Masters 2022: Cameron Smith on his mullet, beers, fishing and golf

Everyone knows Cam Smith has the best mullet in golf. But who really is the man behind one of the most exciting games on the tour? He spoke to Michael Warner.

Cameron Smith says the mullet is here to stay.

Augusta National Golf Club is not the natural habitat of the mullet.

But Cameron Smith, the sixth-ranked golfer in the world and rising, won’t be shedding his Kentucky Waterfall for the trip down Magnolia Lane.

“It’s definitely hanging around,” the laconic Queenslander says of his iso-inspired neck warmer ahead of this week’s US Masters.

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“I feel like it is a part of me now. I don’t think I can really get rid of it. I got a bit of a clean up on it last week, but it’s still flowing pretty good.”

The beer-swilling, fish-catching 28-year-old US PGA Tour star says even his mum, Sharon, and sister, Mel, who recently visited his home base in Jacksonville, Florida, after a two-and-a-half-year Covid enforced absence, were “coming around” to his trademark locks.

“There are some people that just hate it and they probably will forever, but they’ll get over it,” he says.

Fresh off a career-best victory in golf’s “fifth major”, last month’s weather-interrupted Players’ Championship at TPC Sawgrass – and a $5 million payday (which tipped his career earnings beyond $30 million) – Smith feels primed for another run at that elusive green jacket.

The Australian young gun finished tied for second at Augusta in 2020 (becoming the only player in tournament history to shoot all four rounds in the 60s), was 10th last year behind Hideki Matsuyama and fifth in 2018.

Cameron Smith’s sharp focus on the greens has taken him to No.6 in the world. Picture: Getty Images

“Everything is feeling fresh and good,” Smith says.

“I feel like I know the golf course really well. I still definitely learn things every year but it’s getting less and less.

“I just feel really comfortable around there. Most of the holes just really suit my eye and I feel like I can be really creative, which is when I think I play my best golf.

“And I love those greens. They are just so fast. You hit some putts around there that you don’t know that you can keep on the green.

“It’s quite tricky and you definitely have to know where to leave it, and sometimes it’s better to miss the green than be 20 foot above the hole.”

Smith, who lives three minutes’ drive from the scene of his Players’ triumph, celebrated with a backyard bonfire party with a group of about 30 friends and family.

“We gave it a fair crack. It was maybe a nine-and-a-half out of 10,” he laughs.

“We didn’t (see the sunrise) but we were close.

“I haven’t really done much for the last couple of weeks, which has been kind of nice.

“I’ve been recovering. Obviously, we had a good time on the Monday night, but it was such a long week and mentally draining.

“It probably took me three or four days of not doing much to want to get back into the gym again and start doing all that stuff again.

“I feel like whenever you are in contention in a big event, it usually takes a lot out of you.”

Smith’s passion away from golf is fishing, a hobby he indulges “three or four times a week” off the Jacksonville coast on his 39-foot boat “Tin City” (as in tins of beer).

“In shore, we mostly catch red fish, they hang around all year and are pretty fun to catch,” he says.

Smith has taken the golfing world by storm. Picture: Getty Images

His biggest haul was an inedible tarpon, hauled in with best mate Jack Wilkocz, an old high school friend who set up camp in Florida about three years ago to “help out with whatever needs to be done”.

“We had to take turns on it and it was probably about 160 pounds,” Smith says.

Fishing, like golf, is a “process” that fascinates Smith.

“I just like to learn stuff that I don’t really know about – and try to get really good at it,” he says.

“I’m always eager to learn. Obviously, I fished a little bit back in Australia with my old man when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, but to actually get really into it and to know certain things and what the fish bite and what they like and the conditions – I am very intrigued by it.

“It’s almost like golf in that the better you are at it, the better you want to be, if that makes sense?

“It’s almost never-ending and obviously the stuff that you catch is pretty cool and it’s always a good time out on the boat if you have a few good mates with you.”

The mad Brisbane Broncos fan has ambitions to open his own coffee shop somewhere on the Queensland coast when his golfing days are “said and done”.

Cameron Smith with a fairly sizeable catch. Picture: Instagram

“I’d love to do that. I think that’s what I’m going to lean towards,” he says.

An ice-cool up and down on his final hole at the Players’ (after finding the water to hold out Anirban Lahiri) probably saved Smith about $1.9 million in prizemoney, but these days he says he’s not thinking about cash when he stands over a make-or-break putt.

“It’s just about being a competitor – and being out there, trying to win. All of that stuff (the prizemoney) is really nice but realistically, you’re just trying to beat everyone else out there,” he says.

“Early in my career when I legitimately had to make money to pay the bills, I thought about it, but the less you do, the better off you are. You just want to win tournaments.”

Smith owns three cars in Florida – an F450 pick-up for the boat, an Audi RS6 wagon and a Nissan GTR – and is partial to at least a beer a day.

“It kind of depends on the company, you know. I like a Kona Brewing, they’re made in Hawaii and their Big Wave or Longboard Lager are pretty nice,” he says.

His girlfriend has also got him watching the Netflix reality hit Love Island.

“I think I’m 90 per cent forced into watching it,” Smith laughs.

“But there’s something about it that is intriguing as well. Not like fishing, maybe the complete opposite of intriguing – like ‘What’s going on here?’ intriguing.”

Just a bloke and his very special trophy. Picture: PGA Tour/Getty Images

Standing at 180cm, Smith is not a new-age bomber like Bryson DeChambeau (he’s ranked 110th for driving distance this season) but a razor-sharp iron game that caught the eye of Greg Norman many years ago and a simple, dependable putting stroke puts him right in the frame to become just the second Australian after his good mate Adam Scott to breakthrough at Augusta.

“I try to make it as natural as I can,” Smith says of his flat-stick method.

“I do some technique work when I’m at home and some mirror work before my rounds.

“The freer I can be on the greens, the better off I am. Obviously some days are better than others with feel, but if I can get my alignment right, I feel like I read the greens relatively well and can make a pretty good stroke and make a good putt, basically.

“I’m pretty easygoing, to be honest. Not much really fazes me. But I’m a very big process person, whether it’s with golf or the gym or even fishing.

“I like to make sure all the boxes are ticked before I go out there and give it my best shot.”

Originally published as Masters 2022: Cameron Smith on his mullet, beers, fishing and golf