His opening round at the Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee Golf Club gets underway from the 10th tee at 6.45am (Qld time) on Thursday.

Weather forecast: Partly cloudy, maximum 31 degrees

Playing partners: 2024 Cameron Smith scholarship holders Wes Hinton and Kayun Mudadana

We are underway

Cam Smith’s start to the QLD PGA doesn’t get off to a great start with his drive headed left into the water, but after a drop it’s a good approach to middle of the green with 20ft left for his par four.

One hole in the books

The par putt for Smith slips by left of the hole and leaves a 2ft clean up bogey and it is on to 11th for his second hole of the day with a solid crowd following in the warm morning air on a perfect day for tournament golf.

Green in Regulation

The long par-3 11th sees Cam safely aboard the green with his tee shot but a long putt upcoming to the front left pin. A 40ft birdie attempt upcoming for the major champion playing alongside two of his scholarship winning amateurs.

Par from long range

After lagging his birdie attempt to three feet, Smith holes a testing short putt to secure his first par of the day as he moves to the par-4 12th.

Another par at 12

After hitting another tee shot slightly left and finding the rough, it was a great approach shot to 10 feet behind the hole for Smith.

The birdie putt from 10ft comes up a couple rolls short of the hole and he knocks it in for par to stay at 1-over through three holes as the crowd continues to watch on with great interest at Nudgee.

Close call for birdie at 13

Taking his drive down the left side to open the green up at the par-4 13th, Cam gives himself the best look at birdie so far today with a second shot to 6ft.

His birdie putt hits the left lip but doesn’t fall, it’s another par for Smith as he stays 1-over and five shots back of Jack Harrison, with the Victorian off to a hot start of 4-under through six holes.

Time to scramble at the 14th

It is another drive left of the fairway at the longest par-4 on the back nine, with Smith’s ball nestling down in the Kikuyu. He is able to advance it only as far as the front bunker, with his legendary short game needed to make par.

Even with a short game as good as Smith’s, the plugged lie in the face of the bunker was a tough ask. He splashes out to 25ft and will face a testing putt to save his par.

And in it goes! The first big cheer goes up from the crowd as Smith makes his long par putt.

More rough to navigate at the 15th

It is the first par-5 of the day for Smith and his drive is left again and finds the rough, with the Kikuyu thicker in parts and the lie largely determining the strategy from here.

Looks to be time for some more short game magic for Smith at 15 after his second shot goes left up near the putting surface with plenty of elevation, as he and coach/caddie this week work to get the growing crowds in the right spot as he tries to navigate the 532-metre hole.

A decent pitch up to the putting surface leaves 15ft for Smith for birdie to get his round back to even par.

The birdie try comes up a foot short of the hole, story of the day so far for Cam. Par it is and he remains 1-over while more than 20 of the morning field are under par so far in their opening rounds.

Finding the fairway on 16

Smith has found the fairway on the par-4 16th, setting up a good chance to get it in there close for another birdie look.

From the right side of the fairway, Smith’s approach finds the putting surface and he has an outside look at birdie from 22-feet.

And it’s in!!! Smith rolls in his first birdie of the day which gets his round back to even par and might be the spark the champion needs.

With back-to-back eagles, West Australian Ryan Peake has jumped into the lead at 3-under, Smith with some ground to make up.

Middle of the fairway on 17

Off the back of his long birdie conversion, Smith has piped his drive down the middle of the fairway on the 500-metre par-5 17th, and will have a shot at the green in two.

Choosing to layup to 75m, Smith has left himself with great chance to knock one close and setup a chance at back-to-back birdies.

In textbook fashion, Smith’s wedge approach spins in tight to six feet, setting up a great chance at another birdie.

It’s in again! Back-to-back birdies sees Smith enter red figures for the first time in this championship and sees him on his way to posting a number on his back nine.

Artistic flair on 18

Absolute special bit of creativity from Smith on 18th green, after he his tee shot on Nudgee’s famous closing par-3 found the back left of the green.

Smith putted away from the hole from back left, up into the fringe on the right side of the green, feeding down to 2 feet. Then young Wes Hinton followed suit and finished just inside Smith’s ball.

A par means Smith makes the turn in 1-under.

Positive start to his back nine

A regulation par on the first, was followed by a nice birdie putt on the second from five feet for Smith.

A two -putt par on hole three followed, and smith is now 2-under on his day.

Recovery for the ages on the fourth

Finding the pine straw to the right of the par-5 fourth fairway, Smith has played an extraordinary hook shot through the trees down the adjacent hole and back 20 metres short of the green.

Just a short pitch in left Smith with 5 feet for birdie.

It’s in again, Smith is charging now at 3-under.

Another par-5 special at the fifth

With two perfect shots, Smith has found the 485m par-5 fifth in two.

With 35 feet for eagle, Smith rolled his attempt close and tapped in for yet another birdie. At 4-under Smith is now tied for the lead.

Safely in the fairway on the sixth

Playing back into a stiffening wind, Smith’s drive safely finds the fairway, 160m left in.

SHORT GAME MAGIC! Smith’s legendary touch around the greens is on show, the star chipping in for birdie on six. Three on the trot!

5-under on his day, Smith is just one back of leader Billy Dowling.

Back to regular programming on the seventh

After finding the right side of the fairway with his drive, Smith’s 40m pitch over the bunker left him 12-feet for birdie.

The putt just slid by, tapping in for par.

The crowds are out in force watching the champ this morning, providing fantastic support with two holes to play.

A fightback complete

Two final pars on eight and nine coming in has Smith finish five-under on his day, one shot back of leaders Phoenix Campbell and Billy Dowling.

After a slow start, Smith played his final 12 holes in 6-under, and will be looking to continue that scoring on Friday at Nudgee.

The first of four events that Smith will play on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia this summer, the Queensland PGA Championship has been elevated significantly by The Open champion’s presence.

No one will have a better view for the first two rounds, though, than Hinton and Mudadana, this year’s Cameron Smith Scholarship recipients.

As this year’s scholarship winners, Hinton and Mudadana spent a week with Smith in September, honing their games under his tutelage in Florida before watching the Queensland legend in action at LIV Golf Chicago.

The pair played three rounds with Smith while they were in the US and now get a taste of what it’s like to play inside the ropes with thousands of golf fans watching every shot they hit.

“Playing golf with Cam before this is really beneficial because we were both really nervous to play with him because Cam’s going to see every single shot we hit,” said Hinton, a Brisbane native who plays out of Keperra Country Golf Club.

“If he hits a bad shot, he’s going to see it and you don’t want to hit bad shots in front of him.

“But now that that’s happened, you’re more used to it. It’s accepting that you will hit bad shots and you’ve just got to live with it.

“There’s going to be a lot more nerves. It’s going to be about trying to accept that, turn those nerves into excitement.

“It’s a privilege to be playing under that sort of pressure.”

Estimating that the biggest crowd he has played in front of is “maybe 20 people”, Mudadana is ready to embrace any pressure that accompanies such an illustrious grouping.

“I don’t really get too distracted by it, I just try to play my best,” said Mudadana, a member at New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney. “Just to show them how good I can be.

“I don’t really get too nervous by it.”

While they now get to see Smith go to work inside the ropes, both Hinton and Mudadana said their greatest takeaway from their time with the three-time BMW Australian PGA champion was his intention during practise… and how he disconnects in his down time.

“When Cam is practising, he’s very engaged in his practise – more than anyone in the whole world I’ve heard,” said Hinton, who won the Cameron Smith Junior Classic at Wantima Country Club in 2022.

“When he’s practising , he’s fully involved in it and then he gets away from the game. But when he’s there, he’s training better than anyone.”

“Watching how he practises and uses his time and just what he does besides golf to distract him from golf,” said Mudadana of what he observed. “Not always just being a hundred per cent golf.

“It was pretty cool to watch what he does in an off week and practise even at the tournament. How he prepared for it was pretty cool.”

Both have tried to find that balance since returning to their home clubs while at the same time honing some of the short-game wizardry that Smith shared during their time together.

They’re shots that might come in handy as they seek to turn two rounds with their idol into two further bonus rounds on the weekend.

“I thought maybe he might be pretty serious when he wants to practise and we’d have to do our own thing, but he really taught us and took us on board,” said Mudadana.

“He gives back a lot to Golf Australia’s junior golfers, which is really good. Not many other guys do that.”

“He was very active in helping us learn,” added Hinton.

“When we went out to the chipping green, he would come out and check in, give us some tips.

“He helped mine and Kay’s technique a lot, how to hit certain shots, how to play out of the rough and stuff like that. Short game tips was definitely the most helpful.”