Smith Fails: 7th Consecutive Elimination in Golf Tournament

Cameron Smith Struggles in His Homeland and Misses the Cut

Cameron Smith, the three-time Australian PGA champion, had a disappointing performance by recording a 75 (+4) and missing his seventh consecutive cut. The local player began his Friday round on the projected cut line at two under par and had early birdie opportunities, but on two occasions left his ball on the edge of the hole. After falling below the line with a bogey on the 11th hole, a battling Smith watched as putts for par slipped away on the 13th and 14th holes in miserable scenes at Royal Queensland Golf Club. He made an eight-foot birdie on the 17th hole to offer a glimmer of hope, but then missed the 18th green and three-putted for a double bogey that sealed his fate. Finished in two over par, far from the top of the leaderboard led by Brett Rankin, Kazuma Kobori, Wenyi Ding and Anthony Quayle, who had at least one hole to play, with nine under par. Rankin, with seven under par after 18 holes, took the lead in the clubhouse with nine under par despite a double bogey on his penultimate hole. Later joined by the 2023 champion, Min Woo Lee, who made six birdies before a bogey on the final hole that left him one stroke behind. Cameron Davis, Daniel Hillier, Marc Leishman and Marco Penge (seven under par) are within striking distance on a tight leaderboard, while Ryan Fox lost three strokes at the end to sit at five under par. Adam Scott (six under par) lurks thanks to a long birdie putt on the 17th, defending champion Elvis Smylie (two under par) recovered to make the cut, but European players Joaquín Niemann (par) and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (five over par) struggled. Smith had one of his worst days as a professional, missing the cut at the Royal Queensland in 2023, crying after shooting a 78 (+7) on Friday. But he returned last year to finish as runner-up, and then lost a play-off at the Saudi International shortly after. That form abandoned him, the former world number 2 and winner of the 2022 Open Championship was the only player who didn’t make the cut in this year’s four majors. Then, he failed to stand out in his next two tournaments and will arrive in Melbourne for next week’s Australian Open with a winless streak approaching two and a half years. The playing partner Lee, who achieved his first victory on the US PGA Tour this year, was immune to the carnage, as he regularly added strokes, and Davis showed no signs of rust in his first tournament since his early exit from the PGA Tour in August. Leishman got excited before, making a chip for eagle from the bunker on the seventh hole and then taking the driver from the fairway to prepare a birdie in an exciting three-hole sequence to finish his round. The former Greg Normal Medal winner, 42, has never won a major title in Australia, but vowed to remain bold in his pursuit of one.

We are golfers and artists, and I really enjoy entertaining, whether it’s with a driver off the deck or a cool, spinning bunker shot,” Leishman said.

Marc Leishman

“Playing the way you would play at home, no careless shots, just fun shots and facing the pins in different ways. I am struggling all the time and trying to do it… to get to many of the pins that some people can’t.”