Smith embraces ‘golden age’ at BMW Australian PGA

There might never have been a better time to be a Queenslander.

After winning the NRL Grand Final, AFL Grand Final, NRLW Grand Final and with a chance to win the AFLW Grand Final this weekend, as well as holding the State of Origin shield, it has been a golden year for Brisbane and the state, one which Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith hopes to continue this week.

Returning to one of his home clubs, Royal Queensland Golf Club, also the site of his third BMW Australian PGA Championship win, Smith is rightly proud of his home state heritage, albeit he slightly miscalculated where to be when his beloved Brisbane Broncos triumphed.

“I was actually in Scotland playing the Dunhill Links and if I had known that the Grand Final was on the same week as the Dunhill Links, maybe I wouldn’t have played,” Smith said today at Suncorp Stadium when taking on a chipping challenge with Ripper GC teammate Marc Leishman , Lions star Hugh McCluggage and Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds.

“I was actually back here a few weeks earlier. I was at home for the first round of the finals and I was saying – I’d come to training a couple of times – I was saying to the boys, if you make the final, I’ll come back.

“I had no idea that I was playing the Dunhill Links the same week … We had a rain delay on the Saturday, so our round got pushed to Sunday, which was the day of the final.

“I was warming up watching it and then I teed off at halftime, so I wasn’t too happy about the timing, but kind of had it on in the bag on silent and was keeping updates as the round went on.”

Speaking to Reynolds via phone soon after the win, Smith was celebrating in part with the Broncos captain on their home ground but has his eyes and focus lasered in on a golf course he believes is in the best shape he has seen over his many years.

The 2022 Open Champion has spent more time at home of late in his LIV Golf off-season and preparing for a fortnight of national titles, with the DP World Tour and Challenger PGA Tour Australasia co-sanctioned Australian PGA featuring one of the best fields in recent memory.

And Australia’s deep list of potential winners harking back to a previous generation in Smith’s eyes.

“I think the PGA has done a great job particularly of this tournament the last few years. It seems to have gone up a step or two in the last probably four or five years,” Smith said.

“Particularly I think since being at Royal Queensland. It seems like there’s been a real kind of sense of a big tournament, which is kind of cool.

“I think the next couple of weeks they’ve done a really good job of getting guys down and making the field stronger and deeper and how they used to be.

“I guess you hear of the golden age of Australian golf 20-30 years ago. I think we’re getting right back up there again.”

Hoping to join only Kel Nagle (6), Billy Dunk (5) and Robert Allenby (4) as a four-time BMW Australian PGA winner, Smith is just happy to be at home in his favourite place celebrating Brisbane’s own golden age.

“Being in Brisbane, I love this place more than anything. It’s cool to be a part of everything here.”

All four days of the BMW Australian PGA Championship will be broadcast live on both Channel Nine and Foxtel through Fox Sports and Kayo Sports from 11am-4pm AEST Thursday-Sunday.