Smith overcomes weather delays to win third Australian PGA title

Local hero Cameron Smith defied all the challenges, including two unsettling storm stoppages, to claim his third Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland on Sunday.

The 29-year-old world number three added a three-under 68 to earlier rounds of 68-65-69 for a 14-under total of 270 to beat Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (67-70-71-65) and the luckless Jason Scrivener (65-67-74-67) by three shots.

His mother, Sharon, and father, Des, showered him with champagne after his final putt fell on the 18th green.

“It’s awesome mate, I didn’t think I had it in me at the start of the week,” said a champagne-drenched Smith.

“It was frustrating to have not one, but two stoppages.”

READ: Cam Smith humbled by local support ahead of Australian PGA

What many expected would be a formality for Smith turned into a mental battle for this year’s British Open winner, who struggled at times with his swing tempo during a round that took seven hours to complete.

West Australian Scrivener nipped at Smith like a Blue Heeler cattle dog all day until his brave challenge came to grief at the short par-three 17th party hole.

Just one behind, Scrivener’s tee shot to the 125-metre bowl-shaped green stopped on the fringe near a sprinkler head.

To his horror, he putted into the bunker, walking off with a double bogey and virtually handing Smith the Joe Kirkwood Cup.

Smith started his final round with a three-shot lead.

But when he stood over his tee shot on the short 292-metre par 4 12th hole he found himself locked in a three-way tie with Scrivener and Japan’s Hisatsune, ranked 217 in the world, on 11-under.

Two holes later, Smith had drained back-to-back putts for successive birdies at 12 and 13 to once again lead by two.

Smith, 29, is playing his way into the history books, joining Peter Senior and Peter Lonard as three-time winners of the Kirkwood Cup.

Kel Nagle holds the Australian PGA record with six wins, followed by Bill Dunk (five) with Norman Von Nida and Robert Allenby on four apiece.

To capture his maiden Australian Open next week in Melbourne would cap an incredible 12 months for the kid from Wantima Country Club.

It started back in January with a leisurely 34-under-par PGA Tour record to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, followed up a few months later with a $5 million payday in the Players Championship in March.

In July, Smith confirmed his status as one of the world’s best by taking out the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in Scotland in stunning style.

The following month, he became the first of golf’s top 10 ranked players to join the rebel Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, setting himself and his family up for life with a contract reportedly worth in the vicinity of $140 million.

It didn’t take the young Queenslander long to post his maiden LIV Golf victory, winning in Chicago almost before the ink had dried on his mind-boggling deal and pocketing another $6 million in prize money.

Today’s winner’s cheque of $323,000 was mere pocket money for one of Australia’s highest-paid sports stars, who will shout the bar at his local Wantima club as he does after every win.

Last week Smith collected his second Greg Norman Medal in the past three years — he also won it in 2020 — as Australia’s best-performed male or female golfer.

Sunday marked his 10th career win with the promise of many more to come.

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