Cameron Smith's Olympic dream shattered by fellow Aussie amid PGA Championship struggle
The LIV Golf star had a disappointing showing at the year's second major.
Cameron Smith's hopes of featuring for Australia at the Paris Olympic Games this year are all but over after a disappointing final round at the PGA Championship, coupled with a solid finish for compatriot Min Woo Lee. American Xander Schauffele (65) finally broke through for his maiden major golf title after holding his nerve and holing a clutch birdie at the 18th to finish on 21-under and beat compatriot Bryson DeChambeau (64) by one shot.
But it was a final round and a tournament to forget for Smith, who needed a strong showing in Kentucky to keep his dreams of playing in the Paris Games alive. Unfortunately for Smith, the former Open champion finished exactly where he was after the opening round - at three-under par. The Queenslander closed with an underwhelming two-over final round of 73 after struggling to get anything going over the weekend.
That saw him finish the major championship in a tie for 63rd that sees Smith slip further down the all-important world rankings charts. Only two Aussie men will qualify for the Olympics based on their rankings, with Australia's No.1 golfer and World No.19 Jason Day comfortably sitting in the box seat for Australia. Day also finished above Smith in a tie for 43rd at six-under for the tournament.
It effectively leaves Smith in a battle with Lee for the final spot on Australia's Olympic men's golf team, but the fact the Queenslander does not earn rankings points on the LIV tour is hurting his chances. Lee further boosted his hopes in Kentucky by closing with a final round of four-under 67 to shoot himself into a tie for 26th, before declaring that he was “trending in the right direction”.
“My driving wasn’t too good the last couple of days,” Lee said after a positive finish to the major tournament that boosts his Olympic hopes. “If my driving’s up to scratch, then I can definitely attack and make some more birdies. But it didn’t feel comfortable over the last two days, so it was quite tough to make some birdies.
Another hole out for Min Woo Lee!
That's his third birdie on the day 🐦⬛#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/9SCDSSPi1R— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 17, 2024
Min Woo Lee strengthens Olympics bid as Cam Smith falters
“So I thought I did pretty good with my recovery (game) the last few days and, yeah, very happy. I’m definitely trending in the right direction. I feel like I’m slowly becoming a better player. I left some out there but that’s just how it is and I think we can learn from that. A solid week.”
Lee has jumped two places in the world rankings to sit at No.36, with Smith dropping five places at 66. And it means the LIV star would need to win next month's US Open at Pinehurst to have any chance of leap-frogging Lee, who will continue racking up the rankings points on the PGA Tour, while Smith heads back to the LIV tour before the year’s third major.
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The three-time Australian PGA Championship winner is desperate to make the Games team after falling narrowly short of a podium finish in Tokyo three years ago. Smith bogeyed the final hole to miss a seven-man bronze-medal play-off in Japan, with no Aussie golfer ever winning an Olympic medal.
Xander Schauffele wins maiden major in record fashion
This year's PGA Championship winner Schauffele won the gold medal at the Tokyo Games and until Sunday in Kentucky was regarded as the best player to have never won a major. He changed that with a wire-to-wire victory that included a record nine-under 62 in the opening round and an unprecedented 21-under total - the lowest in major championship history.
Schauffele carded a final round of 65 at Valhalla to secure his long-awaited maiden major title, winning by a shot from a fast-finishing DeChambeau (64), with Norway's Viktor Hovland (66) two strokes further back in third. The 30-year-old had boasted a dozen top-10 finishes at the majors, including runner-up showings at the British Open in 2018 and Masters in 2019, without previously breaking through.
"I am very satisfied. I'm tired. Once I sat down in scoring, I felt a little bit more tired. But just a whirlwind of emotions," Schauffele said. "I knew I had to birdie the last hole, looking up at the board. I was trying to squeak a birdie in there somehow just to have some kind of cushion. It was a hectic birdie as well but it was awesome."
with agencies
