Cameron Smith’s missed cut at the Australian PGA has had world ranking consequences with the Australian star dropping to 20th, impacting his fight to get to next year’s Paris Olympics.
But winner Min Woo Lee has jumped to a career high 38 and can prepare for a second trip to the Masters while also revealing he’ll be among players getting fitted for an Olympic uniform declaring it would be an “honour” to represent his country.
Smith made it clear before the PGA in Brisbane he wanted to be a dual-Olympian, having teamed up with Marc Leishman at the Tokyo Games in 2021, and could even play more Asian Tour events in 2024 to get to Paris.
His world ranking was as high as No.2 when he won the British open in 2022, but with LIV golfers officially denied world ranking points for their events, Smith has gradually fallen down the list, albeit at a slower rate than many of his colleagues in the Saudi-backed league.
Smith was still in the world top 10 when he played the final major of 2023 at the British Open in July, but his quick slide started after that and his failure at Royal Queensland has sent him to No.20.
While he remains the top-ranked Australian, rankings projections have him falling outside the automatic qualification zone mid-way through 2024.
Lee, who has won two of his past four events including his PGA triumph, is set to jump from 45 to 38 on the rankings, ensuring him a start at Augusta next April.
It’s a career-high rank for Lee who looms as the man most likely to replace Smith in Australia’s Olympic team, with the Games ambitions of Jason Day, currently Australia’s second-highest ranked player at 21, unclear.
Lee revealed he among a few players set for an Olympic uniform fitting while in Australia, and he would embrace the pressure of playing for that spot.
“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself and get fitted for something that you’re not in, so yeah, there’s a bit of pressure there, and I like pressure,” he said.
“I think there’s just a few of us, whoever’s going to potentially get in, I still need to play some good golf to get in.
“I normally tend to play well when I need to make something or I need to do something to get in a tournament, so I’m really excited for that. That would be a true honour to play for Australia.”
Lee could be joined by his superstar sister Minjee in Paris, with positions to be decided on rankings by June 17 for men and June 24 for women.
The 25-year-old also said getting to the Masters for a second-time was in his mind as he returned to Australia for the PGA and this week’s Australian Open.
“It was kind of in the back of my head if I missed cut the next two weeks, this week and next week, I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I was really confident in myself and knew if I played well that would solidify itself,” he said.
“I’m really excited. It’s one of the best places on earth for myself. I rate it so highly and it’s the best place to go. I rank that one the number one Major, obviously the Open’s right behind it, but yeah, Augusta’s a special place. I can’t wait to go back.”
