2022 Masters: Cam Smith on 12th hole disaster “It was a terrible swing”
Cameron Smith pushed Scottie Scheffler through the majority of Sunday, but on the 12th hole he hit a shot that he called “terrible”
2022 Players Champion Cameron Smith began Sunday’s round at the Masters needing to produce something special to have any chance of beating Scottie Scheffler to this year’s green jacket.
The Australian started the final round on Sunday three shots adrift of the eventual Masters champion. That gap was quickly cut down to two after he birdied his opening hole, and it appeared as though we were in for a competitive finale on Sunday at the Masters.
Another birdie on the 2nd further cut into Scottie Scheffler’s lead, but it was on the Par 4, 3rd hole, that things drastically shifted once again. A mistake off the tee resulted in a tricky second for Smith, who hit a pretty good shot, but it came up just short of the green and rolled back down the hill. Cameron Smith would leave the 3rd hole with his first bogey of the round after failing to get up and down for his Par save.
Meanwhile, on that very same hole, Scottie Scheffler produced a moment of magic. After coming up short of the green with his second he would go on to chip in from off the green with his third. The three-shot lead he had begun the day with was restored in a matter of moments, truth be told it was one of the more pivotal moments of the entire round on Sunday.
Smith would drop another shot on the very next hole, the Par 3, 4th, after his tee shot came up just short of the green and found the bunker, once again he was unable to get up and down for Par.
“I hit some pretty good shots, I thought, especially on the 4th hole. That 5-iron I hit in there was probably one of the best swings of the day, and to walk off with bogey was a bit frustrating, but yeah, that’s it,” he reminisced.
The deficit grew to four as Scheffler was able to save his Par. One of Cameron Smith’s best shots of the day, according to him, cost him a shot. His worst swing of the day would be decisive in determining the Masters champion.
Cameron Smith found disaster on the iconic 12th hole at the Masters
The Australian had just cut into the lead once again after finding birdie on the 11th before he made his way to the iconic Par 3. Cameron Smith stepped into the tee box at ‘Golden Bell’ knowing he had a good chance of applying some more pressure onto Scheffler, as the lead was back down to three.
Smith pulled out his 9 iron and struck his tee shot, he knew immediately that it was a poor shot and he watched on helplessly as it drifted short right of the green and found the water.
“Just a really bad swing at the wrong time. It was actually a really good number. It was a really nice 9-iron. Wasn’t even trying to go near that pin, and, yeah, just a really poor swing,” he described after the round.
The 28-year-old knew it was a bad shot right away he said.
“Yeah. Yeah, it was a terrible swing,” he added.
The ensuing third shot missed the green to the right as he would go on to record a triple-bogey on the challenging hole. Scheffler, meanwhile, made Par and the lead was six. The 12th hole played as the second most difficult hole on the course on Sunday.
Smith finished his final round by adding another bogey to the card, before bouncing back with two birdies, for a closing 73.
The iconic hole once again played a large role in determining the outcome of the Masters, as it has done on numerous other occasions. It can also be blamed for costing Smith quite a bit of money, though he won’t mention that. It cost Cameron potentially 2 million dollars, which is what Scheffler walked away with, and it assuredly cost him at least an additional 800 thousand dollars, which is what second-place finisher Rory McIlroy earned.
Cameron Smith was understandably emotional after his round.
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“I feel like I’ve played some of my best golf around here. It’s quite frustrating, I guess, to not walk away with a win yet, but at the same token, I look forward to the challenge of coming back here next year and trying to do it again,” Smith said.
The Masters dream for this year vanished for the Aussie on one “terrible shot”. Sure he will have more opportunities to win his own green jacket in the future, but this one will sting for a while.