Australian Open: Cameron Smith arrives refreshed and in form

Cameron Smith may be Australia’s best male golfer under 30 but he has always had an aversion to the spotlight.

Cameron Smith has arrived in Australia with two good results in Asia to boost his confidence.

Cameron Smith may be Australia’s best male golfer under 30 but he has always had an aversion to the spotlight.

However, he will grudgingly accept it this week if it means he will get his hands on his first Australian Open title in Sydney.

“I’m not one for the spotlight. I don’t really like it that much, but I like playing good golf, so it’s a trade-off,’’ Smith said as he began his preparations at The Australian club yesterday.

Smith, 24, had one hand on the Stonehaven Cup last year but lost a playoff to former world No 1 Jordan Spieth, who claimed his second Australian Open title in three years.

Smith arrived for the tournament at Royal Sydney last year at the last possible moment, on the morning of the Wednesday pro-am directly from the US PGA tour. He played a poor first round before finding his rhythm and surging home. But that experience left him with a sense of what might have been and he’s determined not to leave anything to chance this year.

“That’s fired me up this year,’’ he said.

He was already on the practice range at The Australian yesterday to give himself a full week of preparation for the tournament and with a full support team around him to ensure he is in prime condition to play for his national championship.

“I’ve seen the course a bunch of times here and I’m getting in a bunch of practice,’’ he said.

“I’ve got my coach and my trainer down here this week as well, so it’s full steam.’’

He may prefer to stay under the radar — being the second best-known Queensland sports star of his name suits him well — but Smith’s game tends to make people sit up and take notice.

He first made a splash internationally as a rookie at the 2015 US Open, his first major tournament, where he finished fourth after an eagle on the last hole.

He’s now coming off a breakthrough 2017 season on the US PGA Tour, in which he won his first title, combining with Sweden’s Jonas Blixt to win the four-ball Zurich Classic of New Orleans in a playoff.

He is arguably Australia’s most in-form player after finishing in the top five at his first two tournaments of the new US season. He tied for fifth at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, and followed with a third behind major winner Justin Thomas at the CJ Cup in South Korea late last month.

Since then Smith has had a rare three weeks at home with his family and friends in Brisbane before arriving in Sydney yesterday.

He puts his excellent start to the season down to a new mental approach.

“I’ve flicked a switch in my head with a bit of mental stuff,’’ he said. “I promised myself at the start of this season, and at the end of last season when I started to play really good again, that I would commit myself 100 per cent to every shot and I’ve ticked every box there so far and I know that if I do that right, the results will come. So I’ve just been really focusing 100 per cent on every shot.’’

Smith is renowned for the quality of his short game but said he was particularly happy with his ball flight in windy conditions in Korea, a skill he might need in Sydney this week, where changeable conditions are forecast

He said Jack Nicklaus’s redesign of The Australian course might give the US tour players an advantage this week.

“It’s very Americanised so that might fall into the US tour players’ hands a bit with the long par-fours and the big slopey greens,’’ he said.

“We don’t get that a lot in Australian golf but I love the course here. It’s always in great condition and they always do a fantastic job hosting the Australian Open.’’