By Tony Webeck

An all-or-nothing approach on the 72nd hole backfired for Cameron Smith but the Queenslander remained upbeat after finishing tied for fifth at the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind in Tennessee, his best finish in a WGC event.

In a week highlighted by a round of 62 on Friday that required just 18 putts to equal the PGA TOUR record, Smith stood on the 18th tee on Sunday in the hunt to claim the biggest win of his career.

Needing a par on the last to post 16-under and potentially join the playoff ultimately won by Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, Smith hit his tee shot into the trees right of the fairway.

Eschewing the conservative approach, Smith struck a tree with his second shot (watch here), the ball careening out of bounds as he closed with a double bogey and final round of 2-over 72.

“I wanted to win,” Smith explained, who was tied with Harris English at 16-under at the time.

“I didn't want to chip it out and leave my chances in Harry's hands. He was still 16-under at the time.

“I wanted to make sure I had a good look at birdie and I just didn't execute it.

“There was a little gap up there. I had to hit like a medium flight draw and I tried to hit it. I just hit it too far right. The actual flight of it was good, it just hit the tree there on the right.”

Identifying the driver as an area of focus leading into the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Smith said his first priority after a whirlwind few weeks at The Open and the Olympics is to get a fishing rod back in his hand.

“We've been pretty busy lately and it's been hot as well, so it takes it out of you, especially being in contention as well, mentally draining,” said Smith, whose 93 putts for the week was just one shy of the PGA TOUR record set by David Frost at the 2005 RBC Heritage.

“Nice week off on the boat, I'll be happy.

“I was really disappointed with how I hit my driver on the weekend. A week at home working on the driver, especially for the Playoffs, I think three tough driving courses, I need to get that in shape.”

Smith was far and away the best of the Aussies in Memphis, Adam Scott closing with a 4-under 68 to share 36th position along with Victorians Lucas Herbert (69) and Marc Leishman (73).

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou moved to second on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit courtesy of her fourth-place finish at the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande in Spain.

With American Alison Lee racing away with a five-stroke win at the top of the leaderboard, Kyriacou closed with an even-par 72 to improve her position in the Race to Costa Del Sol points race.

In Utah, a run of five birdies in the space of six holes at the Utah Championship has put New South Welshman Brett Drewitt within reach of a return to the PGA TOUR next season.

Starting the day tied for 23rd, Drewitt was losing ground to the field as he made 11 straight pars to start his final round but a regulation birdie at the par-4 12th was followed by four on the trot from the 14th hole to end the week tied for 21st.

As a result, Drewitt moved up one place to 22nd on the Korn Ferry Tour order of merit, the top 25 after next week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship to earn promotion to the PGA TOUR next season.

Results

World Golf Championships

FedEx St Jude Invitational

TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee

Winner Abraham Ancer 67-62-67-68—264         $US1.82m        

T5        Cameron Smith 67-62-65-72—266         $380,667

T36      Adam Scott       74-66-70-68—278         $59,000

T36      Lucas Herbert   69-70-70-69—278         $59,000

T36      Marc Leishman 65-71-69-73—278         $59,000

T43      Brad Kennedy   67-70-70-72—279         $53,000

T51      Matt Jones        69-68-74-70—281         $45,000

T51      Wade Ormsby   69-71-68-73—281         $45,000

60        Cam Davis         68-72-73-72—285         $38,000

62        Min Woo Lee    67-75-74-72—288         $37,000

PGA TOUR

Barracuda Championship

Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood Cse), Truckee, California

Winner Erik van Rooyen 7-17-10-16—50             $US630,000

T23      Aaron Baddeley 3-10-11-6—30  $32,375

T34      Greg Chalmers  9-6-12-0—27    $18,235

T64      Cameron Percy 5-13-(-1)-0—17 $7,560

T66      Rhein Gibson    6-4-2-3—15      $7,385

MC       John Senden     2-4—6

European Tour

Hero Open

Fairmont St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Winner Grant Forrest    68-68-62-66—264         €189,530

T23      Daniel Hillier     69-70-67-69—275         €12,533

T56      Scott Hend        72-69-71-71—283         €4,327

T70      Jake McLeod     75-67-72-72—286         €3,162

T72      Austin Bautista 72-70-74-73—289         €2,660

MC       Deyen Lawson  78-71—149

MC       Josh Geary        76-75—151

MC       Dimitrios Papadatos      72-79—151

Korn Ferry Tour

Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank

Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, Utah

Winner Joshua Creel     63-68-65-64—260         $US108,000

T21      Brett Drewitt    69-67-66-66—268         $6,336

T55      Curtis Luck        74-62-67-70—273         $2,508

T58      Ryan Ruffels      68-68-67-71—274         $2,436

MC       Harrison Endycott         70-68—138

MC       Jamie Arnold     69-69—138

MC       Brett Coletta     71-73—144

Challenge Tour

Vierumäki Finnish Challenge

Vierumäki Resort, Vierumäki, Finland

Winner Marcus Helligkilde         61-67-66-71—265         €32,000

MC       Bryden Macpherson      72-72—144

Ladies European Tour

Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande

La Reserva Club De Sotogrande, Spain

Winner Alison Lee         65-65-71—201  €25,341

4          Stephanie Kyriacou       67-71-72—210  €7,602

MC       Victoria Fricot   82-79-75—236

LET Access Series

GolfUppsala Open

Soderby, Sweden

Winner Kajsa Arwefjall (a)         69-72-72—213  ------

T53      Kristalle Blum   80-76-77—233  €426

Symetra Tour

Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship

Battle Creek Country Club, Battle Creek, Michigan

Winner Fernanda Lira    70-65-62—197  $US26,250

T13      Julienne Soo     71-70-67—208  $2,865

T27      Robyn Choi       68-69-74—211  $1,476

T27      Soo Jin Lee        66-70-75—211  $1,476

MC       Stephanie Na    74-73—147

MC       Hira Naveed      76-76—152

Rose Ladies Series

JCB Golf and Country Club

Winner Gabriella Cowley           72        £10,000

T2        Whitney Hillier  72        £1,417

Scotscraig Golf Club

Winner Caroline Inglis   66        £10,000

T6        Whitney Hillier  71

T17      Amy Walsh       73