JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Cam Smith’s mullet hairdo wasn’t the only thing on fire on Saturday. So was his game.
On a calm, overcast day, Smith put on a ball striking clinic and took advantage of receptive greens during the third round of the Northern Trust, carding 11 birdies and had a 12-foot birdie putt at 18 to shoot golf’s magical number. Sadly, the Aussie native knew he’d misread his putt to become the 12th man to break 60 on the PGA Tour as the birdie effort started left and never turned back to the right.
“Looking back at it, I don’t know how I read it to go that way but it is what it is,” Smith said.
Smith, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Wednesday, was left to think about what could’ve been but also appreciated that he’d set the course record at Liberty National Golf Club and also shot the lowest score of his life.
“I shot 62 at my home club in Brisbane,” he said. “But 62 out there is not 62 out here.”
Northern Trust: Scores | Photos | Get to know Liberty National
Smith, a three-time Tour winner including at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, began with birdies on five of his first six holes and chipped in at the ninth from 30 feet right of the green with his lob wedge to tour the first nine in 6-under 30.
“If you’d have seen me hit the ball yesterday you wouldn’t have thought that I had a chance (of going low),” said Smith, who made only nine birdies combined in the first two rounds.
He opened the second nine with a birdie at 10 and another at 13. Smith started thinking about 59 after taking dead aim from 147 yards – “a perfect number,” he said – with a wedge and dropping it to kick-in distance. If there was one putt he’ll lose sleep over, he said it would be his uphill 10-foot birdie putt at 15 that he tugged left.
“If I was picky, I’d say I left a few out there, but that would be rude,” he said.
Saturday 60.
Cameron Smith owns the new course record at Liberty National. pic.twitter.com/ezoukR5VHz
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 21, 2021
One hole later, he drove the green with a 3-wood at the 290-yard par-4 16th, but burned the left edge on his 16-foot eagle putt. He tapped in for birdie to go to 10-under for the day. Still, after he missed the eagle, he told his caddie he didn’t think he had a chance.
“Last two holes here are pretty brutal, especially 18,” he explained.
But he had been playing all day with a different swing thought that he tried out that morning on the range – “try to cover the ball.” Inconsistency off the tee had been plaguing him of late, but he stepped up and hit two beauties at the final two holes to give him a chance at golf’s magical number.
“I just get a little bit behind it and I felt like today my body was just moving a little bit different and I was able to cover the ball,” he said.
His 306-yard poke at 17 set up a nifty wedge to 4 feet and he made the putt to give himself a chance at a piece of history at the last. He crushed his drive 342 yards to the left-center of the fairway and planted a wedge to 12 feet.
As he made his way to the green, the fans saluted him with a mixture of throaty cheers and wolf whistles. One fan yelled, “You’re a rabid dog, Cam!”
“The New York crowd is pretty brutal at some points, and they were right behind me, so that was pretty cool,” Smith said later.
He tamped down spike marks, went through his Aim Point routine, but as soon as he struck his putt for 59, he lifted his head and knew he’d misread it. He tapped in for 60 and a 54-hole total of 16-under 197, made a weak wave to the crowd and enjoyed the applause as he walked off the green with a two-stroke lead at the time.
“It’s a bit of a weird one,” Smith said of coming so close to membership in one of golf’s most exclusive clubs only to fall short. “But I think I’m happy.”
He’ll have an extra day to savor the memories as the final round of the Northern Trust has been postponed until Monday due to Tropical Storm Henri. Smith said he’s never experienced a day off in the middle of a tournament, and he’d likely spend the day laying around, going to the gym and trying to stay loose. But he confirmed there’s no chance he’ll be getting a haircut.
“It’s like my good luck charm,” he said. “I can’t cut it off at the minute. Maybe a couple bad months of golf, it will come off, but until then, it’s staying.”