Cameron Smith has put himself in position for his biggest-ever win after three rounds of the Dell Technologies Championship on the United States PGA Tour.
Smith, the 25-year-old Brisbane boy who leads the group of brilliant young Australians out on tour, is tied-fourth, two shots from the lead at 11-under par going into the final day of the PGA Tour’s second playoff tournament at TPC Boston.
The Queenslander could have been a shot closer; he hit a superb long iron shot to eagle range on the par-five 18th but missed the sliding putt from just more than two metres. Still, he carded a third-round 67 that puts him right in the mix.
Smith has only Mexican Web.com Tour graduate Abraham Ancer (13-under) and American Bryson DeChambeau and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (12-under) ahead of him.
Another Australian, Marc Leishman, has a sneaky chance tomorrow, sitting at eight-under par, five shots from the lead.
Smith has not won an individual event on the main tour; his one victory was in a teams format with Jonas Blixt last season. But he is in a rich vein of form at the moment. He was tied-third in the Northern Trust, the first playoff event, last week and in contention again at Boston, coming into this event ranked 16th on the Fedex Cup points list and virtually certain to leap a few more places tomorrow.
As it stands, he is projected to jump to ninth on that list which means he would be a certainty to play the Tour Championship in Atlanta later this month, restricted to the top 30 players on tour, for the first time.
“I’m going to go out there tomorrow, stay aggressive,’’ he said. “I’m in a good spot, struck it really good today. (I) just need the putts to go in tomorrow.’’