[PHOTO: LIV Golf]
Cameron Smith says it hurt to have a thoroughly disappointing campaign at the majors but it’s fired him up to finish the second half of the year with a bang, starting at this week’s LIV Golf UK tournament.
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Smith missed the cut in all four majors this year, which made it five in a row having exited early from last year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.
His results across the 2025 majors season were a far cry from his usual prowess on golf’s biggest stage, having won the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews and being a regular contender at the Masters almost every year since 2018.
“Yes, it sucks to play bad in tournaments that probably mean a little bit more than others,” he told Australian Golf Digest on Thursday at JCB Golf and Country Club in the Midlands of England. “I think it’s probably more of a mental issue than actual technique. But yeah, the major results weren’t good.”
Smith was driving the ball exceptionally well during his pro-am at JCB on Thursday and his iron play was stellar. He was also rolling the rock well and made four birdies in a row from the seventh. The Queenslander, who captains Ripper GC on LIV, said all he needed to do was “let go” and remember the sublime ability that took him to world No.2 and filled his trophy cabinet with six PGA Tour wins, three titles on LIV Golf and three Australian PGA victories among other highlights in his career.
Perhaps the hilly layout at JCB, owned by the world-renowned manufacturer of construction and agricultural machinery, will remind Smith of last year’s LIV Golf UK where he was one shot shy of forcing eventual winner Jon Rahm into a playoff. Smith is chasing his first win since LIV Golf Bedminster in 2023.
He’s played well on LIV this year without winning, including three consecutive top 10s at former PGA Tour courses from LIV Golf Miami (Doral), Mexico City (Club de Golf Chapultepec) and Korea (Jack Nicklaus GC). He was also T-7 at the famed, brutally difficult Valderrama course in Spain the week before his early exit from the Open Championship at Portrush.
The 31-year-old knows he’s swinging and putting well and is highly motivated to finish the year in style. After LIV Golf UK, the league has a week off and then stages three tournaments in a row to close the season. Smith will then finish off the year in Australia during the summer of golf.
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I’ve been motivated, I think, all year, to try and get a result, and maybe that’s part of the problem, I feel like I’ve done everything right, and not really got much out of it,” he said. “My swing feels the best it’s ever felt and to go out there and perform like that isn’t something I want to do, and it’s something that I shouldn’t do.
“The motivation is at an all time high to get back to where I was, and even better than that. So a bit of a change in attitude and I’ve been really focusing on the mental side. The last six weeks has been pretty good, and it definitely feels like I’m turning a corner. This is a golf course that I like. I played well here last year, so there’s no reason why I can’t finish the season strong.”
