In another life, Alex Smalley’s birdie on the 18th at the PGA Championship Sunday secured his first major championship victory, granted him a date with the Wanamaker Trophy, and silenced every doubt that had been uttered about him over the previous six days of (mostly flawless) golf at Aronimink.
In this life? He’d have to settle for the 3 on 18 being merely “life-changing.”
It’s not often that the most valuable birdie on Sunday at a major championship belongs to somebody other than the winner. And, make no mistake, Aaron Rai had plenty of brilliant ones on Sunday, including a 68-footer on the 17th hole that all but clinched the tournament. But on this major Sunday, the most valuable birdie belonged to Alex Smalley, the longtime PGA Tour pro who poured a 20-footer up the hill into the hole to close out his week at golf’s second major, and who earned a major prize as a result (and a whole lotta dough).
“Yeah, thrilled to be going to Augusta next year,” he said later. “I knew that top four and ties, I believe it is, gets you into Augusta. So I knew that was a possibility. I wasn’t really thinking about it honestly until I hit the green on 18, saw where I was. Was really just trying to two-putt, just trying to lag it up. That 20-footer up the hill on 18, I was just trying to get a tap-in. Fortunate enough that it went in.”
Yes, Smalley punched his ticket to Augusta National for the first time in his career with his birdie on the last on Sunday, earning an exemption into the Masters through the tournament’s top-four-and-ties rule by pouring in his birdie to finish T2. Smalley will have 11 months to savor the invite to Augusta National for the first time in his playing life and will get at least two tournament rounds in at the 2027 Masters with his family surely there to celebrate with him.
But the fun wasn’t over there. Smalley’s birdie also made a minor but incredibly notable adjustment in the accounting of the leaderboard. By finishing at six under, Smalley slid up to finish the tournament tied for second. This meant that his payment for finishing in the runner-up spot was $1.804 million, or $961,000 more than the $843,000 payment delivered to the pack of finishers at five under, or T3.
For Smalley, the extra $1 million or so in his paycheck made all the difference. Prior to Sunday, he’d earned a little more than $12 million in his pro career, meaning that Sunday’s paycheck amounted to 14.5 percent of his career earnings to date.
The birdie on the last that vaulted him into a share of second place? Yep, that 3 alone was worth 7.7 percent of Smalley’s career earnings.
“This week was special,” he said. “As far as this tournament, in terms of my career, who knows? Maybe it’s a springboard. It gives me a lot of confidence coming away from this week to know that I can compete on the PGA Tour and even some of the major championships. So yeah, I think this week will do a lot for me.”
Indeed, it already has. If Smalley needs evidence, he should just check his bank account.