[Photo: Ross Flannigan/Australian Golf Digest]
Cameron Smith guaranteed an unwanted statistic when his missed cut at the 153rd Open Championship capped early exits from all four major championships this year.
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Smith carded a 78 on day two at Royal Portrush courtesy of a horror front nine laden with three bogeys and a double for a score of 41, before another three dropped shots on the back nine. A birdie at No.17 was but a consolation for an eight-over-par total that saw him miss the cut by a long way.
Marc Leishman finished one-under and was the lone Australian to make the cut, while 2022 Open champion Smith, former world No.1s Jason Day and Adam Scott and five others were sent packing from Portrush.
Day (two-over), Elvis Smylie (three-over), Lucas Herbert (four-over), Min Woo Lee (five-over), Curtis Luck (eight-over), Ryan Peake (eight-over) and 2013 Masters winner Scott (nine-over) all missed the weekend.
Leishman was nine shots behind 36-hole leader and three-time major winner Scottie Scheffler, whose 64 placed him at 10-under while former US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick (66) was nine-under. The 2023 Open champion, Brian Harman and Li Haotong were eight-under. Tyrrell Hatton, Bob MacIntyre, Keegan Bradley and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy were within seven shots of Scheffler.
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The statistics at Portrush told the story of Smith’s exit, with just 32 percent of fairways hit over two rounds putting too much pressure on the rest of his game. That driving accuracy percentage had him ranked 149th, near last in the field. He hit only 50 percent of greens in regulation while he lost -1.46 shots on the greens.
It has been a tough run for Smith who only won the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022 and then backed it up with career personal best results at the 2023 PGA Championship (T-9) and US Open (solo fourth).
Earlier in the week, Smith had told Australian Golf Digest he was aware of his form at the majors was poor and on LIV Golf, given he is without a win on the circuit since August, 2023 and he also missed the cut at last year’s Open Championship at Troon. That’s five major missed cuts in a row for a sublimely talented player who owns a runner-up result at the Masters, a claret jug and top 10s in the other two majors.
“It’s been a very frustrating year, not only in the majors, but also out here on LIV,” Smith said on Monday at Portrush. “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.”
