The Players Championship happened this weekend at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra from Thursday, Mar. 10 to Monday, Mar. 14. 

Cameron Smith took the champion title and became the fifth Australian to win the contest. Smith finished with a score of 13 under par, only just beating Anirban Lahiri by one shot. There was a close call toward the end, as on 18, Smith landed his second shot in the water and Lahiri birdied on 17, the iconic par-3 “Island Green”. Despite this, Smith pulled through in the very end for the final win. 

In his post-win interview, Smith detailed his preparation, or rather lack thereof.

“…didn’t spend much time at the golf course last week…spent a lot of time here this week obviously” Smith said. 

He went on to explain that his family was in town from Australia and he had spent time with them. He also mentioned that he does not like to spend a lot of time on the actual course, but rather on the practice fields in the back, which coincidentally is where the flag of the champion goes for a year after their win. 

Along with the flag and the trophy, the winner gets to cash in as well.This year had a record breaking event purse (the pool of prize money) of $20 million, up $5 million from the previous year. Smith received the winner’s share of $3.6 million and the lowest ranked competitors received $43,000. 

The weather fluctuated throughout the tournament, with wind, rain and Florida sunshine all weekend. Ponte Vedra reached a low of 33°F on Sunday and a high of 71°F and 1.371 inches of rain on Saturday. Torrential rains on Friday led to the championship taking an extra day when the first round was delayed twice.

Regardless of the rain delays and wind, this year’s TPC was one for the books.