The pain of missing the cut in last year's Australian PGA is driving Cameron Smith to make amends when he tees off in the Queensland PGA this week at Nudgee Golf Club.
The 2022 British Open winner was choking back tears after his fadeout at Royal Queensland in 2023, a tournament he has won three times.
A lesson was learned and Smith will play at Nudgee this week before contesting the NSW Open, the PGA and the Australian Open.
"I was definitely upset with how I played last year and I think that is a big reason I am playing this event," Smith said before teeing off in Wednesday's pro-am.
"I didn't have the best prep going into last year. I probably had two months off before I got down here and not much practice in between.
"It was a real eye-opener to know what has to be done to prep for these events, and especially the Aussie ones that have been so good to me.
"I'd like to think I have a pretty good record, and to do something like (miss the cut) was pretty painful. I don't want to let that happen again."
The 31-year-old is yet to win an Australian Open and has his sights set on rectifying that at the end of November in Melbourne.
Supporting the local tour is high on Smith's agenda after almost two months off.
"If I wasn't playing this week I would probably be sitting on my bum at home doing nothing ... so I just thought it was a good opportunity to help out the Aussie tour and keep the competitive reps going before a couple of big ones at the end of the year," he said.
"All of the Aussie guys coming back from international tours want to win a couple of big ones at the end of the year.
"I've managed to play pretty well in a lot of them and win a few as well. I think the biggest one for me is trying to get that Aussie Open, something that I haven't been able to do yet."
Smith will tee off at Nudgee at 6.45am (local time) on Thursday and the external expectation is that he will win the $250,000 Queensland PGA. But that is not the way he is looking at the week ahead.
"I would say I've got the most pressure on me of everyone," he said.
"A lot of people are expecting me to come down here and just win, but I don't think that's the case.
"I've played with a lot of these guys growing up and they are really talented golfers, so it is going to take some of my best stuff this week to get the job done."
