Defending Champion Cameron Smith Almost In Tears After Missing Australian PGA Championship Cut By Nine Shots

An emotional Cameron Smith branded his performance as "unacceptable" after missing the cut at the Australian PGA Championship by nine shots

Cameron Smith at the 2023 Australian PGA Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
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Defending champion Cameron Smith was close to tears after what he called an "unacceptable" performance as he missed the cut at the Australian PGA Championship by nine shots.

The 2022 Open champion carded six bogeys and a double bogey in his second round of 78 that saw him finish on nine over, with the cut made at level par.

Only six players finished with a worse score after two rounds, and with the event being played in his home of Brisbane Smith took it pretty badly.

"Australia has been so good to me, there's no reason to perform like that. Unacceptable," said Smith in an emotional post-round interview.

"Yeah, no words. S***. I've performed under pressure before and it's not acceptable, a bit upsetting actually," added Smith, who also won the Australian PGA in 2017 and 2018 along with last year's success.

"I know what I'm doing, it's just going out there and committing to something is another thing."

It was one of, if not the worst day as a pro golfer for the 30-year-old, who entered the tournament as one of the favourites after winning last year.

Smith also finished second in the individual LIV Golf standings, but his horror show at Royal Queensland Golf Club also puts his chances of making the Paris Olympics next year in doubt.

Due to playing at LIV, Smith's chances to earn ranking points in order to make the Australian Olympic team are limited - and he'll now look to produce a vastly improved display as next week's Australian Open in Sydney.

“I hope I can get it together for next week and put on a better show than that,” Smith added as he left bitterly disappointed.

Smith could hardly put a foot right during his round, which would've been made worse playing alongside compatriot Min Woo Lee who shot a sparkling 66 to lead the tournament by one shot from Adam Scott.

“It’s golf, that happens and next week I’m sure he’s going to bounce back, it’s what good players do,” Lee said of Smith.

“With family and friends, in his hometown - a few drinks and loosen up for next week.”

Scott managed one better than Lee with a 65 putting him just a stroke behind heading into the weekend.

"It's always nice to have a bogey-free round, I probably haven't had many of them this year," Scott said.

"I feel like my swing from the tee to the green is feeling better than it has for a while and that's a nice thing for me."

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Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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