Browsing: Smiths

A spectacular tournament deserved a spectacular ending, and so the 2025 Australian Open got what it deserved.

Just not the outcome its fans really wanted.

In a stunning 72nd-hole reversal, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen got up-and-down from improbable territory in long grass right of the green — and then Cameron Smith three-putted for bogey from the other edge of the green, handing Neergaard-Petersen his first DP World Tour victory in the process.

Thousands and thousands from a sellout crowd ringed the final green as Smith and RNP came up the last all tied, but after Neergaard-Petersen’s approach shot sailed right, into jail, Smith found the green and placed himself squarely in the driver’s seat. It would have marked a storybook ending to Smith’s 2025; this is the first cut he’s made in eight non-LIV starts this year. Instead it marked a massive step in the right direction but a particularly harsh way to come up short, too.

Instead Neergaard-Petersen has his own perfect way to finish 2025; just a year after playing (and winning) the HotelPlanner Tour, he’s played well enough to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026 and now his maiden victory on the DPWT, too.

“To get the win here at my final event of the year was the only thing missing from a perfect year. I’m so happy,” he said in a post-round interview.

We’ll have more to say about this glorious golf tournament, but in the meantime here are a few notes from Royal Melbourne.

-With the win Neergaard-Petersen also qualifies for the Masters; this is the first year the Australian Open has been given a berth and he took full advantage.

“It means the world. The Masters is the event I’ve grown up watching so many times, just dreaming of playing it,” he said.

-He’s also the first Dane to win the Australian Open.

-His winning putt was remarkable. A big-breaker hit with confidence and perfect speed.

-Smith’s three-putt was understandable, if regrettable; he was traversing the final green from miles away, and his first putt broke a ridiculous amount.

-The birdie putt Smith holed at No. 17 to stay tied was really good stuff.

-Three players (Si Woo Kim, Michael Hollick) to earn a spot in the 2026 Open Championship. That’s massive for Hollick, who has never played a major championship. It’s also massive for Scott, who is now in line to play all four majors for the 25th season in a row. Preposterous streak.

-Rory McIlroy’s week was clearly meaningful to the man himself as well as to the thousands who trailed him ’round Royal Melbourne. Only fitting, then, that he finish with a flourish, birdying Nos. 17 and 18 to go out on a high note.

“It’s been absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said post-round. “I’ve been excited to come back down here for a while.

“Obviously it’s been over 10 years since I played in the Australian Open and I guess just look the scenes out there this week, the crowds, the golf course, they were absolutely incredible.”

Good news: he’ll be back next year.

We will be, too.

Cam Smith has been the first to admit it: 2025 has not been his year.

Look no further than his major record: MC, MC, MC, MC. In fact, Smith entered this week’s Australian Open without a single made cut in seven tries this year. He spoke at length after last week’s Australian PGA about feeling lost and confused.

But Royal Melbourne has brought out the best in him.

All week we’ve heard pros rave about the host course, considered one of the best in the world. But when you haven’t visited a course in person it’s always interesting to try to puzzle out from TV, from comments, from expert reviews — what is it that makes a great golf course great?

I found Smith’s answer particularly illuminating.

Smith was beaming after a second-round 65 pulled him within shouting distance of the lead.

“I think that’s what I needed mate, to be honest, was a bit of momentum,” he told his post-round interviewer. What, the interviewer asked, was the best part of his game?

“I don’t think I’ve shaped the ball like that for a very long time,” Smith said. “I think it takes a good golf course for me to commit to that. You get on a few bland golf courses and it’s just kind of target golf and it’s definitely not like that out here, I think you have to ride the wind some shots and flight it up into the wind to get close to pins [on others], you have to be creative, you have to hit shots and I was able to do that, especially with the irons.”

What’s fascinating about that answer is the implication that a good golf course can bring out good golf. Smith’s alternative — bland golf courses — bring less memorable golf shots. For a creative type like Smith, his best chance to contend is when everybody has to play off-schedule.

Smith explained his mindset shift further; he said that rather than getting stuck on his figurative back foot, he’s been trying to stay out front.

Smith backed that round up with a third-round 66 and sits tied for second entering Sunday’s final round. He raved about Royal Melbourne again after the third round.

“You just have to hit the right shots. It’s such a cool golf course,” he said. “There’s so many ways on so many holes to get close to pins, you can really get as creative as you want or kind of hit it straight to the middle of the green all day; it’s such a cool place.”

That has been my experience watching on television; the Australian Open has been a terrific nighttime option for anybody on Pacific Time. Two factors — Rory McIlroy’s appearance and Royal Melbourne as host course — have jacked up the attention and drama around the event. The Aussie stars have taken things from there; Smith, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee all enter the final round inside the top six. (McIlroy is just outside contention.)

This is an important series for Smith, playing in an Ashes for the first time. He was promoted to the England team at the beginning of the 2024 summer at the expense of Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow with this tour in mind.

Smith has made an exceptional start to his Test career. Before the Test at the Gabba he averaged almost 47 with the bat. His glovework has often been tidy.

But there have also been signs that the 25-year-old has some challenges to overcome.

Since making a stunning 184 not out and 88 in the second Test against India in July, then following up with 51 in the first innings of the third Test at Lord’s, Smith’s highest score in seven knocks is 33.

He looked increasingly lethargic as the India series wore on, with both his batting and keeping suffering as a result.

The Surrey man was in uncharted territory in a series where each of the five Tests went to the final day.

Because he is not the first-choice keeper for his county – Foakes takes the gloves at The Oval – he was experiencing a workload like never before.

This Ashes will be similar – another five-Test series. Yes, the first Test in Perth was over in only two days, but there are other challenges to throw to a keeper in Australia.

The steep bounce and true carry should be an advantage, yet takes some getting used to, and the fearsome heat can be sapping.

The edge off Head appeared to take Smith by surprise. It was a superb delivery from Archer, nipping away from round the wicket. In a spell where Archer averaged 89.3mph, he got one to leap at Head, and the ball was still on the rise when it got to Smith.

Moving to his left, Smith got both hands to the ball, only to parry in the direction of the slips, who could not grab the rebound.

“That was a beauty from Archer, it went quickly to Jamie Smith but you’ve got to take those chances,” said former England captain Michael Vaughan on Test Match Special.

Former wicketkeeper Matt Prior, part of the England team when they won the Ashes in Australia in 2010-11, said on TNT: “It’s the worst place in the world to be, having just dropped that catch.

“He didn’t do a lot wrong. He got done for a bit of pace, a bit of extra bounce here at the Gabba. It hit him quite high on the gloves.

“That’s a chance you’d want to be taking more times than not.”

According to data analysts Cricviz, Smith’s glovework stands up to other keepers in Test cricket.

This was only the fourth drop of his career, having held 54 previous chances. Smith has a 93% catching efficiency in Tests and for all wicketkeepers in Tests since the start of 2024, the efficiency is around 89%.

Interestingly, of the four drops in his Test career, three of them have been against left-handers.

Smith is also playing in a pink-ball match of any kind for the first time.

The debate over whether England should have sent more players to a floodlit match between England Lions and a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra in the weekend before this Test was tempered by the vastly different conditions in Brisbane when compared to the capital.

While Smith has had five training sessions with the pink ball in the run-up to this Test – two of them under lights – he was out for a second-ball duck in England’s first innings and dropped the first chance that came his way.

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Nov 28, 2025, 03:09 AM ET

Cameron Smith has endured another hometown horror show, the three-time Australian PGA champion fading badly to card a four-over 75 and miss a seventh straight cut.

The local hope began his Friday round on the projected cut line at two under and had early looks at birdies, but twice left his ball on the lip of the cup.

After dipping below the line with a bogey on the 11th hole, a scrambling Smith watched par putts slide by on the 13th and 14th in miserable scenes at Royal Queensland Golf Club.

He made an eight-footer for birdie at the 17th party hole to offer a glimmer of hope, but then missed the 18th green and three-putted for a double-bogey to seal his fate.

He finished two over and a distant cry from a clogged leaderboard headed by early clubhouse leader Brett Rankin, Kazuma Kobori, Wenyi Ding and Anthony Quayle, who all had at least one hole to play, at nine under.

Rankin, seven under through 18 holes, earned the clubhouse lead at nine under despite a double-bogey on his penultimate hole.

He was later joined by 2023 champion Min Woo Lee, who made six birdies before a bogey on the last put him one shot back.

Cameron Davis, Daniel Hillier, Marc Leishman and Marco Penge (seven under) are all within striking distance on a crowded leaderboard, while Ryan Fox dropped three late shots to sit at five under.

Adam Scott (six under) is lurking thanks to a long birdie putt on the 17th, defending champion Elvis Smylie (two under) rallied to make the cut, but European drawcards Joaquín Niemann (even par) and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (five over) both struggled.

Smith endured one of his worst days as a pro to miss the cut at Royal Queensland in 2023, in tears after shooting a seven-over-par 78 on the Friday.

But he returned last year to finish runner-up, then lost a play-off at the Saudi International soon after.

That form deserted him, the former world No.2 and 2022 Open Championship winner the only player to miss the cut at all four majors this year.

He then fell short at his next two tournaments and will arrive in Melbourne for next week’s Australian Open on a winless streak that’s approaching two-and-a-half years.

Playing partner Lee, who broke through for his maiden US PGA Tour win this year, was immune to the carnage as he regularly picked up shots, and Davis showed no signs of rust in his first tournament since an early PGA Tour exit in August.

Leishman roused earlier in the day, chipping in for eagle from the seventh bunker then taking driver from the fairway to set up birdie in a thrilling three-hole sequence to finish his round.

The 42-year-old former Greg Normal Medal winner has never won a major Australian title, but pledged to stay bold in his quest for one.

“We’re golfers and entertainers and I really enjoy entertaining, whether it’s a driver off the deck or a cool, spinning bunker shot,” Leishman said.

“Playing the way you’d play at home – not careless shots, just fun shots and taking on pins in different ways.

“I’m battling the whole time and trying to take it on … to get to a lot of the pins that some people can’t.”

But referring again to the ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018 that led to Smith’s sacking as Australian captain, Panesar told Radio 5 Live: “I’ve had some great moments for England and I’ve had shockers, and he’s had some great moments for Australia and he’s obviously had a very big shocker in South Africa.

“We’ve both made mistakes. I made mine on a quiz show, he made his on a cricket field.”

The spat followed comments to a gambling website from the 43-year-old last week on how England should make Smith feel “guilty” about his part in the ‘Sandpapergate’ incident, where Australia’s “leadership group” had a plan, carried out by Cameron Bancroft, to tamper with the ball to “get an advantage”.

Smith, 36, has often been taunted by fans over the scandal.

And he brought up Panesar’s Mastermind episode, calling it “pretty comical”, when responding to the ex-bowler’s views.

“Anyone who believes that Athens is in Germany, Oliver Twist is a season of the year, and America is a city, it doesn’t really bother me those comments,” Smith said in his pre-match news conference.

With Pat Cummins out with a back injury, Smith will lead Australia in the first Test, which begins at Perth Stadium on Friday.

And Panesar, who played 50 Tests between 2006 and 2013, added: “What makes it more sort of pleasing is that the night before the Test match, he’s watching my Mastermind clips, memorising the questions and the answers.

“And it kind of feels like England are already in his head and I can rattle the Aussies from sitting on my sofa.”

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Las Vegas Raiders veteran quarterback Geno Smith’s early struggles this season are reportedly starting to raise questions about his effectiveness as a starter.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that he feels the Raiders are “mildly concerned” about Smith’s performance amid their 1-4 start to the season. However, Fowler noted that it’s unlikely that Las Vegas will make a change anytime soon.

“The Raiders know Smith has to play better — and soon — but there’s no sentiment that Smith is a broken quarterback,” Fowler stated. “So I’m not expecting him to get benched or anything this week. Scouts I’ve talked to believe Smith has been too late with the ball this season and is relying on arm talent to force throws into tight windows.”

Smith threw for 228 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions in a demoralizing 40-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts this past Sunday. Through five games, he’s thrown for 1,176 yards, six touchdowns and a league-high nine interceptions.

Still, Fowler gave Smith the benefit of the doubt and said that his two picks against the Colts “weren’t blatantly bad decisions.” ESPN’s Dan Graziano added that while there’s a chance the Raiders consider making the switch to backup quarterback Kenny Pickett at some point this season, the team’s struggles aren’t solely because of Smith.

“What I’m hearing from a lot from people around the league is that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s scheme isn’t creating enough advantages to overcome the Raiders’ personnel deficiencies, and there’s no margin for error if Smith keeps turning the ball over as much as he has,” Graziano stated.

Smith and the Raiders will try to end their four-game losing streak when they meet the Tennessee Titans (1-4) in Week 6.

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Sunday was gut-check time for the Dodgers.Even before they blew a late-game, three-run lead.As a clearly frustrated Dave Roberts put…