Geez, we’re a forgetful bunch.
It was only three years ago – almost to the week – that Australian sports fans and mainstream media were shouting from the rooftops, on breakfast television and on back pages that “our” Cameron Smith was a major winner and an Open champion at St Andrews.
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The mullet-wearing knockabout bloke from Brisbane’s north was the toast of the nation – and likely wouldn’t have paid for a schooner in any pub in Australia – after shooting a back nine of 30 for a final-round 64 that took down golf’s biggest star in Rory McIlroy and a band of other big names on the biggest stage golf had ever seen: the 150th Open at the Home of Golf.
His incredibly Aussie celebration that night in St Andrews – blasting INXS and sharing the claret jug drinking duties with a host of Australian golf fans, players, caddies and officials – won the hearts of the Australian public.
That was only three years ago.
Fast forward to 2025 and the end of a devastating majors season for the former world No.2 has provoked a series of Smith bashing in mainstream and social media circles. It’s disappointing to say the least.
Of course, missing the cut in all four majors this year is not up to Smith’s lofty standards. He knows that. After all, he’s a major winner and a runner-up at the Masters. He has career top-five results in three of the four majors and top-10s across all of them.
It was only last year he was T-6 at Augusta National and it was only seven months ago that he was in contention and the final group at the Australian PGA at Royal Queensland.
The commentary about Smith’s slump is over the top. Especially given the man himself told this publication last week at LIV Golf UK that “it sucked to play bad in the majors” and that his “motivation is at an all-time high to get back to where I was, and even better than that.”
He’s owned up to it and is working around the clock to have a great finish to his LIV season and the Australian PGA and Open, which he is extremely excited about returning for.
Smith would never offer excuses – clearly, he acknowledged his results aren’t up to scratch – but the bloke became a father two weeks before his early exit from the Masters. He had his grandmother, who had been ill, pass away in June and had to return to Brisbane for the funeral. Not the most ideal preparation for the US Open at Oakmont.
Again, he hates excuses but context and life are also important to remember.
Smith is only 31, driving the ball longer than he has in his career, enjoying sharp iron play and is only a few weeks’ worth of work on his short game away from another purple patch on the course.
He will be back and he will win again. Will it be in his backyard of Brisbane at the Australian PGA, or at the world-renowned Royal Melbourne in a Sunday battle against Open marquee signing Rory McIlroy? We can dream.
In the meantime, we should remember we all signed up to Smith’s story because he is human and celebrated wins like they meant something to him. He goes through highs and lows and has a family like the rest of us.
We became fans of his authenticity and were glad because he wasn’t a robot. So let’s not treat him like one.
