Marc Leishman says Cam Smith’s shocking Australian PGA meltdown will be “good for him”.
Smith’s PGA title defence came to a horror end on Friday when he shot a 78 at Royal Queensland to finish at nine-over after two rounds and miss the cut by nine strokes.
The 2022 British Open champion and tournament drawcard was in tears after the round in reflecting on one of the worst days of his professional career.
“It’s shit. It’s not acceptable – it’s very upsetting actually,” a teary Smith said.
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Leishman, a close friend of Smith and his Ripper GC teammate in LIV Golf, was not surprised by the 30-year-old Queenslander’s emotion.
“It’s disappointing when you don’t play well, particularly in an event that you love so much,” Leishman said.
“I’ve done it in Australian Opens and tournaments I’ve won in America. You go there looking to win the event (but) you don’t take it for granted.
“Good golf courses reward good shots and punish bad shots. This place punishes bad shots.
“It doesn’t matter who you are. If you hit a few bad shots, you start thinking about it a bit too much and it can happen.”
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Leishman tipped Smith to bounce back at next week’s Australian Open in Sydney.
“I’m not at all worried about him … he’s a big lad,” Leishman said.
“In the long run it’ll be good for him to know it can happen. I know he’ll knuckle down and he’ll be better for it next week.
“He’s one of the greatest players in the world, and I’m sure he’ll bounce back and be pretty hard to beat next week.”
While Smith can’t win this year’s event at Royal Queensland, Leishman moved up the leaderboard on Saturday with a third-round 67 that moved him to nine under, eight shots behind leader Min Woo Lee, who heads the field at 17-under.
“I’m happy with how I played,” said Leishman, who is in a tie for seventh heading into the final round.
“It was nice to see a few putts go in and something crazy (on Sunday) and you never know.
“We all want to win it, so if I can play like I did (on Saturday) and get a hot putter, you never know what might happen.
“Hopefully I can play good, finish as well as I can and see how it goes.”
Trailing Lee by three shots in second place is Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino, who was superb on Saturday with a seven-under 64.
Western Australia’s Curtis Scott is third at 13-under, two ahead of Adam Scott, who shot a 71 on Saturday to remain at 11-under.
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