Cameron Davis wins US PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic

Sydney native Cameron Davis was well rewarded for breaking through for his maiden US PGA Tour victory on a massive weekend for Aussie golfers.

Australia’s Cam Davis won on the fifth sudden-death playoff hole against Troy Merritt to claim the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, Michigan. Picture: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images / AFP

Sydneysider Cameron Davis is eyeing a dream debut at next year’s Masters at Augusta after his stunning US PGA Tour victory capped an extraordinary string of wins by Australian golfers around the world.

Davis earned a maiden US PGA Tour win and a near $2m payday on Monday, while countryman Lucas Herbert won the European Tour’s Irish Open only hours earlier.

Australians executed a global assault on golf’s biggest tours over the weekend, with Sydney product Steph Kyriacou triumphing at the Ladies European Tour’s Big Green Egg Open in The Netherlands.

Star Queensland teenager Louis Dobbelaar also won the historic North and South Amateur event in the US.

Davis, 26, from Sydney’s northern beaches, endured a five-hole playoff against American Troy Merritt to claim the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, Michigan.

Davis produced an eagle, when he holed out from a greenside bunker, and a birdie in his final two holes of regulation to force that playoff.

Davis – who won the 2017 Australian Open and 2018 Nashville Open on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour – pocketed a whopping $A1.8m winner’s cheque and a Masters debut next year at the famed Augusta National.

He also catapulted into the world’s top 100 golfers, now ranked No. 67.

It will be the humble Davis’ first attempt at a Masters green jacket having only played two majors so far, the Open Championship (2018) and a US PGA Championship (2021).

His US PGA Tour title is a reward after fighting his way onto the Canadian and Korn Ferry tours after turning professional in 2016.

“I feel like it's been a really nice steady upward trend; it's nice not to be bouncing up (tours) and down and to keep moving forward,” he said after the win. “I hope to keep that going (at the Masters).”

Australia’s Cameron Davis poses with the trophy after winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, Michigan. Picture: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

On this day seven years ago, the man who would become my husband and I had our first date. Today, we celebrate his first @PGATOUR win.

Now the world knows what we have always known. Congratulations @camdavisgolf. Here’s to many, many more. pic.twitter.com/dfz63m1TjW

— Jonika Zapiorkowska (@jonikazap) July 4, 2021

Davis’ victory also came on the anniversary of his first date to now wife, American Jonika Zapiorkowska.

The couple live in Seattle, Washington, and Davis said he felt homesick during the pandemic. He has had to work with Sydney-based coach Khan Pullen via video calls.

“I've been over here for quite some time now,” Davis said. “I’m married, I have a house, I have a life here.

“The hard thing has been my coach is back in Australia, so I haven't seen him since the end of 2019.”

Some 5,700km away across the Atlantic Ocean, Bendigo native Herbert secured a wire-to-wire victory at the prestigious Irish Open.

The 25-year-old led after every round at Kilkenny’s Mount Juliet course during his second win on the European Tour, having also claimed the elite Dubai Desert Classic in January 2020.

Herbert, who rocketed to world No. 55, also grabbed an 11th-hour spot at the Open Championship at Royal St George’s GC in England later this month.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Herbert said. “It’s a bit fulfilling – I feel I was probably at one of my low points in my life two years ago when I played at Lahinch in the Irish Open.

“The more big events that you play the better. You get more comfortable in those, so I can take some more opportunities when I do get those chances.”

Cam Davis!!! I’ve never seen anything like this from Aussie golfers around the world. They won:
- Ladies European tour (Steph Kyriacou)
- European Tour (Lucas Herbert)
- PGA Tour (Davis)
- highly prestigious North & South Amateur at Pinehurst (Louis Dobelaar)

— Evin Priest (@EvinPriest) July 4, 2021

Lucas Herbert receives the trophy for winning the Irish Open in Thomastown. Picture: Warren Little / Getty Images

Also in Europe, rising star Kyriacou, from Botany in Sydney’s south, strode to her second Ladies European Tour title in the Netherlands, having also won the co-sanctioned Ladies Bonville Classic at Coffs Harbour when she was still an amateur last year.

“I'm buzzing! I forgot what it was like to win, it has been a little bit of time. It is something pretty special,” she said.

“All my friends (back in Australia) stayed up to watch my score.”

Young Sydney amateur Steph Kyriacou after winning the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville. Picture: David Tease / Golf NSW

While not on a professional tour, 19-year-old Dobbelaar took out one of the most heralded amateur events in the US when he won the 121st edition of the North and South Amateur championship at North Carolina’s famed Pinehurst Resort.

Louis Dobbelaar also won the Australian Amateur last year.

Originally published as Cameron Davis wins US PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic