Cameron Smith will be one of the favourites at The Lakes.
Far from overawed, Cameron Davis is embracing the pressure of trying to defend his Australian Open crown at The Lakes this week.
Unlike last year, in his first Open as a professional and up against superstars like Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, there’ll be no flying under the radar when Davis tees off among the favourites.
The 23-year-old arrived at The Lakes for Wednesday’s pro-am full of confidence after another breakout season in 2018 that featured a commendable tie for 39th on his major championship debut at the British Open in July. The Sydneysider also won on the second-tier Web.com Tour in May, a victory that helped earn Davis his 2019 US PGA Tour card.
The tournament is headlined by American world No.29 Matt Kuchar fresh off a PGA tournament win in Mexico. He is joined by world No.30 Keegan Bradley, he of the funky swing, No.33 Aussie Cameron Smith, 49th ranked American Brandt Snedeker and world No.51 Byeong Hun An of South Korea.
Snedeker hasn’t played the Australian Open since 2007 but the memory of his costly mistake in the final round hasn’t faded. Snedeker lost by a shot to Craig Parry when he called a penalty on himself on the 14th hole of the final round at The Australian Golf Club because the ball moved as he tried to shift some twigs around it.
“It was a no-brainer penalty,” Snedeker said.
