“Much harder”: Smith’s marathon efforts fail

Cam Smith started his Australian Open season full of vim and vigor but ran out of steam long before the finish line as his marathon home campaign proved too difficult a task.

Before angrily hitting a ball, he criticized the officials for the conditioning of the two courses in use and said he spoke for many of his colleagues when he accused them of being too soft-spoken to accommodate the two-gender nature of the event .

These were game-changing topics from arguably the biggest name in Australian golf right now, who describes himself as a “truth-teller” and is unwilling to bow to type, as evidenced by his bold, big-money bid on LIV Golf in 2023.

After hitting an opening round of six-unders on Thursday and then opening his second round with an eagle and a birdie on Friday, it appeared the Queenslander was in position to claim both the on-course leader’s title and the of the front runner.

Until he wasn’t anymore.

Smith fumbled on the back nine on Friday, saying he was “in a rush” because he was put on the clock. After the round, he vented his frustration by citing the slow play of former protégé Elvis Smylie as the reason.

Whether it was frustration or a more cold, hard truth, Smith’s strong position suggested a mentality very different from that of the man who landed in Australia about six weeks ago, desperate to win his first Australian Open title.

He made it clear how badly he wanted it by making the National Open one of his must-win events after the Masters.

Through the first 24 holes, Smith recorded 11 birdies and an eagle, and everything seemed to be on track.

But his next 24 holes couldn’t have been more different

Not only was there not a single birdie, there were instead seven bogeys and a double as his tournament fell through.

He was second on Friday morning.

He was 48th and fell before finally breaking the drought, a birdie on the 14th hole of his third round, but on the way to the clubhouse he found another bogey that led to a four-over 76, leaving him was 12 strokes away from the lead.

Smith is playing his fourth consecutive event and fourth week in five weeks after trying to prepare to cap off his monster month at home with the Stonehaven Cup.

But it’s a route he’s no longer used to.

The LIV star takes extended breaks between events, sometimes up to three weeks, and four on the go now seems like too much of a departure from what has become normal for him.

His great buddy and LIV teammate Marc Leishman said going back-to-back wasn’t a problem, but winning, no matter where, was “hard.”

“We play against great teams every week on LIV, this is no different,” he said.

“Even though there may not be a lot of big name players, there are a lot of really, really good players. So I think they definitely get that respect from me. And I know Cam knows how good all the young Australians and international players are here.

“So yeah, it’s hard to win. I know he wants it so bad and that always makes it that much harder.”