[Photo: Ross Flannigan]

Cameron Smith says he dusted himself off after his first missed cut at the Open since 2017 and will channel his focus into the LIV Golf UK event in the Midlands of England this week.

The 2022 Open champion at St Andrews shot rounds of 80-74 at the par-71 Royal Troon to miss the cut. It came as a surprise after Smith struck the ball beautifully and drove it well the previous week at LIV Golf Andalucia. He finished T6 at the brutally difficult Valderrama.

Smith and Troon, though, just didn’t gel. That was the case for a series of top players who also missed the weekend, including Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Smith.

“Yeah, it was disappointing; I played half-decent at Troon but it was just a course I didn’t really feel comfortable on, mixed in with a few bad swings from me,” Smith told Australian Golf Digest at the JCB Resort on Thursday ahead of LIV Golf UK. “I didn’t know what to make of the week because I felt like I didn’t play that bad in comparison to my score.”

Smith played LIV Golf UK’s pro-am on Thursday alongside former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio (far right). Picture: Ross Flannigan

Smith arrived at the JCB Resort near Derby almost a week before the first round and channeled his energy into practising for the dramatic, hilly and quirky layout at JCB. The event has sold out of grounds passes for all three rounds this weekend. It will be far more heavily attended than its previous two UK events which were held much closer to London.

“We got here Saturday and I’ve been practicing every day; trying to get our heads around the golf course here,” Smith said during a pro-am he played with Lawrence Dallaglio, former captain of the England rugby team and rugby Hall of Famer. “It’s a lot to take in. So, lots of preparation and playing holes. My game game feels nice. It was just one bad day last week.”

Smith hits an approach during LIV Golf UK’s pro-am on Thursday. Picture: Ross Flannigan

Smith won’t play in next week’s Olympics in Paris given he plays on LIV Golf and the only world rankings points he accumulates is at major championships. Despite finishing T6 at the Masters and T32 at the US Open this year, Smith’s ranking has plummeted to 80 and he didn’t qualify for the Australian men’s team. In his place, Jason Day and Min Woo Lee will tee up for the men, while major winners Hannah Green and Minjee Lee are the women’s team.

Smith, who teamed up with Marc Leishman at the Tokyo games in 2021, said his love for Australian golf meant he would still watch and cheer on the two sides. For the same reasons, US Open champion and PGA Championship runner up, Bryson DeChambeau, will not line up for the American side.

“I’m sure I’m sure I’ll watch the golf at some point, yeah,” Smith said. “It’s a hard one, because I really believe that I should be there but it is what it is for the moment. Hopefully things change to where [LIV] can get all guys out here going to the Olympics. I think I’m probably not the only one that missed out, who probably thinks they should be there.”