When he hauled in Rory McIlroy and became a major champion at the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022, Cameron Smith had the world at his fingertips.
The then 28-year-old had claimed the Players Championship a few months earlier, and found the lure of a big money move to LIV irresistible.
The wins continued to come, as he captured his first LIV victory at LIV Chicago that September, and he added two further LIV wins in 2023 after claiming a third Australian PGA Championship crown in December 2022.
But he’s now gone more than two years without finding himself in the winner’s circle and in the six OWGR-counting events he’s participated in in 2025, he’s missed the cut in all six.
Unsurprisingly, with LIV events still not receiving world ranking points, from a career-high of number two in the world after the 2022 Open, he’s slipped outside the top 300. But of more concern is that he’s fallen outside the top 100 in the Data Golf Rankings, which measures players across all tours.
But, as he prepares to compete for what would be a fourth Australian PGA Championship victory in the first event of the 2026 DP World Tour season – a win that would leave him trailing just Bill Dunk and Kel Nagle on the all-time Australian PGA Championship Roll of Honour – Smith admits that, contrary to his earlier years, he’s starting to feel the pressure of expectation.
“I’ve played my whole career with really no expectation of playing well,” Smith said at Royal Queensland ahead of the DP World Tour’s season-opener where he is one of the main tournament draws.
“I expect to prepare well and do all that stuff well, and this year … I expected a lot more out of myself, particularly with how hard I’ve worked.
“It’s not how I’ve played golf the last 10 years, so it’s been difficult, but I just need to get back how I think and how I prepare, and that is just being cruisy and not worrying about poor shot because the work has been there and then those poor rounds creep in.
“It’s been very frustrating. That’s really bothered me this year, whereas in the past it probably hasn’t, so something to learn.”
Having gotten married in 2023, Smith and wife Shanel are now expecting their first child which is due in April, but on the course, it’s been the inconsistencies that have been the main source of frustration.
But even though he missed the cut at last week’s Saudi International, he felt that there was enough good play and enough bad luck to suggest that big things are around the corner.
“I feel like this year, I’ve been a good driver of the ball one day, a good iron player the next day, maybe putt well, and I haven’t really seemed to gel.
“Last week (in Saudi), I actually felt like it all did gel. I missed a few putts, a lot of lip-outs, but it actually felt like there was something there, and it felt like there was something good in the making, so I’m excited for this week.”
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