Cam Smith started his Australian Open campaign full of fire and brimstone, but ran out of puff well before the finish line as his marathon home campaign proved too hard a task.
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Before striking a ball in anger he lashed officials for the conditioning of the two courses being used, declaring he was speaking for plenty of his peers when he called them out for being set-up too soft to cater to the dual-gender nature of the event.
It was agenda-setting stuff from arguably the biggest name in Australian golf right now, who calls himself a “truthsayer”, unwilling to bend to type, as evidenced by his bold, big-money to LIV Golf in 2023.
After bashing out an opening round of six-under on Thursday, then an eagle and birdie to start his second round on Friday, it appeared the Queenslander was capable of carrying the mantle of both on and of-course leader.
Until he wasn’t.
Smith fell apart on the back-nine on Friday, declaring he was “rushed” by being put on the clock, and vented his frustration post-round by calling out one-time protege Elvis Smylie’s slow play as the reason.
Whether it was frustration or more cold hard truth, Smith’s strong position suggested a mentality much different from the man who landed in Australia some six weeks ago hellbent on capturing his first Australian open title.
He made it clear how much he wanted it, declaring the national Open second only to the Masters as his must-win events.
Through his opening 24 holes, Smith scorecard listed 11 birdies and an eagle, and everything seemed on track.
But his next 24 holes could not have been more different
Not only was there not a single birdie, there was instead seven bogeys and a double as his tournament fell apart.
He had been second early on Friday.
He was 48th and falling before finally he broke the drought, a birdie on his 14th hole of his third round, but found another bogey on his way to the clubhouse, signing for a four-over 76, leaving him 12-shots off the lead.
Smith is playing his fourth event in a row, and fourth week in five weeks, having tried to prime himself to finish his monster month at home with the Stonehaven Cup.
But it’s a stretch he’s no longer used to.
The LIV star gets lengthy breaks between events, sometimes up to three weeks, and four on the trot now seems like too big a departure from what has become his normal.
His great mate, and LIV teammate, Marc Leishman, said going back to back to back wasn’t an issue, but winning, anywhere, was “hard”.
“We play against great fields every week on LIV, this is no different,” he said.
“Even though might not be a lot of name players, there’s a lot of really, really good players. So I think they certainly get that respect from me, for sure. And I know Cam knows how good all the young Aussie guys are and the internationals that are here.
“So, yeah, it’s hard to win. I know he wants it so bad and that always makes it all that much tougher as well.”
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