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Sport Nation
He's got the game: Cameron Smith doubters have been warned
Darren Walton, AAP • May 15th, 2025 8:59 am
Aussie Cameron Smith is hunting a first PGA Tour win since 2023, at Quail Hollow Club | Photo: Michael Errey/AAP
He's winless in almost two years, an 80-1 long shot with bookmakers, but golf fans have been warned against writing off Cameron Smith as a PGA Championship contender.
Smith enters the year's second major championship in Charlotte, North Carolina having dropped from No. 2 in the world to 148th since defecting to LIV Golf after winning the landmark 150th British Open at St Andrews in 2022.
Critics claim Australia's short-game wizard has lost his competitive edge playing only sparingly on the shot-gun-start 54-hole breakaway league.
Smith bristles at such suggestions while his backers point to four top-three finishes in five starts over the summer in Australia and Asia and a final-group run at LIV Golf Mexico two weeks ago as evidence he still has a world-class game.
Cameron Smith lets rip during the recent LIV Golf event in Mexico City | Photo: AP
That game deserted Smith when the 31-year-old missed the cut at the Masters, leaving analysts unsure of what to expect from the six-time PGA Tour winner this week.
Fellow Queenslander Col Swatton, the long-time coach of former world No. 1 Jason Day, is intrigued to see which version of Smith will front up at Quail Hollow.
"I did catch up with Cam briefly at the Masters this year. He looked decent. I wouldn't say he looks super sharp," Swatton said ahead of the PGA Championship first round on Thursday night (NZST).
"He didn't drive the ball great that week, didn't hit a lot of great iron shots. Scrambled his butt off in the first round.
"So I'm not sure how his game is for the second major of the year.
"But that's been four or five weeks since then, so he could be a completely different player, especially given his short game.
"If he drives it just decent this week, hits it nice and scrambles as good as he can scramble, then he's a world-class player and he's definitely capable of winning a major championship."
One of seven Australians in the field, Smith will play the first two rounds with Masters runner-up Justin Rose and 2023 Open champion Brian Harman.
