WEARY CAM FACING RARE WEEKEND OFF COURSE
CAMERON Smith said his mind was “foggy” and he felt uncomfortable in the second round of the Australian Open after a second-straight over par round left him staring at missing the cut at the flagship event in Melbourne.
The world No.3’s one-over par round, this time at Kingston Heath, ended with Smith at two-over and outside the top 60 players and ties who go through to the weekend.
After an opening round on Thursday that he called “pretty rubbish” at Victoria Golf Club, he swapped courses for round two but the story remained largely the same and even a last-gasp birdie on his final hole, which moved him to two-over for the tournament, still had him teetering on the cut.
A bogey on his opening hole at Kingston Heath after a 7am tee time, then another two, dropped him outside the top 100 in the tournament, a place he is not used to being.
Back-to-back birdies to start his back-nine brought hope, before a bogey on the fourth was followed by another on his second-last hole, the par three eighth, instead of the birdies he needed to secure passage to at least Saturday, after which there is a secondary cut.
Smith walked off the course in a tie for 81st with the afternoon groups still to come.
Trying to become the first man since Greg Chalmers in 2011 to win the Australian PGA and Open double, the celebration of his win in his hometown of Brisbane last week, which came after a host of events toasting the British Open champ’s return home, looked to have taken a toll.
“I was just really uncomfortable all day, kind of similar to yesterday. Just couldn’t quite hit the ball out the middle of the clubface for some reason or another,” Smith said, more defeated than he was after his opening round.
“My mind was a little bit foggy, obviously a little bit tired as well. Last week had been such a big week so, yeah, just pretty disappointing.”
He said he was suffering from “delayed tiredness” on Thursday and his Friday output, despite moving to what he hoped would be an easier layout at Kingston heath, failed to help produce the type of golf that propelled him to five wins in 2022.
His opening two rounds included only six birdies, nine bogeys and 21 pars as Smith played the sandbelt for the first time since the 2019 Presidents Cup.
But while Smith battled, US Open champion Minjee Lee took the momentum from a final hole birdie on Thursday in to her second round and began a climb up the leaderboard that could have other players looking nervously over their shoulder.
Lee, the world No.4, pumped out five birdies at Kingston Heath to fiveunder par and within two shots of overnight leader Grace Kim, who had an afternoon tee time.