Cameron Smith put his very obvious disappointment behind him to stay and sign autographs at the Australian PGA Championship after the LIV golf star missed the cut by nine strokes. The former Open champion could not disguise his fury during a miserable second round at the Royal Queensland Golf Club, slamming a club into his bag on his way to a sobering 78 that ended his return to Brisbane two days earlier than anticipated.
Smith had arrived as defending champion, but could only watch as his Day One playing partner Min Woo Lee went on to claim the title with a score of 20 under par through 72 holes.
LIV Golf headliner Smith called his performance “s***” before conceding that he had seriously underdelivered in front of his home fans.
He said: “Australia has been so good to me, there’s no reason to perform like that. [It was] unacceptable.
“I’ve performed under pressure before and it’s not acceptable, a bit upsetting actually. I know what I’m doing, it’s just going out there and committing to something is another thing.”
The 30-year-old could have been forgiven if he had decided to get away from the event quickly following his disastrous second round, but instead he showed his class by staying around to sign autographs for fans.
A video shared by Australian reporter Adam Jackson showed Smith sitting at a table signing merchandise as a huge queue of fans formed to meet the former Open champion.
Jackson wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Respect to Cam Smith, still showing up at the Aust PGA Championship on Saturday to meet fans after missing the cut.”
Golf fans responded to Jackson’s post with a range of opinions. Jonathan Brayshaw wrote: “Kudos to Cam, but this is what happens when you’re not playing on a competitive tour. The guy hardly missed out on the top 10 whilst on the PGA Tour.”
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Will Kay commented: “Also spent time practicing and helping Louis Dobbs in the bunkers. Two over and aboves that were great to see.”
@Theskrypclub added: “The fact so many people hate on a genuinely good guy because he dared to leave the PGA tour says so much about our world and it’s not good!”
Smith resigned from the PGA Tour and joined LIV Golf in August 2022, receiving a reported $100million signing-on fee. He was world No. 2 at the time of his defection but has since dropped down to 20th.
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