Putting out on the 54th hole in Indianapolis in August, you can’t help but wonder what felt longer for Cameron Smith.
Was it his two-year wait for another professional win, or the 19-year title drought of his beloved Brisbane Broncos?
Smith was just 12, carving up the fairways of the Wantima Country Club, when his greatest obsession outside of golf, the Broncos, last won the NRL premiership.
Watch the 2025 Australian PGA Championship LIVE on Kayo Sports 27-30 Nov | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Few could’ve predicted that one of Australian sport’s biggest powerhouses would have to wait nearly two decades before hoisting the trophy once more.
Smith’s own spiral since winning the 2022 Open Championship and joining LIV Golf has been just as unfathomable.
This year, the Broncos’ drought ended, sparking scenes of delirium for those who have weathered the brutal lows of nearly 20 barren years.
One would expect that diehard Smith was among those — but there was a problem.
He didn’t even see it.
“I was actually in Scotland playing the Dunhill Links,” Smith told reporters at Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Australian PGA Championship.
“And if I had known that the Grand Final was on the same week as the Dunhill Links, maybe I wouldn’t have played.
“I was at home for the first round of the finals and I was saying to the boys, if you make the final, I’ll come back.
“I had no idea … We had a rain delay on the Saturday, so our round got pushed to Sunday, which was the day of the final.
“I was warming up watching it and then I teed off at halftime, so I wasn’t too happy about the timing, but kind of had it on in the bag on silent and was keeping updates as the round went on.”
READ MORE
‘WASN’T HAPPY’: Broncos blunder Smith couldn’t believe… and the brilliant way he made up for it
TEE TIMES: Blockbuster Aussie pairings confirmed as tee times revealed — Aus PGA Ultimate Guide
Scott chasing 3rd Australian PGA title | 00:58
It’s in this tale of well-intentioned fumbling that you find Smith heading into his pet event in Brisbane this week. No matter how hard he’s tried over the past two years, little has worked out.
Smith stepped into the Broncos’ house on Tuesday, ostensibly for a promotional event alongside NRL champion Adam Reynolds, but perhaps for some title-winning inspiration, too.
Now left for dead by their all-conquering exploits, Smith’s drought feels like the only one that matters this week at Royal Queensland.
There lingers a feeling of if not soon for Smith — and the facts suggest it won’t be — then when, and where?
Throw a dart at the 156-player field for this week and you could easily land on a better chance to win the tournament based on form.
Smith missed every cut at the majors this year, finished no higher than T7 in any of LIV Golf’s small-field events, and is fresh off his sixth-straight missed cut at the Saudi International.
He has not won a professional tournament since LIV Bedminster in August 2023, while he has not performed well at a major since his T6 at the Masters in April 2024.
Quite simply, he has almost nothing going for him.
But good feeling counts for plenty in a sport defined by the fingers’ connectivity with the club, and the taming of mental demons that inevitably arise between swings.
And in the Queensland heat, Smith has plenty of it.
Apart from being the state that forged the former world No.2, Queensland has played host to Smith winning three of the past seven Australian PGA Championships.
As such, it’s difficult to avoid placing some level of expectation on a player with such a formidable history, form or no form.
Smith, however, has shied away from doing the same, claiming he “never really plays with expectations”.
Nonetheless, he suggested that his recent results don’t tell the full story, and the truth is that he may be closer than it seems.
“It’s kind of been the story of the year, I guess I thought I’ve played better than what I’ve scored,” he said after the Saudi International.
Throw a dart at the 156-player field for this week and you could easily land on a better chance to win the tournament based on form.Source: Getty Images
“The work has been there and those poor rounds creeping in … it’s been very frustrating.
“That’s really bothered me this year, whereas in the past it probably hasn’t.”
Smith is also buoyed by the fact that the Australian PGA will be played at the course where he last won on these shores, Royal Queensland.
“Obviously, it’s a course that I love and have played well at,” he said. “I think just being at home brings that (playfulness) back a little bit as well, and obviously having success here at RQ probably helps.
“I’m trying to go out there and not worry about it so much.”
Only time will tell whether the more relaxed approach will pay dividends.
But should the scores turn ugly once more, worry is the only thing that will be left on the table.
The Australian PGA is followed by the Australian Open, an event which Smith has never won, and has become something of a curse for the 32-year-old.
Smith had one hand on the Stonehaven Cup as a 23-year-old in 2016, but was edged out by Jordan Spieth in a three-man playoff.
In 2022, Smith shockingly missed the 54-hole cut in the year he was the reigning Open champion. More recently, he last year wasted a strong start by going 24-consecutive holes mid-tournament without a birdie or eagle, finishing the national Open T39.
For a trophy that features most of the who’s who of Australian men’s golf — Adam Scott, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Stuart Appleby, Peter Lonard, John Senden, Matt Jones, Cameron Davis —
Smith’s name remains a curious omission on the Stonehaven Cup.
Bottom line; Smith’s chances in Queensland appear better than in Victoria.
As such, failure this weekend at Royal Queensland will only exacerbate one of the most prominent questions in the sport; is LIV Golf damaging its greatest stars?
Smith, who signed with the rebel league in late 2022, has been one of the prime examples for those who have argued against the credibility of LIV Golf over the past two years.
The Australian still looked a force in his debut season, winning twice and finishing second on the money list behind only Talor Gooch, while he notched top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship and the US Open.
Few could predict that his T6 at the following year’s Masters was the beginning of the fall.
Despite a couple close calls, Smith wouldn’t win on the LIV circuit that year, while he finished T63, T32 and missed one cut at the year’s three remaining majors.
The trend has only grown worse with Smith now on a streak of five-straight missed cuts at majors, and into his third year of not winning a professional tournament.
This has been Smith’s longest search for a win since he first turned pro in 2013.
Many reasons can be attributed to Smith’s stark drop-off.
From a technical view point, his play off the tee is in disarray — he was ranked 47/54 for driving accuracy this LIV Golf season, and struggled at all four majors, particularly at Royal Portrush where he was ranked almost last at 149th.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 25: Cameron Smith drives off the tee on the 7th hole prior to the BMW Australian PGA Championship 2025. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
There’s also the massive life change of becoming a father for the first time, which he admitted this year has changed his perspective to golf.
“Really, all I want now is to have a happy, healthy son rather than making as many birdies as I can on the golf course,” he told Australian Golf Digest.
“Of course, I still want to do that and to win often. I’m still fired up competitively once I’m inside the ropes, but bad rounds probably don’t ruin my day as much as they used to.”
Whatever it is, Smith has slipped to 345th in the Official World Golf Rankings. On Datagolf, which uses a different formula that merits LIV Golf results, he’s still only ranked 133rd.
For many, it all points to one thing.
“I’ll say it out loud … I think LIV Golf has backfired for Cameron Smith, unfortunately,” former golfer and Talk Birdie To Me podcast host Mark Allen said.
“I always feel like the guys that went to LIV… the majority of them… weren’t die hard professional golfers.
“From the outside looking in, it just looks like LIV stuffed their game.”
Former Australian PGA Championship winner Nick O’Hern added: “No one drove it worse than him at the majors last year…
“I’m sure it’s annoying the hell out of him too.”
Others have been far more brutal on Smith’s downwards trajectory.
In April, before the Masters, Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said Smith initially reminded him of eight-time major winner Tom Watson given his scrambling, putting, and ability under pressure.
However, he said since joining LIV Golf, Smith had become an “at bottom” golfer.
“To see him go to LIV, it really broke my heart,” Chamblee told CODE Sports. “I understand people make decisions based upon their own economics, but he was on his trajectory to be one of the greats.
“I miss him. I follow him around in majors. I’ve met his crew. Nice people, I love them all, but like most of the LIV players, with the exception of a few, they might as well be in the witness protection program.
“You don’t see them except for four times a year and you hardly see them then because almost all of their games have decayed.”
Speaking in July before The Open, Sky Sports expert Paul McGinley also pointed the finger at LIV Golf.
He suggested that its three-round format with no cuts and guaranteed big paydays had blunted the threat of many of its players when facing their PGA Tour rivals.
“There’s a great quote from a Navy SEAL that’s widely used in leadership. ‘What do you do under pressure?’. And he says, ‘I sink to the level of my training’,” McGinley said.
“The training that the guys get on LIV, the way they play on LIV, it’s not the same intensity as the PGA Tour.
“Nobody can argue that that is not true.”
Heartbreak! Minjee robbed of an Eagle | 00:29
While it painted a bleak picture at the time — and in many ways it still does — McGinley’s assessment may soon be seen as a positive given LIV Golf’s imminent switch to four-round tournaments.
LIV Golf, which awarded about A$580m in prize money in 2025 — will ditch its 54-hole format for next season in its latest, and biggest, push to be recognised by the OWGR.
It means Smith will have an extra round to let his skill rise him to the top, while any push to win OWGR points will be crucial when his five-year exemption to the Masters, PGA Championship and US Open run out in 2027.
For fellow Australian Min Woo Lee, the change can only be a good thing for Smith.
“Cam was one of the best players in the world before he went to LIV, and I hope he can find a stride,” he told Australian Associated Press.
“Great golfers, over time, if there are more holes, they’re probably going to come out on top. So hopefully we can see some good golf out of him.”
It’s been some time since Smith even played a fourth round of competitive golf given he missed the cut at all four majors, and the Saudi International, while the Alfred Dunhill Links was reduced to three rounds due to high winds.
The Australian summer of golf will therefore be the first test of that theory.
And if it goes well, it’s not only a legacy piece on Australian shores that’s up for grabs.
So, too, is a momentum-shifting moment — one which could shake the Broncos-sized monkey off his back, and have massive ramifications for Smith’s 2026, and potentially beyond.
