A flat and fatigued Cameron Smith has won a late reprieve, surviving the halfway cut at the Australian Open despite two lacklustre rounds in Melbourne.
Smith made the cut on 2-over-par, as Adam Scott took a share of the men's lead at the dual-gender tournament alongside David Micheluzzi on 8-under.
Smith looked headed for the Open exit gates after posting a second successive 1-over round on Melbourne's sand belt.
The world number three and British Open champion was languishing in a share of 82nd position when he walked off Kingston Heath on Friday morning, seemingly resigned to missing the cut.
"That was pretty rubbish out there today," he said after mixing four birdies with five bogeys.
"I was just really uncomfortable all day, kind of similar to yesterday. I just couldn't quite hit the ball out the middle of the club face for some reason.
"My mind was a little bit foggy, obviously a little bit tired as well.
"But I need to play better than that, even when I am tired. It's probably the easiest this place is going to get."
After an uncertain six-hour wait, Smith learned he had climbed the leaderboard sufficiently to earn a Saturday tee slot.
In contrast to Smith's sluggish performance, Scott finished in spectacular fashion with a course record-equalling round at Victoria Golf Club.
Delighting the large gallery, the former world number one drained a long-range putt from off the green for eagle on the final hole to ice his flawless 7-under 63.
It was a brilliant performance after Scott's self-confessed "disgusting" first-round 70 at Kingston Heath, which featured four bogeys and a double bogey.
"It was a good day, a lot of solid stuff and I just worked my way around the course," Scott said.
"There's a lot of trouble out here and I was aware of it every hole, but I managed to stay out of it most of the day, whereas yesterday I was in most of the day.
"I turned things around and am in a good spot going into the weekend."
Smith still needs a minor miracle to complete the Australian Open-PGA Championship double.
His more immediate concern will be surviving the new Saturday second cut of top 30 players and ties, introduced this year to free-up enough final-round fairway space for the women's event being staged simultaneously.
Before departing on Friday, Smith blamed mental fatigue for his poor showing this week following a wildly successful 2022 campaign.
"I can't wait for sleep. I've played a lot more golf than I thought I would have at the start of the year," he said.
"I'm looking forward to four or five weeks off here and just kind of mentally reset.
"I think the brain has been going pretty hard the last few months, so it'd be a good time to sit down on the beach somewhere and have a few margaritas."
AAP/ABC
