[PHOTO: Golf NSW]

Cameron Smith is hungry to snap his 2024 win drought well before Australia’s two biggest championships, declaring his intentions at this week’s Ford NSW Open are to lift a trophy. Preparing for the state event “like a major championship” would indicate as much.

Smith came to the Murray Downs Golf & Country club, on the NSW side of the Murray River, with a similar intensity to his typical preparation for the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, a tournament that has eluded him, and the BMW Australian PGA, which he’s won three times. The 2022 Open champion arrived at Murray Downs on Monday to begin a series of practice rounds to familiarise himself with a layout he’d never seen before.

That’s because he’s without a win in 2024.

After a 2023 LIV Golf season that featured wins in London and Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as personal-best finishes at two majors – a T-9 at the PGA and a fourth at the US Open – Smith has not been able to recapture the same form. This year has been solid, with two runner-up results on LIV among seven top-10s, but nothing spectacular. His highlights also included a T-6 at the Masters at Augusta National as well as guiding Ripper GC to a season-long teams victory on LIV.

But it’s time to win.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been unlucky, but I’ve been in contention a lot this year and haven’t quite been able to get it done,” Smith said after today’s pro-am. “So it’d be nice to get a win. I’m here to win. The prep the last three days has been really solid. I spent a lot of time out on the course. Getting to know these Australian courses, particularly the country ones, is a little bit different, so just seeing how the ball reacts and the bounces and all that stuff takes a little bit of getting used to.

“But I feel like I’ve got it pretty down pat now and I prepared the same for this tournament as I would for a major championship. I feel like that’s one of my good traits and, yeah, we’re definitely here to try and win. “I haven’t played these tournaments where I get to play with these kids very often and it was just cool to see that Australian golf is in really good hands.”

Smith hits a chip during the Ford NSW Open pro-am on Wednesday. [Photo: Golf NSW]

The NSW Open precedes next week’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in Brisbane and the Australian Open in Melbourne the week after.

In addition to an $800,000 prize purse, the NSW Open has been boosted by Smith’s participation and his LIV Golf Ripper GC teammate Lucas Herbert. Former US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy is also in the field. Smith and Herbert will tee off for Thursday’s opening round in the marquee morning group with promising NSW amateur Declan O’Donovan.