Austin Smotherman

ANALYSIS
Smotherman stood atop the leaderboard after an outstanding opening round, when he carded six consecutive birdies from holes seven to 12 to finish with a bogey-free, nine-under 62. He held onto his lead until the end of the third round, when he was caught by Lowry, and Smotherman found himself fading out of contention after going even on the front nine of the final round. Smotherman ended things on a positive note with a two-under score on the back nine, and while he wasn't able to capture his first PGA Tour victory, his T2 was still his best finish at a Tour event. The 31-year-old American led the field at PGA National in GIR and birdies made and ranked in the top-10 in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Around-the-Green. Smotherman will tee it up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week as part of the Aon Next 10. That will be huge for his season to play in a Signature Event.