The most important birdie at the PGA Championship belonged to the loser
In another life, Alex Smalley’s birdie on the 18th at the PGA Championship on Sunday secured his major tournament victory, gave him a date with the Wanamaker Trophy, and silenced all the doubts that had been expressed about him over the past six days of (mostly flawless) golf at Aronimink.
In this life? He will have to deal with 3 out of 18 that it is “life changing.”
Rarely does the most important birdie on Sunday in a major tournament belong to anyone other than the winner. And, make no mistake, Aaron Rai had plenty of brilliance on Sunday, including a 68-footer on the 17th hole that won the tournament. But it continued this On Sunday’s big, the most important birdie belonged to Alex Smalley, the PGA Tour champion who putt a 20-footer on the hole to close out his week in golf’s second major, and the winner. big a prize for that (and a whole lotta dough).
“Yeah, I’m really excited about going to Augusta next year,” he said later. “I knew a top four and a tie, I believe, gets you into Augusta. So I knew that was possible. I didn’t really think about it until I got to the green on 18, and I saw where I was. I was just trying to two-putt, just trying to get it back. That 20-footer up the hill on 18, I was just trying to find that.
Yes, Smalley punched his ticket to Augusta National for the first time in his career with his last birdie on Sunday, earning an exemption from the Masters tournament’s top-four-and-ties rule by making a birdie to finish T2. Smalley will have 11 months to enjoy an invitation to Augusta National for the first time in his playing career and will get at least two rounds of the tournament at the 2027 Masters and his family will be there to celebrate with him.
But the fun didn’t end there. Smalley’s birdie also made a small but incredibly noticeable change in the leaderboard tally. Finishing at 6 under, Smalley slipped to finish the tournament in a tie for second. This meant that his second-place finish was $1.804 million, or $961,000 more than the $843,000 package brought in by the five-year-under, or T3, finishers.
For Smalley, an extra $1 million or so in his paycheck makes all the difference. Prior to Sunday, he had earned just over $12 million in his professional career, meaning Sunday’s earnings amounted to 14.5 percent of his earnings to date.
The birdie that finally earned him second place? Yes, that 3 alone was worth 7.7 percent of Smalley’s salary.
“This week was special,” he said. “About this tournament, about my career, who knows? Maybe it’s football. It gives me a lot of confidence starting this week to know that I can compete on the PGA Tour and even other major tournaments. So, I think this week will do a lot for me.”
Indeed, it already is. If Smalley needs proof, he should check his bank account.
