In no other sport do mug punters tread the same boards and compete with great ones. Roger Federer doesn’t take on D-graders before Wimbledon. Lionel Messi doesn’t play park footy with chubby clubbies.

Yet here we are on the ninth tee at the pristine The Australian Golf Club in Sydney for the pro-am of the Australian Open, and a trio of amateurs – including former All Blacks breakaway Richie McCaw – is chopping away with greatness.

Australia’s best golfer, Cameron Smith, is their playing partner, four-and-a-half days since his teary exit from the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

And - because of another good thing about the pro-am, the intimacy afforded spectators - we're here to see what we can see.

First thing of note is that the greater crew of Smith Inc. is in the house. Caddy, Sam Pinfold, of course, but also coach Grant Field and manager Ian Davis wander along in Smith’s wake, swapping gags, taking photos for punters (including McCaw), and just being present for their guy.

Field and Smith confer often, practicing a singular move: a one-armed takeaway. Time and again they do it, this wide, open arc, like they’re engaging what body-builders might call their core, pecs and lats. Turning. Feeling it.

The sun comes out and the wind picks up, a brisk nor-easter off the water, as predicted by The Australian GC Superintendent Daniel Cook in this month’s issue of Golf Australia magazine on shelves now.

Former All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw (right) asked for a photo with Cameron Smith. PHOTO: Matt Cleary

Smith bombs drive, downtown, well over the fairway trap, just before the water, adjacent the centre. It’s a serious golf shot.

On 12 there’s a hook! A huge hook, onto the 11th fairway where the pop singer Guy Sebastien is decked out in natty cream pants and brown shirt. Smith was trying for a little power-fade, according to a marshal, who'd been in earshot.

From the neck of 11 green Pinfold gets a number and strides it out before Smith stiffs a wedge over some massive pine trees, the ball sucking and stopping to 10 feet. It’s an imperial golf shot. You’d hit it in a dream.

McCaw, meanwhile, is blazing mid-irons to all parts. He shanks one onto Southern Cross Drive. He loads up again and sprays it away into trees. He's okay with driver. His putting is tidy. Everywhere else the man's a menace.

Cam Smith loads up on the par-3 11th at The Australian GC. PHOTO: Getty Images.

And so the choppers chop while Smith talks feels with Field, practicing that singular move again and again. Smith does it on his own. Field does it on his own, practicing it, feeling it, so he can explain it better to Smith. They’re more in sync than NSYNC.

And what did we see?

This: if Cameron Smith is off his game, he’s not very bloody far off it.

There are booming drives and piercing irons. He drills one on the breeze from 180 metres to 12 feet on 14, pure ball-striking. It’s so good.

When the sun came out Cam Smith's game with it. This was one of several pure iron shots he hit during the Australian Open pro-am. PHOTO: Getty Images

He draws one into the pot on 15, gets up and down. He birdies 16. Pars the last two. And signs off, perhaps mentally, perhaps not at all, on a score maybe four-under on a Wednesday just above hit-and-giggle.

In his post-round presser Smith admits that, despite a typically world class last seven or eight months including a recent near-miss in Hong Kong, the missed cut and 73-78 in the PGA Championship at Royal Queensland had rocked him,.

“It’s easy to look at it as just another round but it hurts the confidence a little bit,” Smith says. “Now it’s about just getting back to what I know I can do.

“There’s an old saying that one swing can change a round. And over the weekend [of practice with Field] it’s definitely changed the way I feel about my game. I’m looking forward to it.”

Smith and coach Grant Field (right) practice feels. PHOTO: Matt Cleary

On that move he was practicing with Field, Smith said it was a matter of keeping his arms connected to his body.

“I guess my bad habit in my swing, technically, to put it simply, is … my arms travel a little bit too far. And it just wasn’t in sync.

"Last week, to be honest, it was a long way out.

“Yesterday was definitely a step forward.

"But today, in the conditions, and how the golf course sets up, I felt pretty confident out there. There’s no reason I can’t go out and be competitive this week,” Smith says.