Why Cameron Smith is poised to complete the career sweep of both Australian majors.
There is a hole in Cameron Smith’s résumé, as ridiculous as that sounds.
The Brisbane golfer’s 15 professional victories include many of the most sought-after trophies in the sport. There’s a major, the Open Championship. It wasn’t just any Open, it was the 150th Open at St Andrews. There’s a Players Championship title in his trophy cabinet, an elite field considered golf’s unofficial fifth major. The Players was one of six PGA Tour wins Smith earned before leaving for LIV Golf, where he’s racked up three victories in 15 months. Domestically, he’s got three Australian PGA titles.
So, what’s missing? The ISPS Handa Australian Open, and it’s not lost on Smith. “I don’t just want one, I feel I’ve needed one by now,” Smith tells Australian Golf Digest.
Glowing record
Smith, now 30, grew up watching his peers like Matt Jones, Marc Leishman and Adam Scott compete in our national championship on some of Australia’s most famous courses. Jones, now a LIV Golf teammate of Smith’s, has won two Opens, both at The Australian Golf Club. Scott won the 2009 Open at New South Wales Golf Club.
Smith’s Australian Open void is not for a lack of trying. His record is rock-solid and has been since before he turned professional in 2013. Although he missed the cut on debut in 2011, he played a practice round with Leishman, who knew there was something special about the 19-year-old amateur.
“There was a level of self-belief you don’t see too often in young amateurs and his iron play and short game, particularly, were elite,” Leishman recalls.
The next year, at a weather-interrupted Open at The Lakes, Smith, still an amateur, tied for 14th. Clearly, Leishman was on the money. Smith missed the cut in 2013 and finished T-71 a year later, but by 2015 he began to prove what he could do when vying for a Stonehaven Cup. At the 2015 Open at The Australian Golf Club, Smith tied for 13th in a star-studded field that included everyone from Jordan Spieth to Adam Scott to Rod Pampling. Jones captured his first Australian Open that year.
A year later, when the championship travelled down the road to Royal Sydney, Smith found himself tied with Spieth and Ash Hall after 72 holes and headed for a playoff. Smith didn’t quite catch his approach into Royal Sydney’s famed 18th and wasn’t able to land the ball up on the back tier to the Sunday pin. Spieth did and made the birdie putt as the 2014 champion won his second Australian Open crown. Smith settled for a tie for second, his best result to date.
Back at The Australian Golf Club in 2017, and with a field that included Spieth, Jason Day and Jonas Blixt, Smith finished fourth behind winner Cam Davis. A year later, back at The Lakes, Smith didn’t have his A-game but ground out a tie for 10th. A T-27 in 2019 and a T-47 in 2022 are his past two results in the event.
“For the past seven or eight years, I feel I’ve been right there at times but haven’t quite got it done,” Smith says.
But the former world No.2, who is now ranked 19th due to LIV Golf not receiving Official World Golf Ranking points, says now that the Australian Open will be held from November 30-December 3, a week after his beloved Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, it could play into his hands.
Smith will take an almost two-week break after competing at the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open from November 9-12. The Australian Open will be his second hit-out after that rest and he expects to be sharp in Sydney.
“The Aussie Open used to come before the PGA, but now that it’s the second event, I’ll have some time off before it, and that rest will probably help,” he says. “I don’t know how much practice I’m going to be doing after this LIV season and between the Hong Kong Open and the Aussie events. I need to keep my eye on my form and go down to Australia and prepare for the events like I would for a major championship. I need to get the job done.”
Horses for courses
The Australian Open debuted its mixed event format last year when the men’s, women’s and All Abilities championships were held concurrently across Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath for the first two rounds before Victoria hosted the weekend action. All three tournaments ended on Sunday. Predicting a large number of competitors for the third day – there were more than 150 players on the course at Victoria Golf Club on Saturday last year – officials committed pre-tournament to a secondary cut. It was a first for the 118-year-old Australian Open.
“I wasn’t a massive fan of the secondary cut; the rounds weren’t very free flowing, and that was probably the feedback they received,” Smith says. “It looks like they’re smoothing it out with the tweaks to the format. It’s heading in the right direction.”
This year, The Australian Golf Club will host the action all four days with nearby The Lakes Golf Club co-hosting the event for the first two days. The All Abilities Championship will conclude on the Saturday. The men’s field will consist of 156 players, with 84 in the women’s field. Only one cut will be made, after 36 holes, reducing the field to the top 60 professionals plus ties in the men’s Open, and the top 32 professionals plus ties in the women’s Open.
Fortunately for Smith, both Sydney layouts have yielded some of his best Australian Open finishes.
One of the game’s best bunker players, Smith won’t be intimidated by the 97 bunkers at The Lakes, which also features plenty of sandy wasteland and water. The Lakes has hosted the Open seven times (1964, 1980, 1992, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018). The Australian Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-redesigned layout at Kensington, will host its 22nd Open.
“I like them both,” Smith says. “They are both really solid golf courses and very scoreable if there is no wind, which there always is in that part of Sydney. But with a tournament played across two courses, there is often a course that is playing a little easier and you have to be on your game when you get to that course. You have to hit your irons and wedges really solid and take advantage of the conditions because you know other guys will be making a lot of birdies.”
Ready to roll
Smith is coming into this Australian summer of golf in serious form, both from LIV Golf and the majors. On LIV, where he is the captain of the all-Aussie Ripper GC team, Smith recorded two wins, in London and New Jersey, as well as six top-10s and eight top-24 points finishes. He led LIV’s individual standings right until the season-finale where he stumbled to second behind American Talor Gooch. At the majors, Smith earned career-best results at the PGA Championship (T-9) and the US Open (fourth). All signs point to another hot Aussie summer of golf. Hopefully, hot enough to win the Australian Open at last.
“A win at the Aussie Open would be right up there at this point in my career,” Smith says. “I’ve had some frustrating moments, and it’s the frustration that hurts the most. I’ve been right there. I’ve lost in a playoff to Jordan Spieth. Hopefully, this year I’ll go one better.”
Getty images: Matt King, William West, Ben Jared
