Smith is currently ranked sixth in the world and fresh off a victory at the Players Championship. He's on the rise, and he just might see green this week.
Now draw a picture of a green jacket with a mullet on the back collar.
It could happen this week. While no player looks less like a Masters champion than Cameron Smith, with The Mullet the young Australian (yes, it deserves its capital letters), no player's game looks more like a Masters champion than Smith. .
In fact, no player without a major championship already on the resume is a more clear Masters pick than Smith, who is ranked sixth in the world. He has finished second, fifth and tenth in three of his last four Masters and is coming off a solid win at The Players Championship that revealed him as the best putter in the game.
Forget No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. A Masters win could propel Smith up to No. 1 in the UWMR-unofficial World Mullet Rankings. I looked it up on the internet and there's no consensus on Greatest of All Time but the contenders for Best in Mullet include Billy Ray Cyrus (still?), Charlie Sheen, Andre Agassi (before their expiration date), a young Chuck Norris . (Chuck Norris was once young?), Ellen DeGeneres (hey, this is gender-inclusive stuff) and, I'm not making it up, Florence Henderson. You'd think the Internet would be more operational, right? Henderson and "The Partridge Family" ceased airing in 1974, 19 years before the 28-year-old Smith was born.
Masters has a long history of hair care. In 1972, Ben Crenshaw arrived to play his first Masters. He had won a pair of NCAA titles for the golfer next door, had good looks and long hair. It was the '70s, after all, that gave us bell-bottoms and Sansabelt slacks. He was introduced to tournament president Clifford Roberts, recalled Crenshaw ahead of the 2015 Masters, and Roberts talked about the many Texans who had done well in the tournament and how they fought oil leases and trades in Texas. Spent time selling clothes. By the way, Ben, did you know there's a barbershop on the ground right across from the locker room's front porch? Crenshaw took the hint and immediately ducked for a haircut.
(Barbershop has been around for a long time now. I once got an expensive haircut in the early 1980s and the barber finally used some sort of power-tool scalp massager and, wow, that's amazing.) And then came a cloud of talcum powder on my head.)
Fifty years later, it is a different time. We have other problems in this country, but hairstyles are not one of them. Credit Smith, not his intention, for coming up with a way to make himself easily recognizable. He just likes mullet. As for his mother, "I think she's coming around to it, a little bit," Smith joked before heading out for a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Monday.
Smith has inadvertently created his own brand with his hairstyles. Meet Cam Smith, the mullet-man of the people. You just can't hate a guy with a mullet.
Masters has a long history of hair care. In 1972, Ben Crenshaw arrived to play his first Masters. He had won a pair of NCAA titles for the golfer next door, had good looks and long hair. It was the '70s, after all, that gave us bell-bottoms and Sansabelt slacks. He was introduced to tournament president Clifford Roberts, recalled Crenshaw ahead of the 2015 Masters, and Roberts talked about the many Texans who had done well in the tournament and how they fought oil leases and trades in Texas. Spent time selling clothes. By the way, Ben, did you know there's a barbershop on the ground right across from the locker room's front porch? Crenshaw took the hint and immediately ducked for a haircut.
(Barbershop has been around for a long time now. I once got an expensive haircut in the early 1980s and the barber finally used some sort of power-tool scalp massager and, wow, that's amazing.) And then came a cloud of talcum powder on my head.)
Fifty years later, it is a different time. We have other problems in this country, but hairstyles are not one of them. Credit Smith, not his intention, for coming up with a way to make himself easily recognizable. He just likes mullet. As for his mother, "I think she's coming around to it, a little bit," Smith joked before heading out for a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Monday.
Smith has inadvertently created his own brand with his hairstyles. Meet Cam Smith, the mullet-man of the people. You just can't hate a guy with a mullet.
Of course, there are no bets at Bushwood Country Club, but I put a few pesos on Smith to win the Masters via DraftKings.com. (For context, I bet Scotty Scheffler to win match play before match play begins, a nice payoff, but last week I piled on Ryan Palmer when he jumped into the Valero Open lead. So I'm someone I'm not a clairvoyant and I'm not staying at the Holiday Inn during Masters week either.)
There's a lot to like about The Mullet. Smith was runner-up to Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Masters, which was played in November with dramatically different conditions, and became the first player in his 60s to post all four rounds. You can't forget his sizzling player finish at TPC Sagars, which included ten birdies and 13 one-putts.
He has experience with 2015 Jordan Spieth 2.0. Smith's chipping and pitching is that of rival Spieth, and so is his put. Spieth won the first two Majors that year and chased a potential calendar-year Grand Slam to the 72nd hole of the Open Championship in St Andrews. It's not a prediction that Smith is going to match, but Smith proved what Spieth proved—a player who makes putts and saves pars is a player who can win any tournament, anywhere. .
And Smith has shown he can do that at Augusta. His put rates have been compared to all-time greats including Crenshaw and Bobby Locke and even a young-ish Tiger Woods. He credits playing Australia's sandbelt courses for helping him build his creative eye for pouring.
"Augusta reminds me a lot of Royal Melbourne," Smith said. "You hit a lot of putts from the inside of 15 feet, where you're aiming four and five feet out of the hole. I think it's good to have in the back pocket. For me, it's always keeping the pace of the putter head going." It's about keeping. These greens go pretty fast so you can be quite temporary. Just keeping up the pace and making sure the ball is hitting the back of the hole and hitting good putts."
He remembers how Saag was when he played his first Masters in 2016. "Quite scary," said Smith with a laugh. "For the first time here, I felt a lot of hesitation with the putter. I was trying to watch the balls drift down the front edge, whereas over the years, I've been a little more aggressive and used that three- and four-footer. Not afraid to come back."
Spieth was Tiger-esque with his iron game at its peak in 2015. Smith is not quite on the level but his ball strike has steadily improved over the past three seasons. He is fifth in the hit greens in regulation; Eight in strokes achieved with approach shots; and 5th in the near hole from 100-125 yards. Overall, his nearest by hole rank is 67th. It's not impressive. Then again, his make-range with his putter means the numbers don't have to be as impressive as that of Tiger or Spieth.
As for putting it, seeing is believing. He ranks first in puts per green hits in regulation. Here's a number that's relevant to Augusta National—he ranks 10th in three-put avoidance. One key to getting green jackets is to avoid three-stripe greens on a course, where they are more likely than any other course.
Maybe the best thing about Smith is his lack of pretense. He has won five times and over $22 million on the PGA Tour. His idea of a good time is a beer or two with the guys and a bit of fishing. He came from Brisbane, Australia, and seven years ago moved to Jacksonville, Fla. Re-settled in the area. His celebration followed the players' silence, he said, as he was exhausted after a trying weekend.
Smith took the final three weeks off the players and he looked like a dead goal taker.
"I'm very hungry, mate," Smith said in response to a question from a fellow Australian media person. "It's a great time of year to play good golf. It's good to fight. I can't wait to be back there this week."
He was also asked if he thinks he is closer to winning the Major since the Players. "I think my game is already there," Smith said. “Players, it was good to tick that box. But I think I can compete with anyone any week.
So far, Woods is the only player to have won one player and one Masters in the same year. Smith admitted that if he was able to copy the feat, it would be "neat" to have his name next to Tiger's name in the record books.
If you're drafting the hottest players in the game, Scotty Schaeffler would be the first pick with three quick wins that propelled him to No. 1 in the world. second choice? It has to be Smith. Great putting is the ultimate weapon in golf. Now he has got the confidence and recognition that comes from winning a big event, players.