Cameron Smith says staring at the sparkling claret jug he won at last year’s Open Championship has inspired him to lift himself out a slow start to the year. Now, Smith feels his game has heated up in time for this week’s PGA Championship in upstate New York.
Smith has acknowledged his results this year have not measured up to his whirlwind 2022 campaign. Last year, the Australian was arguably golf’s biggest breakout star, winning the Open Championship, two PGA Tour events including the elite Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, a LIV Golf tournament and the Australian PGA Championship.
This year, though, the world No.8 has recorded four top-six results on his new LIV Golf tour as well as a tie for 34th at the Masters at Augusta National. While there’s no reason to panic for the laconic Queenslander, he admits looking at the 150-year-old sterling silver jug he claimed in July has been a constant reminder he is capable of great golf.
“It’s definitely a nice thing to look at, especially when times were a little tough at the start of this year,” Smith told Australian Golf Digest on the eve of the PGA at Oak Hills CC in Rochester, the second major of 2023. “I haven’t been playing the best golf, it’s nice to just look at that and know [I] earned it and deserved it. [Winning majors] is definitely a place where I think I belong, but it’s nice to have the have the visual reminder there.”
The 29-year-old Smith enjoyed an extended offseason given LIV didn’t restart its second season for three months after its 2022 finale. That led to Smith being rusty when he restarted his global competitive calendar in late January when he would normally have already played three PGA Tour events.
Smith nabbed his best result of 2023 at last week’s LIV Golf event in Oklahoma, where he was in a playoff against two-time major winner Dustin Johnson (Smith missed a birdie putt to extend the extra holes).
Weeks prior to Oklahoma, Smith began to show signs of his brilliance returning with a tie for sixth at LIV Singapore and a tie for third at LIV Adelaide. Now, the former world No.2 feels he has the reps to start seeing better results at the majors.
“Nothing has necessarily clicked recently,” Smith said. “It’s just that I’m playing more tournaments. We’ve played a lot of golf on LIV now, and I think it’s a good thing for the golf game. Too much golf is not always positive on the old body or mind but obviously you get sharper playing a lot. I’m competing more, and I’ve been in contention, so I’m hitting some proper golf shots under pressure and trying to win.”
Smith will open his quest to win the PGA in a super group alongside world No.1 and recent Masters champion Jon Rahm as well as US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.
Whether Smith is Australia’s best chance among the seven Australians at the PGA is up for debate. Smith tied for 13th in the PGA Championship in 2022, his best result at the PGA, which is typically the major which favours golf’s big bombers. Jason Day, the 2015 PGA champion, has a strong case given he broke a five-year win drought on the PGA Tour by claiming last week’s Byron Nelson tournament.
His preparation is unusual, but understandable, at Oak Hill CC. He hasn’t seen the course, and likely won’t, before the tournament kicks off. Instead, he’s been engaged in only light practice to fully recover from last week’s win.
“I haven’t played the course,” Day said. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the course. I most likely probably won’t see the course today. I’m just not fighting anything, I just want to make sure that I’m mentally prepared and mentally ready for tomorrow,” Day continued. “No matter how well I prepare, even if I go out and play a practice round, if I come in tomorrow tired and exhausted, it won’t do me any favors, so I’m just going to try and take it easy.”
Former world No.1 Day finished tied eighth at the 2013 PGA, the last time Oak Hill hosted the tournament. Like Smith, Day is in a marquee group with former US Open champ Bryson DeChambeau and 2011 PGA winner Keegan Bradley.
And then there’s Adam Scott. The 2013 Masters champion has rounded nicely into form the past two weeks, with back-to-back top 10s on the PGA Tour. Key among those was the Wells Fargo event at Quail Hollow, which has been a PGA Championship host venue and asks similar questions of a player’s game. Mainly, how good is your driving and ball-striking?
Scott is playing the first two rounds with Americans Max Homa and Tony Finau.
Rounding out the Australian contingent is Min Woo Lee, Lucas Herbert, Cam Davis and David Micheluzzi. Lee, Herbert and Davis have all won on either the PGA or DP World Tours. In Herbert’s case, he has won on both major tours including the DP World Tour’s event in Japan recently. The big-hitting Herbert, who is also a phenomenal putter, finished tied 13th at last year’s PGA Championship. Micheluzzi gained his major debut this week courtesy of winning the Australiasian tour’s order of merit title. Kiwis Ryan Fox and Steve Alker are also in the field.
Lee is the first Australian out on Thursday night, at 9.27pm AEST, alongside American Andrew Putnam and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina.
YOUR GUIDE TO AUSSIES AT THE 2023 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
TEE TIMES RD 1 (in AEST)
-Min Woo Lee 9.27pm Thursday (with Andrew Putnam, Emiliano Grillo)
-Cameron Smith 10.33pm (with US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and Masters winner Jon Rahm)
-Jason Day 11.06pm (with Keegan Bradley, Bryson DeChambeau)
-Cameron Davis 2.30am Friday AEST (with Matt Cahill, Taylor Montgomery)
-Lucas Herbert 3.20am AEST (with Brian Harman, Callum Shinkwin)
-Adam Scott 3.36am Friday (with Max Homa, Tony Finau)
-David Micheluzzi 4.15am Friday (Chris Sanger, JJ Spaun)
-New Zealanders: Steven Alker 9pm Thursday, Ryan Fox 9.33pm
Round 2 — Friday/Saturday
9.05pm: Cameron Davis
9.55pm: Lucas Herbert
10.11pm: Adam Scott
10.50pm: David Micheluzzi
2.52am: Min Woo Lee
3.58am: Cameron Smith
4.31am: Jason Day
AUSTRALIAN TV TIMES
Fox Sports and Kayo Sports
First Round
Thursday: 10:30pm – 9am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Thursday: 10:30pm – 4am (Featured Holes), Fox Sports 505 & Kayo
Second Round
Friday: 10:30pm – 9am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Friday: 10.30pm – 4am (Featured Holes), Fox Sports 505, Kayo
Third Round
Saturday: 11pm – 9am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Final Round
Sunday: 11pm – 9am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Additional Coverage
Fox 503 will be dedicated to PGA Championship coverage all week. Showing re-runs from previous tournaments, including Jason Day’s 2015 triumph.
Live from the PGA Championship
Wednesday: 9am – 11am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Thursday: 9am – 11am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Friday: 9am – 11am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Saturday: 9am – 11am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
Sunday: 9am – 11am, Fox Sports 503 & Kayo
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THE COURSE
Oak Hill Country Club (East course) is an old, established parkland course with plenty of water and lots of trouble at par-70. As the host of six previous majors.
PRIZE POOL
$US 15 million
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Scottie Scheffler: Always thereabouts and current world No. 1.
Dustin Johnson: Former world No. 1 and winner of the LIV event last weekend.
Jason Day: Another former world No. 1 with red hot form as a last-start winner
Cameron Smith: Runner-up on LIV last weekend and still one of the hottest in the world in the majors.
Jon Rahm: An incredibly consistent run over the past two years has him pushing Scheffler at the top.
Rory McIlroy: Amazing to think he has not won a major since 2014; perhaps this is his week.
