Cam Smith climbs back on the horse at Australian Open
Smith during today’s pro am – image Australian Golf Media
It was a case of getting back on the horse for Cam Smith at the Aust Open today when he played in the Pro-Am as his final preparation for an attempt to win his national open for the first occasion.
Smith went very close to winning the event in 2016 when he was defeated in a playoff by Jordan Spieth as a 23-year-old at Royal Sydney and he looks to get his hand on the Stonehaven Cup to go with his three Australian PGA Championships in addition to the other significant titles he has won worldwide.
Smith arrived at the Australian Golf Club off the back of a disastrous and almost inexplicable week at Royal Queensland last week where he missed the cut by a massive nine shots after a second round of 78.
Not surprisingly, there is scar tissue for Smith after performing so poorly in front of friends and family in Brisbane last week, especially when, as the defending champion and after another successful year internationally, so much was expected.
“Yeah, it was a very frustrating week,” said Smith. “Obviously the game didn’t feel good. It was pretty upsetting to play like that at home, not only in Australia but in my hometown. I had lots of friends and family there hoping for another good week, but it wasn’t to be.
“It is definitely a different type of pressure playing at home. I think you expect to kind of play well because it is home and I’ve always kind of put that pressure on myself and I’d like to think that I’ve had a pretty good kind of Australian career.
“So lots of hard work over the weekend with my coach, Grant. We hit a lot of balls, worked on the right stuff and the game’s feeling pretty good this week.
“The two courses here are pretty challenging, so it’ll be an interesting one, but I just need to go out there and trust and commit to what I’m doing.
“I guess it’s easy to lose confidence with rounds like that, but I’ve been playing pretty good golf the last 7 or 8 months and it’s easy to look at it as just another round, but at the same time, it hurts the confidence a little bit.
“Yeah, like I said, just got to get back to what I know and what I know I can do. The old saying of one swing can change a round, I think over the weekend it’s definitely changed how I felt about my game. I’m looking forward to it.
“A couple of weeks ago I was competing to win the Hong Kong Open and I thought I was playing pretty decent golf and a couple of weeks later it was at the other end of the spectrum. It’s pretty weird how it can change that quickly, but yeah, it’s a crazy game sometimes. Just as you think you’ve got it, you don’t and then sometimes when you think you don’t have it, you’re finishing in the top 5 or top 10. So it’s a crazy game.”
Smith gave the impression that while he is happy with the progress he has made with the work put in over the weekend, there is still a level of uncertainty as to where things are at and it won’t be fully tested until he gets a pencil and scorecard in his hand.
“The game’s definitely feeling better than it did last week. I just need to go out there tomorrow and really commit to what I’m doing. It’s easy to break back into those habits, so going out there, committing and hitting a few good shots, I think that confidence will build as the week goes on.
“I wouldn’t say my confidence is at 100 percent, but like I said, there’s no reason I can’t go out there and be competitive. It only takes a few good shots and a few good feels and all of a sudden you’re looking at yourself at the top of the leaderboard.”
When asked what winning his own national open would mean to him Smith had no hesitation in responding.
“It means everything. I think growing up as a kid you want to win your National Open. I was fortunate enough to watch a couple of Aussie Opens down here as a teenager and play in a bunch as well.
“So, it’s always created a really good opportunity for me to learn as a young professional and I think just growing up watching it, you want to win it. Yeah, it’s on the radar. It has been for a while and I think I’ve been close a couple of times, which makes it – you want it that little bit extra, which sometimes can be detrimental. But, yeah, I just need to go out there and really commit to what I’m doing.”
