Smith will make his tournament debut at this week’s QBE Shootout – aka the Shark Shootout – at the Tiburon Golf Course in Naples, Florida, the Norman-designed Gold Course the host layout.

Smith and teammate Marc Leishman were both heavily influenced by Norman’s career as young players but Smith’s Major heartbreak came watching a 53-year-old Great White Shark come within nine holes of an unlikely third Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

“I can’t remember ’96 but my old man tells a story of how he took a day off work to watch Greggy win The Masters,” Smith recalled.

“My best memory of Greggy was when he was tied for the lead with Padraig Harrington in the British Open.

“I remember staying up through the night to watch that. That’s probably my best memory.”

Runner-up at Augusta National in his last start, Smith was flooded with messages of congratulations and support from some of the biggest names in Australian sport.

He receives semi-regular messages from Norman through Instagram but they are less connected to how he’s playing and more to do with the state of his lawn.

“He tags me in some videos every now and then when he’s mowing his lawn. He knows I love my lawn and all that stuff,” said Smith, Norman commenting on Smith’s lawn update post in April.

“I’ve only met Greg a couple of times in person and haven’t really seen him a whole lot.

“We’ve never really had anything other than that. We’ve never had time to.”

Whether it’s over a Leishman Lager or the latest release from Greg Norman Estates, Smith and Leishman will surely find time this week to spend quality time with the person who inspired so many young Aussies to take up the game.

Winner of the 2017 Greg Norman Medal, Leishman was given a ball by Norman’s then caddie Steve Williams at the 1991 Australian Masters at Huntingdale and his boyhood bedroom also featured a life-size cardboard cut-out of his idol.

Given that history and the crazy nature of 2020, Smith said the pair thought teaming up this week was a fitting way to end the year.

“I talked to ‘Leish’ at the Tour Championship from memory and said we were going to play it,” Smith said.

“It’s just a good week to have fun with Leish but also get some golf in in the middle of a pretty big break.

“It will be nice to be competitive for a week and keep me going and I know Leish probably feels exactly the same way.”

Smith and Leishman are vying to become the first all-Aussie winners of the QBE Shootout since Norman and Steve Elkington teamed up to win in 1998.

The 54-hole tournament sees two-man teams competing in ambrose, modified foursomes and best ball formats across the three rounds.

The QBE Shootout is not the only professional tournament in Florida this week with Aussie pair Harrison Endycott and Daniel List to contest the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica’s Shell Open.

Round 1 tee times (AEDT)

PGA TOUR
QBE Shootout
Tiburon Golf Course (Gold Cse), Naples, Florida
1.45am Cameron Smith/Marc Leishman, Harris English/Matt Kuchar

Defending champions: Rory Sabbatini/Kevin Tway
Past Aussie winners: Steve Elkington and Raymond Floyd (1993), Steve Elkington and Mark Calcavecchia (1995), Greg Norman and Steve Elkington (1998), Rod Pampling and Jerry Kelly (2006), Jason Day and Cameron Tringale (2014)
TV schedule: Live 3am-7am Saturday; Live 5am-9am Sunday; 4am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 505

PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Shell Open
Trump National Doral Golden Palm, Doral, Florida
Aussies in the field: Harrison Endycott, Danny List