The Masters runner-up achieved something even Dustin Johnson didn’t

Cameron Smith might not have walked away with a green jacket, but he still made history this week at Augusta National.

With a final-round 69, Smith became the first player ever to fire all four rounds in the 60s at the Masters. His 15 under for the week tied him for second with Sungjae Im, as the pair set the record for lowest score without winning the green jacket.

The list of players who’ve competed at the Masters is a who’s who of the game’s greats, making the record all the more impressive. But without the green jacket in hand, the accomplishment does ring a bit hollow for the Aussie.

“It would have been cool to do that and win,” Smith said of his record-setting performance. “I was actually saying before, you know, I’d take 15 under around here the rest of my career and I might win a couple.”

Smith’s week started with a round of 67 to put his name on the first page of the leaderboard, a place it stayed for the remainder of the week. He followed that up with rounds of 68 and 69 to play himself into the penultimate pairing during the final round, but with Dustin Johnson setting records of his own all week, he needed a near-perfect round to pull off the upset.

The 27-year-old came out firing on Sunday with two birdies over the first three holes to put early pressure on Johnson. He pulled within two of the lead momentarily, but with a bogey on No. 5, he fell off the pace and struggled to close any ground between himself and the best golfer in the world.

“I knew I had to put the pressure on early,” he said. “Got out of the gates pretty good, (but) DJ was just too good at the end.”

Smith confessed after the round that he had no idea that history was within his grasp as he played his final round. His only focus was on the tall task of chasing down the world-beater playing in the group behind him. When he was informed by CBS’ Amanda Balionis, the news came as a bit of a shock.

“That’s pretty cool,” Smith said. “I didn’t realize until you told me.”

The finish is a new career-best in majors for Smith, topping his T4 at the 2015 U.S. Open in his major debut. Now Smith’s focus shifts to 2021 where he’ll try to defend his title at the Sony Open in early January.

“(This week was a) massive confidence booster,” he said. “A shame I’m not going to play a tournament for a couple months, but I can’t wait to start back up in Hawaii … In for a good start to the year I think.”