In another life, Alex Smalley’s Bird 18 in the PGA Championship, Sunday secured his first major championship victory, gave him a shot at the Wanamaker Trophy and silenced any doubts that had been voiced about him during the previous six days of (mostly perfect) golf at Aronimink.
In this life? He would have to settle for the fact that 3 by 18 would just be “life changing”.
It’s not often that the most valuable birdie on Sunday in a major championship goes to someone other than the winner. And, make no mistake, Aaron Rai had plenty of great shots on Sunday, including a 68-footer on the 17th hole that closed out the tournament. But in THIS on big Sunday, the most valuable birdie belonged to longtime PGA Tour professional Alex Smalley, who holed a 20-footer up the hill to close out his week in the second golf tournament, and who won a ADULTS prize as a result (and a whole lotta dough).
“Yeah, excited to go to Augusta next year,” he said later. “I knew that first four and ties, I believe, gets you into Augusta. So I knew it was a possibility. I wasn’t really thinking about it until I hit 18, I saw where I was. I was just trying to make two shots, just trying to put it away. That 20 feet up the hill on 18, I tried hard enough to get to 18 feet.”
Yes, Smalley punched his ticket to Augusta National for the first time in his career with his birdie last Sunday, earning a Masters exemption through the tournament the top-four-and-ties rule spilling his bird to complete T2. Smalley will have 11 months to enjoy the invitation to Augusta National for the first time in his playing life and will take at least two rounds of the 2027 Masters tournament with his family sure to be there to celebrate with him.
But the fun wasn’t there. Smalley’s bird also made a small but very noticeable adjustment to the leaderboard accounting. Finishing at six under, Smalley slipped to finish the tournament tied for second. That meant his payout for finishing second was $1.804 million, or $961,000 more than the $843,000 payout delivered to the pack of five-under, or T3, finishers.
For Smalley, the extra $1 million or so in his salary made all the difference. Before Sunday, he had earned a little more than 12 million dollars in his professional career, meaning Sunday’s salary totaled 14.5 percent of his career earnings to date.
The last birdie that took him to a share of second place? Yes, that 3 alone was worth 7.7 percent of Smalley’s career wins.
“This week was special,” he said. “As far as this tour, as far as my career, who knows? Maybe it’s a springboard. It gives me a lot of confidence coming into this week to know that I can compete on the PGA Tour and even some of the majors. So, yeah, I think this week will do a lot for me.”
Indeed, it already has. If Smalley needs proof, he just needs to check his bank account.
