Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open Championship winner, made a 14-footer to save par on the last hole to shoot 5-under 65. A few groups later, Sepp Straka made bogey on the 18th hole to also shoot 65.
The two men tied for the lowest round of the week at the PGA Championship and in doing so they combined for 15 birdies during the day at Oak Hill.
Smith made four birdies in a five-hole stretch early (Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6) but followed with a bogey on the par-4 seventh hole. He then made five consecutive pars before making three birdies in the next four holes. Smith then made bogey on the 17th hole and closed with par on the last. It all added up to two bogeys, seven birdies and nine pars.
“Yeah, it was good to see that driver just straighten up a little bit today and the few putts drop as well,” said Smith, who shot 1-under 279 total for the week.
Shortly after, Straka came to the last needing par to break Smith’s 65 by a shot, but the bogey only allowed him to tie. The Austrian started with consecutive birdies on the first two holes, then added another on the fifth hole. He turned in 2-under 33 and made birdie on the 10th hole, then three consecutively on Nos. 13, 14 and 15.
His final tally read three bogeys, eight birdies and seven pars.
“The putter got hot which is something I've been waiting on for a few weeks now,” Straka said. “Seems like I made just about everything but I three-putted one hole but other than that, no real issues with the putter. It was very scorable today. Greens are soft. Fairways are soft so you could actually hit some fairways, which is nice.”
Straka ended the week at 2-under 278 total.
Australian Cam Davis later shot 65 too with four birdies and eagle and one bogey. He had 11 feet for birdie on the last hole to shoot 64 but missed it. Similarly, Kurt Kitayama made six birdies and one bogey and faced a birdie from 14 feet on the last to shoot 64 but two putted for par and 65.
