Cam Smith admits he had a “giggle” when he fell out of the world’s top 100 last month, but his rankings plummet could soon end with “positive things happening” for some sort of unification between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.

Smith, who celebrated his Ripper GC’s $20m win in the season-ending LIV team championship with a Mad Monday at his Florida home, is already in Australia readying himself for four tournaments, including the Australian Open, having spent enough time already in 2024 with his clubs down.

The former world No.2 is committed to the NSW Open at Murray Downs in November as well as the Queensland and Australian PGAs before the Open as part of a third attempt to balance the time off he gets with LIV and finding his best to win a title he craves as much as the Masters.

While winning at Augusta remains key to his planning every year, Smith wants to win an Australian Open to add to his three PGA crowns and is going the extra lengths, and playing in the extra local tournaments, to ensure he gets out of “holiday” mode for his 13th attempt at winning the Stonehaven Cup.

“I think most people would know how much I want to win an Australian Open,” Smith said from Brisbane having flown in on Monday.

“I don’t know if it’s been a difficult tournament for me, but there have been a couple of hard pills to swallow in the past for sure. I’ve been close a couple of times, lost in a playoff, so there’s definitely some motivation to get that trophy.

“I feel like I have prepped for it a lot and haven’t been able to win it yet.

“I’ve always been a process person, been about doing things right leading up to the event and hopefully this year I can manage that stuff a little better.

“The last couple of years coming home for me has almost been a holiday in a way, a chance to put the clubs down. I feel like (this year) I have put the clubs down enough and had enough time to get the golf bug back.

“I didn’t want to have another period of time where I had four or five weeks off without competing.

“After the last couple of years, with the way that’s gone, I didn’t think that was a very bright idea. There was no reason to not play, and why not play at home?”

Smith’s process and preparation leaves little time for thinking about the politics of his sport and the ongoing wrangling between the PGA Tour and LIV’s Saudi-backers as players like Jon Rahm continue to call for a formalised union.

At the Alfred Dunhill Links event in Scotland last week, PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan played in a group with Rory McIlroy, giving hope a deal was close. Smith, while distanced from discussions, shared that belief.

“We definitely have some meetings between the players and captains fairly frequently where it’s often brought up,” he said.

“I don’t like to get caught up in that side of the game, but judging from what we’ve heard and what has been happening that everyone is aware of is kind of a step in the right direction and hopefully they can keep that ball rolling.

“It’s a really big process that everyone underestimates how big it was going to be. It’s taking some time but I feel like there are some positive things happening.”