Cam Smith is excited in more ways than ever before as he heads to the Masters as a father for the first time

Cam Smith will take his newborn son to Augusta this week hoping he’s the “winning formula” he needs to salute at the Masters confident he’s better prepared than in recent successful appearances thanks to another major off course change. Smith became a father for the first time last week when his wife gave birth to Remy, and had to drag himself away to help Ripper GC collect a fourth LIV team title in less than 12 months with victory at Doral. The combination of Remy’s arrival, and Ripper’s win could give Smith the momentum to finally grab his green jacket having secured five top-10 finishes in his last seven starts at Augusta. He finished in a tie for sixth last year, after finishing third in 2022, and second in 2020, evidence of his affinity with the course, and a tournament he rates as the one he wants to win the most. Smith said heading to the Masters as a father would be a new, and possibly better experience. “Yeah, it’s so cool. I miss him so much, actually. It was hard to come away this week,” Smith said after Ripper’s win in Miami, secured by Marc Leishman’s breakthrough individual win. “I mean, I’ve had a few times where it’s been hard to get away from home. But it was a different level this week. I can’t wait to see him tonight. “It’s cool he’s the winning formula for the team, obviously, I think. One from one, Remy is. It’s so cool. “People express - I’ve got two great dads next to me (Marc Leishman and Matt Jones)- how cool it is to be a father, but you really can’t put it into words. It’s been so awesome.” Preparing for the Masters has been a significant focus for Smith in recent years who has tried various lead-in campaigns since joining LIV golf for the 2023 season. He’s spent more time in Australia most recently, and now played five events through the early stages of 2025. But it was the addition of a new performance coach to Ripper GC which has removed some of the work which Smith said could “piss you off” and allowed him to focus on producing his best golf. “He’s so good. I think just with a team comes organisation, and maybe some stuff that you can think is easy to do that isn’t quite easy to do, and little things throughout the week kind of piss you off, and you wish they weren’t there,” Smith said. “So he has kind of cleaned all of that stuff up. He’s really, I think, made us -- we were already a great team, but I think he’s made us work as individuals probably a little bit harder at the start of the week, get some stuff done that we needed to get done. “I think there was a sense maybe last year or even at the start of this year where we kind of were focusing too much on what everyone else needs to do rather than ourselves, and he’s cleaned all that stuff up. “I know for myself, I feel like I’ve been better prepped the last three or four weeks. I’m sure the other guys have, as well. Just little stuff like that, the one percenters throughout a tough week, especially in a week like this, really pays off, so he’s been a good addition to the team.” Smith is one of five Australians at the Masters, joining 2013 champ Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cameron Davis and Jason Day. He is also one of 12 LIV golfers in the field for the first major of 2025.