He would rather fish, right?
Cameron Smith has often made it look like that way.
Don’t pay attention to his big wins at TPC Sawgrass and the old race in St. Andrews. Forget the fact that he was once the number 2-ranked player in the world. The Aussie star has long sounded like a man who prefers to crochet Bas over the packing of Birdies.
That was partly the reason why he left for LIV in 2022, shortly after winning both the players’ championship and the Claret that year. He said he was tired of ruthless travel. He wanted a looser schedule, more time to lounge around, more opportunities to throw his line into the currents.
Golf? Smith thought it was good enough. But he spoke about it as something that he could largely take or leave.
During last week’s Liv Golf UK, the relaxed 31-year-old with the party-in-back Sloten met a different tone. He expressed fiery feelings about the game while he complained in his own recent performance – in particular his matte impressions in the Majors. Smith missed the cut in all four in 2025 (he was the only player who brought it into all four to do this), making it five straight Majors in which he did not survive during the weekend.
“Yes, it’s bad to play badly in tournaments that probably mean a little more than others,” said Smith, via Golf Digest Australia At JCB Golf and Country Club in Midland, England. “I think it is probably more a mental issue than the actual technology. But this year the most important results were not good.”
According to Smith’s Chill Beach-Vibe standards, comments are practically counted as an anger. He had reason to be dissatisfied. Prior to his recent series of missed cuts, which started at the Open Championship 2024 in Royal Throne, Smith had built up a reputation for shining on large stages. Between 2020 and 2024 he achieved seven Top-10 Finishes in Majors, including his open championship gain.
Since he came to Liv three years ago, Smith has enjoyed Flitsen of Success in Liv, with three individual titles (his team, Ripper GC, also won the team championship in Dallas in 2024). But he has not won a title on the separated circuit since Liv Golf Bedminster in 2023.
Although Smith’s talent never questioned – he had a striking junior career in his home country and won the Australian amateur of 2013 – his willingness to grind is another matter. It has often come under doubt. Smith himself has long recognized that he is neither a gym rat nor a reaching rat.
But Motivation, Smith said, is no problem nowadays. His open championship title from 2022 came with a five -year exemption in the Masters, the PGA Championship and the US Open, so his place is safe in the Majors until 2027. But the time to become sharp is now.
“The motivation is at a record high to return to where I was, and even better than that,” he said. “So a bit of a change in attitude and I really focused on the mental side … There is no reason why I can’t finish strongly this season.”
#big #seasonal #failure #LIV #star #motivated #find