Cam Smith is back on the DP World Tour this week as he returns to his native Australia to compete in his home Open, which this year is being played over two courses
Cam Smith has voiced his concerns over the conditions at the Australian Open, revealing he’s “disappointed” with the speed and softness of the fairways and greens.
Returning to Australia and hot off a runner-up finish at the Australian PGA Championship, Smith is now taking part in his home Open at two of the country’s most prestigious courses, Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club. The Melbourne area has been hit by heavy rain in recent days in the build-up to the event.
Despite this, Smith believes the weather is excuse for the softness of the courses. “It seems there’s been a lot of water and it’s not exactly what I was expecting. The course(s) are in great condition but playing so much different to how they’re designed and how they’re meant to be played, which is pretty disappointing.”
He added: “The weather down here the last couple of weeks has been pretty good, I know they got some rain over the weekend and again this morning.
“But I’ve played down here in rain before and it’s still been like that the next day. So, I think that’s a bull—- excuse, to be honest. think it’s been prepared like this for a reason and it’s now how these golf courses are meant to be played.”
Smith expressed his hopes that the host courses would play similarly to how they have in the past, firm and fast, allowing players to adopt a different approach to the one they take week in, week out. “I had been keeping an eye on the weather here and I was really excited last week,” he added.
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“To play a really firm and fast Sandbelt. It’s something that my [Ripper GC] teammates and I spoke about this year. We love coming down here and playing these events because the golf courses [are firm and fast] and it’s just not going to play like that. It’s going to play more like an American golf course, kind of target golf.”
Despite his concerns, Smith comes into the tournament as one of the tournament favourites, but the Ripper captain faces stiff competition from defending champion Joaquin Niemann and PGA Tour star Min Woo Lee. Two of his Ripper teammates, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman, are also competing, with Leishman finishing just behind Smith in third at the Australian PGA last week.
Smith will kick off his tournament in Thursday’s opening round alongside last week’s winner Elvis Smylie and Frenchman Victor Perez.
