Cameron Smith‘s 2025 season has been a rollercoaster, but it’s mostly been downhill. After missing the cut in all seven Official World Golf Ranking events he’s contested in, the 2022 Open champion now faces a tough week ahead at the 2025 Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. It’s his only chance to redeem a year that has otherwise been starkly disappointing.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Australian Open, which kicks off on December 4th, Smith was candid about his struggles. “On some reflection, I guess over the weekend, it was a bad tournament,” he said. He missed the cut at the Australian PGA Championship last week, a tournament that he has won three times before (2018, 2019 & 2023).

“I didn’t play my best golf, but it does honestly feel like it’s right there. It’s super-frustrating. I can’t describe the feeling. It feels defeating, to be honest. It feels like I’m right on the cusp of where I should be and [I’m] not really getting anything out of it,” Smith continued. And it’s understandable why he feels this way, as the numbers paint a stark picture.

Since 2023, Cameron Smith hasn’t had a single win. He moved to LIV in 2022, and his career has seen a downward trajectory since tying for a 6th-place finish at the 2024 Masters. He hasn’t made a cut in any of the majors since the 2024 Open Championship. And on LIV? It isn’t any better either. He finished 18th on the standings this year, a stark contrast to his 7th place last year.

Sure, this year he had five top-10 finishes across 13 individual events on LIV. But in other appearances, he has fallen short, often failing to make it past the weekend. “It can definitely get in your head, I think it is in my head, it’s just frustrating. It’s been my story of the year, feel I’ve worked hard all year and got nothing out of it… ” Smith told Golf Digest AU after he missed the cut last week at Royal Queensland.

After that poor performance, Smith was criticised heavily on social media, with one fan pointing out that “he’s NOT worked that hard, because he’s basically playing exhibition golf, and is paid one way or another!”

It’s been a year of frustration for the Aussie, as he expressed several times this year. “It’s just been a hard year to commit…” Cameron Smith confessed on the Colin Cowherd podcast in August. Before that, in July, after missing the cut at the Open, he said that it “su***” to be trying so hard but not getting any results.

But despite the year-long frustration and the criticism he has faced, Smith has tried to stay grounded and find motivation in working hard.

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Cameron Smith is Trying to Stay Focused Ahead of the 2025 Australian Open

Despite a frustrating season that brought him no results, Cameron Smith is trying to remain steady in his mindset. “I just need to keep doing what I’m doing, keep working hard, and keep at it. It’s a frustrating game. I understand that people, through their career, go through ups and downs, but a person’s career doesn’t get defined on a season or an event,” he told the media ahead of the Australian Open.

Smith has taken a measured approach to his struggles. “Golf doesn’t owe me anything,” he said, trying to be rational about his results. “I have to go out there and work… it feels so good on the range and so good in practice rounds, and that it’s just super-frustrating…” he added. He pointed out that while he does understand he’s had a difficult season, there are things he needs to work but his skill is not among them.

The Aussie star is excited to tee it up this week, at what will be his last opportunity to redeem and turn things around. But he doesn’t just want to play well, he wants to win. “It’s a tournament that I desperately want to win, and then you get the course vibe with it as well… It’d be a pretty special thing to win an Aussie Open around Royal Melbourne, for sure,” Smith said.

But Smith will have to battle it out with top players like Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott if he is looking to get his hands on the coveted trophy.