\u201cThat is what I needed, a bit of a morale boost,\u201d he admits. \u201cIt felt like I\u2019d been doing all the right things and not much was happening in the sense of results. There was lots of good stuff, there was just a bit too much of the bad stuff. And I think that just comes through just trying to change a few things with the swing and not feeling confident with it. It was good to have a decent one there at the end of the year and finish the year off on a high note.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priorities off the course changed when Smith welcomed his first child with wife Shanel last spring. He has relished more time away from the game with his young family back home in Australia. But Smith is now without a win anywhere since LIV visited Donald Trump\u2019s Bedminster resort<\/a> in August \u201923. He is 114th in the Data Golf<\/a> ranking system.<\/p>\n \u201c2022 was a great year and I would love to have another year like that,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut it\u2019s so hard to replicate. I feel like even if I play my best golf for the rest of my life in every tournament, I may not ever do that ever again. I might, but that was just a crazy year and I want to get back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith, however, quickly rejects the suspicion among observers that these drastic changes in his life, including a LIV contract rumored to be worth $100 million<\/a>, have drained his motivation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating because I don\u2019t think if I was playing anywhere else, the results would have really changed,\u201d he insists. \u201cI just had a rough year there and it sucked. Particularly a couple of those events, ones I really feel like I should perform at and I didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n \u201cI think people see average play aligned with changing a tour or not working hard enough. It really couldn\u2019t be more the opposite. It\u2019s just golf.\u00a0You take those four events out, I don\u2019t think the season was too bad. It\u2019s hard out here, it\u2019s hard everywhere. There\u2019s good players everywhere. It was just a crappy four weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith is adamant he has not softened as a competitive force and and was certainly not tempted by a dramatic return to the PGA Tour this year in a bid to rediscover those surreal highs of \u201922.<\/p>\n The circuit hastily arranged a Returning Members Program<\/a> last month, which brought back Brook Koepka but also offered olive branches to Smith and fellow LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. Smith was driving across Florida from his Jacksonville home to a LIV season preview event in West Palm Beach when his agent called to tell him about the development. Of the three players who turned down the PGA Tour\u2019s contrived program, Smith was the most emphatic with his rejection.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a little bit surprising,\u201d he says. \u201cI definitely didn\u2019t think that that was going to be the case. For years since we\u2019ve been out here, it has felt like we would never go back and I was comfortable with that. It was a very weird scenario and one I wasn\u2019t expecting. I still don\u2019t really know what to think about it to be honest, in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n \u201cBrooks is a good friend and if he thinks he\u2019s going to be happier and have a better life out there, I 100 percent back his decision. I made the decision for that reason coming out here.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith believes he has weathered the worst of the public storm that came when he accepted a substantial offer from Greg Norman in the aftermath of his famous win at the Old Course<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s settled a lot,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when I first came out here, there were some pretty strong headwinds. You definitely thought about stuff, but I\u2019d like to think I\u2019m a man of my word. What I set out to do, we\u2019re currently doing with the [Ripper GC] team and Golf Australia, so I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, Smith is still buoyed by his last start Down Under and returns to his homeland this week to resume his role in arguably LIV\u2019s biggest success story. The league\u2019s tournament in Adelaide<\/a> has become one of the best attended in Australian sport, with more than 100,000 arriving through the gates at The Grange last year. LIV has capitalized on a market which has long been starved of the biggest names in men\u2019s golf.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was going to be big, but I was blown away at the support,\u201d Smith says of the league\u2019s first visit to Adelaide in 2023. \u201cThe Aussies were right behind us and wanted us to do well. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was something that we really hadn\u2019t seen as a league until that point, and that was the first time where I was like, \u2018This is epic.\u2019 The membership rates in Australia are through the roof. The junior membership rates are through the roof. I feel like we\u2019ve been a real part of that, so it\u2019s been awesome.<\/p>\n \u201cGolf Australia has been a really big part of my journey as a golfer, and they couldn\u2019t be more supportive of what we\u2019re doing and helping out where they can. It\u2019s been so good.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Cam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cameron-smith-claret-jug-2022-open.jpg\")
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