Last year at the PGA Championship, Tom Kim went viral for slipping into the marsh at Oak Hill and muddying his outfit.
Fast forward to Thursday at Valhalla and Cam Smith made it two years in a row where more than just a pro’s golf balls have found the water at the PGA Championship.
On the par-5 7th, the 16th hole of Smith’s opening round, players are presented with an intriguing option. They can either play the hole to the right, over some bunkers and play its complete distance of nearly 600 yards, or they can go left for a small island of fairway on the other side of a stream and cut off 50 yards on a direct line with the green.
Smith surely was aiming for one or the other, but his ball ended up in the stream between the two fairways.
With another pond short of the fairway, it’s possible Smith’s tee shot never crossed the penalty area line, meaning he likely would have had to drop well back and in the heavy rough.
But there was hope: Though his ball was completely submerged, he could still see it.
Smith removed his shoes and socks, rolled up his pant legs and waded into the stream to explore his options.
The 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year is known to be at home near the water as an avid fisherman, and on the course he’s known as an elite scrambler thanks to his short game and putting. Now, he was weighing merging his two hobbies.
The LIV Golf star didn’t take much time deciding on a play. He waited for his caddie to hand him a wedge, gingerly stepped up the shot to test the mud beneath him and blasted back to the right fairway.
“No delay,” said No Laying Up’s Neil Schuster on the ESPN2 alternate stream coverage. “Didn’t think about it. Didn’t take any waggles. That’s great execution.”
Not only did Smith get the ball back in play, but, unlike Kim (who never even found his ball), he also managed to keep his apparel fairly clean in the process, too.
With 225 yards to the flag, Smith hit his third over the green. But he managed to pitch to seven feet and make the putt for an eventful par.
He parred the final two holes to finish off a 68 and stay within the top 10 after Thursday’s morning wave.
