Cameron Smith: Defending champion who is banned from The Players

One of the major omissions for this years’ Players Championship is defending champion Cameron Smith. The Australian has been barred from playing in any PGA Tour event after he reportedly signed up for Greg Norman’s newly-formed LIV Golf for a signing fee of $140 million.

The current World No. 5, along with other major names like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka, will not be featuring in the event. So, just how good was Cameron Smith on the PGA Tour?

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Cameron Smith’s meteoric rise

Smith’s first ever career PGA Tour win came back in 2017 when he paired up with Jonas Blixt to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, the first team event on the PGA Tour since 1981.

All in all, the Australian has bagged six PGA Tour wins and had a fantastic 2022, that started off with a record-making win at the Tournament of Champions. Smith created a PGA 72-hole record score of 34 under en-route to his win and eclipsed the previous record of 31 under set by Ernie Els in the same tournament back in 2003.

Fast-forward to March, and Smith won the event at Sawgrass, despite making 10 bogeys and having seen his second shot on the final hole hit the water. He edged India’s Anirban Lahiri in the process of claiming his fifth PGA Tour title.

It only got better for the man from Down Under as in July, he finally won his first major by clinching the Open Championship at St Andrews. With experts backing Rory McIlroy to end his title drought, Cameron Smith stunned everyone by delivering several moments of brilliance, including five straight birdies while starting the back nine, while his score of 8-under 64 was the lowest final round by a champion at St Andrews.

A hip injury in August did not deter him and he went on to win the Australian PGA Championship for the third time in his career, the previous two having been in 2017 and 2018. He was also named PGA Player of the Year for 2022 and reached a career-high ranking of 2 in July.

The Players will definitely miss the Australian, who, in an interview with GOLF Magazine, addressed the issue, saying,

“It stings a bit. But with my decision to come over to LIV, that was one of the things I had to give up, and I’m at ease with it. I’d love to be playing there, but there are a lot of other great tournaments and venues and countries that I’m looking forward to this year.”

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What other people have to say about the situation

Despite being banned, PGA Tour boss Jay Manohan had said that the situation was definitely ‘awkward’.

"Listen, Cam Smith had a great performance in 2022. He was a deserved champion,” he said. “To answer your question directly, yes, it's awkward. But, you know, ultimately that's a decision he made, and we've got an unbelievable field here this week and a history and tradition that one of these 144 [players] is going to go seek to get."

Rory McIlroy, while admitting that Cameron Smith would be missed, also said that he knew what was coming when he made the decision to join LIV. The former World No. 1 said,

“Would it be better if the defending champion was here this week? Absolutely. But he made a decision that he felt was the best thing for him, and he knew that decision was going to come with consequences."