Cameron Smith
finally found some of the form that earned him his PGA TOUR card last year as
he shared top Australian honours with Matt Jones and Jason Day at the Pebble
Beach Pro-Am.

Smith, who has
struggled since playing his way onto the Tour with some brilliant golf in 2015,
had a forgettable second round but will otherwise be pleased with his best
finish on the world’s biggest circuit since his T4 at last year’s US Open.

Having missed
four cuts in his previous seven starts, and producing a best finish of T37, it
was no surprise to close observers to see the Queenslander’s turnaround in form
at Pebble Beach.

A final round
of 2-under-par 70 at the difficult Pebble Beach layout put him in the top third
of scoring in the final round, testament to his grinding style of play on tough
courses.

His final
total of 9-under for the week was matched by both Matt Jones and Jason Day, the
trio finishing T11 in one of the stronger fields assembled this year.

While both Day
and Jones found the going tough Sunday, producing matching 1-over 73’s, both
will be pleased with some consistent golf during a week filled with
distractions because of the pro-am format.

Jones’ best
was a third round 67 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club while Day’s second
round 66 at the same course was his highlight for the week, a scintillating
6-under back nine suggesting his best is not far away.

Of the 12
Australians who began the week seven made the cut including rookie Ryan Ruffels
who was T10 after 36 holes in what has been an impressive US debut.

After making
the cut at Torrey Pines two weeks ago the talented 17-year-old was the leading
Australian with two rounds to go and despite not producing his best over the
weekend has proved he has the game to compete at the top level.

A 6-over 78 in
the final round was far from his best and while T60 will feel like a
disappointment it is a worthy effort for both a teenager and a rookie.

Steven
Bowditch (T41), Aaron Baddeley (T50) and Rhein Gibson (68^th) were
the other Australians to make the 54-hole cut while Geoff Ogilvy, Jarrod Lyle,
Rod Pampling, Greg Chalmers and Cameron Percy all missed the final round.