Cam Smith assured himself a place in The Masters while simultaneously confirming his reputation as a great match player with a run to the quarter finals of the WGC Dell Matchplay in Texas.

Smith was one of three Australians to tee up at the Austin Country Club but was playing for higher stakes than Marc Leishman and Jason Day as he fought to hold on to a top-50 place in the world rankings and earn a berth at Augusta National.

While Day and Leishman didn’t bring their best games to the pool section of the tournament, Smith was in fine form from day one when he accounted for highly regarded American Patrick Cantlay 2UP.

He claimed a major scalp on day two when he won a hard-fought contest against World Number 6 Hideki Matsuyama, that victory setting up an opportunity to win his pool and advance to the round of 16.

Taking on Japan’s Yusaku Miyazato on day three Smith was under plenty of pressure when he fell 1 down through 14 and in danger of having to face Cantlay in a playoff to see who would advance.

However, a gutsy birdie at the 18th ensured a halved match and clinched the vital half point to guarantee his place in the final 16.

Falling behind early against Tyrrell Hatton, Smith fought back with seven birdies and eventually accounted for the feisty Englishman to book his place in the quarter finals against the in-form Alex Noren.

Three down through six, Smith was in early trouble but rallied bravely to go to the turn just one down.

After the fireworks of the morning round, however, he couldn’t find any more birdies and despite several chances a cold putter betrayed him and he was eventually bundled out 4&2.

"I was just coming here to try and win the tournament,” said Smith.

“I didn’t want to get obsessed with results of qualifying for The Masters.

"I’m a little annoyed at losing (to Noren) because I felt as though I handed Alex the match with a few mistakes."

However, despite the disappointment of that result Smith said he was happy in the bigger scheme of things having achieved a goal he had set himself at the start of the season.

"It is a huge relief," he said. "My biggest goal for the early part of this year was to get back into the top-50 so I could play The Masters and I’m really excited to get back."

Smith brings the number of Australians at Augusta to four alongside Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Jason Day.

Scott elected to skip the matchplay but both Leishman and Day were considered among the likely contenders, Day especially having won the event twice previously.

However, after a solid opening round performance against James Hahn it proved a battle for Day as he lost to both Jason Dufner and Louis Oosthuizen and failed to advance to the round of 16.

Leishmanalso was at less than his best, a 3&2 loss to little known Julian Suri was hardly a positive note to start on.

Facing eventual finalist Bubba Watson on day two he started well, going  1UP at the first but the tide quickly turned as Watson took control and eventually won 3&2.

With no chance to advance, his third round match against Presidents Cup teammate Branden Grace was a dead rubber that ended in a halved result.