Cameron Smith missed out on getting to world No.1 on Sunday night after he was hit by a two-shot penalty before the final round at the FedEx St Jude Championship.
Will Zalatoris won the first of the $75m FedEx play-off events in Memphis for his maiden PGA Tour title. And the American also goes to the top of the FedEx rankings in pursuit of the $18m first prize.
The Open champion Smith, who has refused to deny he is about to join LIV Golf, had been set to start the final round two shots off the lead. But rules officials reviewed footage of a drop the Aussie took on the par-3 fourth hole in the third round at TPC Southwind.
Smith’s ball was shown to be on the red line marking the penalty area and he was given a two-shot penalty on Sunday after speaking to officials after arriving at the course. It was a breach of a breach of rule 14.7 - playing the ball from the wrong place - and Smith admitted he did not know the rules.
PGA Tour referee Gary Young said: "His reaction was very calm, very matter of fact. He just simply didn't understand the rule that it requires the entire ball to be outside of the penalty area and in his relief area.
“His answer to me is: ‘The rules are the rules’. He just accepted the two-stroke penalty.”
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Starting four shots off the lead, Smith shot a closing level-par to in tied 13th - six shots behind the 15-under par score of Zalatoris and Sepp Straka. The American, who has finished runner-up three times in Majors, won the third play-off hole after the Austrian found water off the tee on the par-3 11th.
"It was a grind," said Zalatoris.
US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick shot a closing 68 to finish tied fifth.
Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson led from start to finish at the ISPS HANDA World Invitational in Northern Ireland to win his second DP World Tour title by three shots.
