Teenage star Cameron Smith is confident Australian golf’s new breed can claim the US Masters berth on offer to the winner at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
A great admirer of Jason Day, Smith shows every sign of following in the US PGA Tour star’s footsteps with some of his early achievements even surpassing those of his fellow Queenslander.
He’ll have his sights set on a dream debut at Augusta National next April when he contests the fourth annual Asia-Pacific amateur tournament in Thailand from November 1-4.
Smith, 19, who finished fourth in the event in Singapore last year, is one of a six-man contingent of young Australian invitees, joined by newcomers Oliver Goss, Brett Drewitt, Rikudai ‘Ricky’ Kato, James McMillan and Nathan Holman.
“The quality of Aussie players this year is strong and I think all of us could put up a good fight for the title,” said Smith, who finished 17th against the pros on Sunday in the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open, co-sanctioned by the Japan and Asian tours.
“We all have experience in big tournaments and we have a good chance of winning if we play to our potential.
“It would be a good break for Australian golf if one of us were to win as not everything has gone our way in golf recently.”
Australia’s top-ranked junior in 2009 and 2010, Smith was the medallist at the Australian amateur championship in January and last year won the Australian men’s stroke play and Australian boys’ amateur titles, the latter by eight strokes.
No other Australian junior player has managed that feat in recent years although Day won the 2006 Australian amateur stroke title two years after claiming the Australian boys title.
Goss, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Tennessee, is also expected to be a strong contender at the Asia-Pacific Amateur.
He was a quarter-finalist in the US Amateur in August and won the WA Amateur in March before he and Kato helped Australia win the Junior Golf World Cup for the first time in Japan in June.
Kato, whose parents were born in Japan, won the Tasmanian Open in February, while Drewitt triumphed in the NSW Amateur in February.
Holman won the Australian Master of the Amateurs at Royal Melbourne in January and McMillan finished runner-up in the Golf SA Amateur Classic in April.