Cameron Smith’s remarkable golfing year has finally come to a close – but only after the world No.3 was forced to cut short a night the pub when he learned he’d squeezed inside the Australian Open cut.
The Open champion became the highest-profile victim of the controversial double cut, which reduced the fields for both the men and women to just 30 each after the Australian Open third round at Victoria Golf Club on Saturday.
A logjam of 162 players on the course – including the All Abilities Championship – prompted world No.57 Lucas Herbert to break ranks and express frustration with the pace of play.
But the first story came with Smith, who was lucky to even make the standard cut after the second round, waiting until the final minutes of Friday’s play to confirm his position for the weekend.
The 29-year-old had headed to Melbourne’s pub scene on Friday night after figuring he was little chance of qualifying for the third round, but couldn’t extend his homecoming into the final day after a one-under 71 on Saturday wasn’t enough to vault into the top 30.
“I was pretty quick to the pub and was probably a few too many beers deep, and then I realised we had an early tee time,” Smith said of his Friday night dilemma. “So I got back on the waters and was a good boy the rest of the night.
World No.3 Cameron Smith will hang up the clubs after missing the Australian Open double cut.Credit:Getty
“I’m looking forward to a lazy week, to be honest. I’ll probably spend a lot of time in the gym over the next month or so and just really try and get my body ready. I feel a bit old at the moment, the amount of golf I’ve been playing.
“I’ll refresh, get in the gym and make sure everything’s good to go come the third or fourth week of January.”
The Australian Open will be the last time Smith (+1) pegs it up in 2022 after a whirlwind year in which he won five times, including a first major at St Andrews and a maiden LIV Golf success in Chicago following a reported $140 million switch to Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed league.
Huge crowds were out early on Saturday for his third round tee time, but Smith couldn’t mount any sort of momentum to make a charge up the leaderboard after winning the Australian PGA for a third time last week in his hometown Brisbane.
Lucas Herbert will be playing for a spot in The Masters on Sunday.Credit:AP
Smith will resume competition in the Saudi International in the first week of February.
Herbert (-3) needs a strong finish on the final day to push his world ranking into the top 50 and earn an invite to The Masters in April.
But after playing his third round which clocked almost five-and-a-half hours, the PGA Tour winner tried his best to bite his tongue over the teething problems of a dual gender event.
He said he felt like his group, including Australian PGA runner-up Jason Scrivener (-4), was jammed up on “most” holes.
“It did feel very slow out there,” Herbert said.
Pressed further on whether he had views on how it could be massaged, he said: “I don’t think they’re going to be very well received in an interview. It is what it is.
“I think 77 girls made the cut, amateurs being included.
“That made things tough doing the draw. It’s not an easy golf course out there. I felt like it was a tough golf course and I’m one of the best players in the field. For the girls who are not playing the game full-time that have maybe just snuck in through the cut and struggling with their game a little bit, it’s a brutal test out there.”
Australian Open officials limited the women’s field to 108 compared to 156 men.
Watch the Australian Open on the 9Network and 9Now from December 1-4.
