Cam Smith will end his frustrating season without an individual victory in a calendar year for the first time since 2019 -- but only after a dramatic final-day charge took the Australian superstar into a dramatic playoff for the $US1 million winner's prize at the Saudi International.
Fellow LIV Golf ace Joaquin Niemann ended up the one to hit the jackpot, worth $A1.6 million, in the season-ending Asian Tour showpiece at Riyadh Golf Club on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Yet even the Chilean winner was shocked by a dazzling final round of the year from the Queenslander - a nine-under-par 62, including three birdies in the last four holes - which fired Smith out of the pack and into the three-man playoff.
Even after he had put the pressure on Niemann and 20-year-old American Caleb Surratt with his spectacular, flawless nine-birdie round, Smith could hardly have believed he'd get into the playoff as he watched for an hour from the clubhouse with the final pair needing only to par the last to leave him one-shot short.
Remarkably, though, Surratt (66) drove into a lake and Niemann (67) into the trees, both bogeying to ensure they all finished on 21-under and giving Smith a wholly unexpected chance to win his first individual event of the year at his final 2024 tournament.
All three birdied the first playoff hole, before both Smith and Surratt missed shortish birdie putts at the second extra hole, while overnight leader Niemann, who'd missed a five-footer at the last to take the title in regulation, came up big with a lovely lob shot that set-up a birdie tap-in.
Niemann was amazed by Smith's charge from the sixth-to-last group. "Never thought we were going to be in a play-off with Cam Smith," he shrugged.
"He was early, an hour before us when he was done. I thought we were going to stay away from the 21-under - but you never know in golf.â
âIt was a bonus for me to even get in to the playoff, to be fair, having been sitting down for an hour and a bit after my round," conceded Smith, who's had some near misses in recent weeks in a bid to break his season's duck, even though he did win the lucrative LIV Golf team title with his Australian Ripper GC teammates.
"Itâs kind of lucky there wasnât any beers in the clubhouse because I would have had a few, I think!
"It was fine. I did what I had to do. Obviously, a shame to miss the putt there in the playoff...
"I was thinking my percentage of having a top-five finish was very slim. Yeah, itâs a weird game sometimes," added the 31-year-old, whose substantial consolation was a year-ending cheque for $US412,500 ($A645,000).
It was the third win of the year for Niemann, after winning LIV Golf tournaments in Jeddah and Mayakoba, and his first in a 72-hole event since lifting theAustralian Open title last year.
