR, it’s definitely going to be one I never forget for sure. Given the conditions and how tough it was, I’ll definitely draw back on this in the future for sure.”

Starting the day with a three-shot lead, Steele missed an eight-footer to save par at the second but made a tap-in birdie at the par-five ninth and holed his bunker shot on the 11th to restore his overnight advantage.

Smith closed the gap with a five-foot birdie at the next and moved within one when Steele three-putted the 13th from 40 feet, only for the Australian to drop a shot of his own at the 15th after failing to get up and down from a bunker.

Steele missed a six-foot par putt at the 17th to see his lead cut to one heading to the par-five last, where he hooked his approach on his way to a closing par and Smith made birdie to extend the contest.

The play-off saw Steele hit a wedge over the green from the middle of the fairway and fail to get up and down to save par, allowing Smith to secure victory with a two-putt par from 10 feet.

“I mean, just had to hang in there,” Smith said of his win. “No one was playing good golf today seemed like. Conditions got a lot easier at the end there, but just hung in there, and what do you know.

“Didn’t feel like I played particularly well, but just did the — made the putts that I had to make, and you know, those up and downs to kind of keep the momentum going a little bit I managed to get up and down. It was a struggle all day, though. The conditions were wet and a little bit windy this morning.

“Two or three holes left I really didn’t think there was much of a shot. I knew I had to play some good golf, and I holed a good putt on 18, which felt good. Yeah, I mean, just kind of all fell into shape.”

And it’s been an emotional time for Smith off the course too, due to the bushfires ravaging Australia. In his press conference he talked about his uncle Warren, who has already lost most of his house and farm and is living with Smith at the moment. 

Smith, who was donating $500 for every birdie he made this week to the relief efforts, said he hoped his victory would raise spirits. 

“Yeah, bit of a tough time for my uncle,” he said. “He went back down there on Monday or Tuesday. Bit of a long drive. What he found was quite devastating. Kind of saw the photos, and, yeah, the only thing he had left was a little shed that him and his son built a few months back.

“Yeah, we’re a tight knit family and kind of hit everyone pretty hard. It’s good to do something good, and hopefully puts a smile on their face.”