[Photo: Getty images]
Fresh off contending for a LIV Golf win at the brutal Valderrama course, Cameron Smith is raring to return to the golf course that turned his opinion on links golf and forged his path to Open Championship glory.
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After a missed cut and a near last-place in his first two career Open Championship starts, Smith never had any particular affinity for the ground game until he battled horrendous weather to record his first top-20 at The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019.
He’s itching to get back to the Northern Irish links masterpiece hosting its encore back on the rota at the 153rd Open this week.
Smith flew into Northern Ireland on Sunday night after a solid T-7 at Valderrama where he sat only three strokes behind the lead most of the final day.
He told Australian Golf Digest that Portrush began his love affair with links golf, and only two Opens later he claimed a breakthrough major victory at the 150th Open at St Andrews.
“I loved Portrush,” Smith said as he prepared for early practice rounds at Portrush. “That was probably my first year of falling in love with links golf. I had a horrendous record before that; felt like I’d played well and hadn’t really got anything out of my game. That week, I managed to play well and from there, I’ve really enjoyed links golf.”
Smith has had his critics question whether moving to LIV Golf was the right move after winning The Open, the Players Championship and the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2022 for three of his six PGA Tour career titles. The rebuttal is that in addition to winning an Australian PGA and three LIV Golf wins, at the majors Smith enjoyed a solid 2023 season as a LIV member. He earned personal bests in the PGA Championship (T-9) and US Open (solo fourth) that year.
He does admit the 2024 season – where a T-6 at the Masters and a LIV Golf season-long teams win with Ripper GC were the highlights – and 2025 have not been to his standards. He owns just three top-10s on LIV while at the majors he’s missed all three cuts this year. But he’s hoping the Valderrama result, and the side of his game links brings out, turns his form around.
“It’s been a very frustrating year, not only in the majors, but also out here on LIV,” Smith said. “I feel maybe I turned into more of a range rat than I have in the past. My swing has felt really good on the range, but I haven’t been able to get a score out of it on the golf course. It’s unlike how I’ve played golf in my career. I need to be creative and I think Augusta and the Open every year, hitting different shots around the green and full swings that you don’t hit the rest of the year bring out my best. I feel my game’s in a really good spot to get creative.”
Smith, now married and a doting father, wants to earn a second career major desperately. He wants the claret jug back, a trophy he admits stole a piece of his heart holding it from the 2022 to 2023 Opens.
“I’m more motivated than ever for another major,” Smith said. “The claret jug was the coolest trophy by far that I’ve ever had. I had a lot of fun with it and I felt like it became a friend of mine. I definitely want it back. It’s the coolest trophy in golf, no doubt. Winning another major would mean a lot.”
