Shooting 30-under par is a mind-boggling achievement but that’s what Jordan Smith did Sunday as he rolled to victory at the Portugal Masters.
The Englishman shot rounds of 62-67-62-63 and basically made mincemeat of the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Club. It was the best 72-hole score in relation to par on the DP World Tour but Smith won’t hold the record — the field played lift-clean-and-place all week.
But he can take satisfaction with the three-shot win over Gavin Green, who was the only player within shouting distance of Smith. Third place Tapio Pulkkanen was a distant third at 22-under.
Smith’s last win came at the 2017 Porsche European Open, his first win on the DP World Tour.
“There’s a lot of pressure I put on myself and people putting on me,” Smith said, getting a bit tearful after his wire-to-wire victory. “It’s just nice to finally get a second win.”
Smith started the final round with a two-shot edge on Green and was still only two ahead at the turn despite shooting a four-under 31 on the front nine. But birdies on 10, 12 and 15 stretched the lead to five shots at one point and took the suspense out of the last few holes.
Smith began his week by changing to a new putter an it paid off nicely as he recorded 27 birdies an three eagles. The win wasn’t all that surprising. In his 22 starts this season, Smith has put together eight top 10 finishes and the victory moved him to ninth place in the Race To Dubai points list.
With the preferred lies placing an asterisk by Smith’s 30-under number, Ernie Els still holds the “official” DP Tour Tour scoring mark at 29-under par.
Atthaya Thitikul New World’s No. 1:
There’s a new No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and it’s 19-year-old Atthaya Thitikul.
For the first time in her career, Thitikul has reached No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as of the latest Rankings update. She becomes the 16th different player to reach No. 1 as well as the second player from Thailand to sit atop the rankings following Ariya Jutanugarn, who was No. 1 for 23 total weeks between June 2017 and March 2019. Thitikul is also the second player to reach the No. 1 ranking in her LPGA Tour rookie year, after Sung Hyun Park in November 2017.
Thitikul moved one spot, passing Jin Young Ko, who has held the top spot since Jan. 31, 2022. Ko first became World No. 1 in April 2019 and has spent 152 total weeks atop the Rankings, six weeks shy of Lorena Ochoa’s record 158 weeks at the No. 1 position.
LIV Changes Name For 2023 Season:
LIV can’t seem to decide what to call itself and starting next year, it will have a new name — LIV Golf League. It will also have 14 events and fields may grow to 60 players. The schedule itself hasn’t been finalized.
The 2022 season ended in Miami Sunday with Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces team winning the overall team championship. D.J.’s team included over-the-hill Pat Perez, sand-swiping, rules-bending Patrick Reed and litigation-loser Talor (the) Gooch. Their combined score was seven-under par and they beat the Cam Smith team.
Johnson ended up banking a fat $35.6 million for the season, which puts him well on his way to his planned retirement at the end of his four-year LIV contract.
Perez summed up the entire theme of the dissident rogue league when he said:
“I’m paid — I don’t give a damn.”
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