[Photo: Getty images]<\/p>\n
Some of Australian golf\u2019s biggest names in Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee backed Cameron Smith to bounce back from a horror run of form after the former major winner missed the cut at his home event, the Australian PGA at Royal Queensland.<\/p>\n
RELATED: Australian PGA: \u2018I just don\u2019t know.\u2019 Cam Smith puzzled after missing the cut at Royal Queensland<\/a><\/p>\n On Friday, Smith made a double-bogey to shoot 75 (four-over) and drop to two over, well outside the cut line at two-under, which was seven back of the 36-hole lead.<\/p>\n It meant former world No.2 Smith, a member at Royal Queensland, missed the weekend in all seven events so far this year that offered Official World Golf Ranking points: including the four majors, two DP World Tour and one Asian Tour event. He has only the Australian Open left on his 2025 schedule.<\/p>\n It was a tough result for three-time Australian PGA winner Smith, who loves the Royal Queensland course having claimed the 2022 edition there in front of family and friends after a breakout year in which he claimed The Open at St Andrews and the Players Championship.<\/p>\n RELATED: Smith ensures missed cuts in all four majors at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush<\/a><\/p>\n Scott is no stranger to a slump having endured a brutal year in 2009 before launching himself back to the upper echelon of golf, where he won the Masters at Augusta National only four years later. Both former world No.1 Scott and PGA Tour winner this year, Min Woo Lee, urged golf fans to write Smith off at their own risk.<\/p>\n Asked whether Smith could turn it around as soon as next week\u2019s Australian Open, a tournament the Queenslander has come close to winning without lifting the Stonehaven, Scott said no doubt.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, absolutely,\u201d Scott, a two-time Australian PGA winner, said. \u201cHe\u2019s got an incredible, incredible short game to lean into and actually that kind of gets a little neutralised here [at Royal Queensland] because it\u2019s pretty grainy and even as great as he is [with wedges], it\u2019s kind of not helping him as much as it would if he was having an off day with the ball-striking. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re as good as he is, of course he can, and it\u2019s one swing, one chip, one putt here or there, and the momentum changes and the confidence can grow quickly in a hole or two, you know? It\u2019s just putting four good swings and two putts together in a row and sometimes it\u2019s really hard to do that, but that\u2019s how it turns around and I\u2019ve no doubt he can.\u201d<\/p>\n OTHER NEWS: Nelly Korda delivers a Black Friday surprise: She\u2019s engaged<\/a><\/p>\n Lee, the Australian PGA champion in 2023, suffered a rough patch himself this year from the eve of the Masters onwards. After earning a breakthrough PGA Tour win at the Houston Open in March \u2013 where his maiden victory included staring down world No.1 Scottie Scheffler \u2013 the Perth product struggled at Augusta National and then registered just one top 20 result from then until September.<\/p>\n But recently the 27-year-old began working with coach Ritchie Smith on his hip movement through impact, and it improved his ball-striking enough to finish T-11 at the DP World Tour\u2019s flagship BMW PGA at Wentworth. He then came close to victory at the French Open, where he was T-5, and posted a T-10 at the PGA Tour\u2019s co-sanctioned Baycurrent Classic in Japan.<\/p>\n Lee has turned it around and was nine-under-par at the Australian PGA through two rounds and six holes before third round play was suspended due to inclement weather. Lee was three shots back of the lead. He said Smith would soon be in form again.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I mean that\u2019s golf,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt can be tough, and I think [Smith] is one of the best players out here and there is pressure. I feel like I\u2019m one of the home favourites, but you still got to play really good golf. He didn\u2019t have his best stuff, but next week he\u2019s going to come out good. I think it\u2019s just a bit of a fire in his belly over this weekend. I\u2019m sure he\u2019s going to head down [to Melbourne] and grind and then show something next week.\u201d <\/p>\n