For a three-time champion, missing the cut on home soil is unthinkable, but for Cameron Smith, it’s the latest chapter in a frustrating new reality. The Open 2022 champion missed the cut at the 2025 BMW Australian PGA Championship, an event he has won three times in 2017, 2018, and 2022.

It is the only event besides The Open that Smith has won on the DP World Tour. After performing consistently at Royal Queensland for years, Smith is not able to digest the missed cut.

“If you had have told me that was going to happen this morning, when I was warming up, I’d have told you otherwise. I don’t know, I just don’t know. I am so confused. I was feeling good, really confident and just couldn’t get anything going,” Smith told Golf Digest Australia’s Evin Priest.

Cameron Smith has endured a significant drop in form since joining LIV Golf. This year, he has missed the cut in all the events that could have got him OWGR points. He finished the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and the Open at T67, T115, T68, and T137, respectively. Besides these four, he played the 2025 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where he carded rounds of 72-70-70 to finish T71. The same thing repeated at the Royal Queensland, as The Open 2022 winner finished T109 with rounds of 69-75.

Smith was 2 under par and well in contention to head into the weekend. And the start could have given him more confidence after birdieing hole 2. But it all spiralled down as Cameron Smith hit two birdies, four bogeys, and a double bogey to finish the second round at 4 over par and miss the cut. This is his 7th missed cut in a row.

That has been the story for the LIV golfer this year, and it’s frustrating him. “It can definitely get in your head, I think it is in my head; It’s just frustrating,” Smith said. And this is not the first time he has expressed his frustration. After missing the cut at The Open 2025, the Australian golfer said that it “su***” to be trying so hard but not getting any results.

After another miss, Cameron Smith is hoping to get back into the form he had before joining LIV Golf. Besides winning a major, he was also a former World No. 2. But after joining LIV Golf, his form has been dropping constantly. Currently, he is 345th in the OWGR standings, after slipping from 333rd last week. Besides the current form, LIV events not being eligible for OWGR points is also a major reason for his drop in the world rankings. LIV golfers, including Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and others, are facing the same problem.

It’s not just Cameron Smith who has lost his form after joining LIV Golf. Almost everyone who joined the Saudi-backed league has faced similar troubles.

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Golfers are losing form after joining LIV Golf

Several high‑profile LIV golfers have seen their form drop after joining the league. Results in major championships tell a clear story. Data shared on X by analyst Ron Klos shows that among 18 golfers who played at least three majors after making the move, most recorded lower strokes gained numbers compared to their previous three-year averages.

High-profile names such as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith have all experienced noticeable drops. However, there are a few like Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton who have shown improvement. Rahm’s SG per round fell from 2.58 to 1.50, Koepka’s from 2.56 to 1.30, and Johnson’s from 2.55 to 0.48. DeChambeau, however, climbed from 1.41 to 2.11, while Hatton rose from 1.08 to 1.34.

These numbers have fueled criticism of LIV’s lighter fields, which some argue may dull competitive sharpness. The performance slide many players have encountered lends weight to that argument. It highlights how demanding major championships can expose any drop in sharpness.