Worrying truth behind Smith disaster as unlikely countryman fires huge warning — Aussie Wrap

For Australia’s Cam Davis, it felt like only a matter of time until he would reap the rewards of his hard work.

But concerningly for Australian golf fans, Davis’ namesake Cameron Smith’s major downward spiral continued.

Adam Scott is in the hunt, having been only one shot off the clubhouse lead at one point, while Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie made an impressive start to his second major appearance.

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Meanwhile, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee and Karl Vilips all have their work cut for them to make the weekend action.

Davis has endured an up-and-down year on the PGA Tour, which has included a streak of five straight missed cuts, the last of which came at The Masters.

But there were positive signs early in the year for the 30-year-old Sydneysider with a top five at Pebble Beach and a top 15 in Hawaii, that could have been much more had it not been for a bizarre two-shot penalty for accidentally playing Will Zalatoris’ ball when their drives sat side-by-side on the fairway.

Those good feelings resurfaced on Friday morning Australian time as Davis fired a five-under par 66 to be two shots off the lead at Quail Hollow in the first round of the PGA Championship.

Many have long believed that Davis has all the tools to challenge the world’s best on the biggest stages, and speaking post-round, he said he felt like it was a matter of when not if, he would find his groove again.

“I mean, in terms of a season, I actually played really well at the beginning of the year and felt like I was playing well enough to actually win an event. I was constantly in contention, and then it just kind of left me,” Davis said.

“It’s just constantly trying to go back to things that have worked, trying to keep the head in a place where you’re not feeling like you’re banging your head against the wall all the time. It’s letting it organically come, good processes, good routines, all those little one percenters add up to good golf eventually, and I feel like this week has been a week of good preparation.

“I feel like I had been preparing well for tournaments, but the preparation this week, obviously, led to being in a good place standing on the first tee today.

“I think it’s just what happens when you just keep trying really hard and keep feeling like you’re doing all the right things. Eventually the putts start dropping, and you hit a few more good shots in. That’s when you’ve just got to -- as hard as it is to stay patient, that’s pretty much all you can do.”

Last year, Davis spoke after his second career PGA Tour victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he also happened to claim his maiden win in 2021, of how he used hypnotherapy to overcome his mental demons during a form slump.

It is unclear whether he experimented with the practice again this time around, but whatever he did clearly worked as he dropped putts for fun at the course where he made an impressive Presidents Cup debut in 2022.

Davis gained an astonishing 5.907 shots on his rivals with the flat stick, more than anyone else in the field as he took just 24 putts for the round, including making 163 feet, eight inches worth of putts.

That total was the second most in the field, and Davis admitted post-round that he expected more lower scores given the soft conditions after several days of heavy rain.

He appeared unflustered by the random mud balls that resulted in Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele expressing their fury with tournament officials for not allowing preferred lies.

Scheffler rants after double bogey | 03:24

Scheffler pulled his approach from the fairway into the water on 16, and made double bogey, and Davis just so happened to be watching before heading out for his tee time.

“Honestly, the only golf I saw on TV was the Scottie/Xander/Rory group play 16, and I was like, I’m looking forward to playing 16 after watching them all have a hard time on it,” Davis said.

“Honestly, I thought with it being softer than it would normally be, the scores were going to be maybe a little bit lower than they would have been otherwise. The wind wasn’t up too much.

“But at the same time, this golf course is just -- it’s known for being a really tough test, even if the weather is good.

“The only way you shoot a good score is by not trying to shoot a really good score but just having a few extra putts drop from 20, 30 feet after good shots to get there. No inklings that a low one was out there when I teed off, when I was teeing off this morning, but at the same time, they are just receptive enough right now that if you hit a good shot you can get it to stop within 15 feet, and there are enough guys out here that are good enough to hit those close.

“I’m not surprised. I’m surprised actually someone didn’t get a really low one today, but at the same time, 5-under is a pretty low score in a major actually, so pretty happy with it.”

Shoeless JT makes insane save | 02:15

Smith meanwhile would be far from pleased.

The 2022 British Open champion looked a shell of his former self as he struggled his way to a

The Queenslander appears destined to miss the cut at a second straight major after he unravelled at Augusta National with a six-over par back nine in the second round to miss the weekend.

This time out, Smith simply failed to get anything to click.

He gave up shots to his competitors in every category as his swing went wayward, hitting just six greens in regulation.

He arrived in North Carolina with three straight top tens at LIV’s Miami, Mexico City and Korea events, but the positive steps seemed to evaporate in just his second 72-hole event of the year.

Things were far more positive for Adam Scott, who broke a 15-year streak of making the cut at The Masters where he famously won the green jacket in 2013.

The veteran responded by a two-under par opening round of 69 that was ignited by a monster birdie putt to kickstart a run of three straight birdies at six, seven and eight.

Scott reached -4 when he birdied the 14th, but two bogeys during the testing ‘Green Mile’, at 16 and 17, forced him to settle for being three shots off the lead.

Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie made an impressive start to his second career major as he signed off on a -1 round of 70.

The leftie from the Gold Coast, who is the son of Australian tennis great Liz Smylie, made four birdies, and unfortunately bogeyed the last, as he played alongside leader Jhonattan Vegas.

Ten years on from winning this tournament at Whistling Straits, Jason Day made it to the first tee despite a neck injury and managed a +2 round.

Similarly to Scott, Day stumbled with bogeys at 16 and 18 but reached even par after a birdie at the second - he teed off ten - before bogeys at three and seven slipped him down the leaderboard.

Min Woo Lee is a shot back from Day after a wild round of 74 that included just five pars.

Lee made four birdies and a stunning eagle at the par 5 15th after draining a near 20-foot putt, but offset his good work with seven bogeys.

PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips is the other member of the seven-strong Australian contingent but he battled to be +7 in a round that included six bogeys and two double bogeys.

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