The 2022 British Open champion will start favourite at the Australian Open, which gets underway on Thursday with men and women both competing at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath in a world first.

With five titles to his name this year, including the Players Championship, Smith is looking to finish with a bang and become the first golfer in 11 years to claim the PGA-Australian Open double in the same year. If Smith does win the Open, he will join an elite club including Greg Chalmers (2011), Robert Allenby (2005), Peter Lonard (2004), Greg Norman (1985), Peter Thomson (1967) and Kel Nagle (1959).

"I haven't won one of these yet and this has been on my radar now for a long time," World No.3 Smith said on Tuesday.

"I've been close a few times and haven't quite got it done, so no better week than to win one in Melbourne.

"The plan was to come down here (to Australia) and win both of them and I ticked one box. Hopefully I can do one more this week.

"It would be a really nice way to finish off a really good year."

Smith almost clinched the Australian Open title in 2016 before losing to American Jordan Spieth in a three-way play-off at Royal Sydney.

Cam Smith familiarises himself with the Kingston Heath course during practice on Tuesday. PHOTO: Getty Images.

"That one hurt a little bit as it would have been my first win as a pro, so it would have been a neat one to win," the 29-year-old said.

"That was a good week, and I've played really solid in other Opens but haven't quite got that close."

Taking a day to recover from the celebrations after winning the PGA title, Smith played a practice round at Kingston Heath today.

“I had a bit of a headache yesterday … It was a bit of a waste of a day yesterday to be honest, but yeah, it was good,” Smith smiled before admitting he hadn’t played much golf at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Clubs in recent years.

“I’ve played around Kingston Heath a couple of times, obviously some amateur stuff played the Aussie Masters here, I think that probably would have been six or seven years ago now and I haven’t played Vic since they had the Australian Amateur there, which is a really long time ago.

“So, looking forward to getting back out there. I’ve heard both of the courses are looking pretty stellar and I know they’re both really good challenges.”

Smith was a crowd favourite at Royal Queensland throughout the four days of the PGA and rallied in an interrupted final round to win by three shots.

After moving from the US PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in August, Smith said he had only felt love from home fans in his first Australian tournament in three years.

After a long year he hoped the crowd at the Victoria course, which will solely host the final two rounds, could help lift him home.

"That'll help - the crowds are going to be awesome down here," he said.

"I really drew a lot off those guys last week, obviously being in Brizzy there was a lot of home support and hopefully there's a few guys down here as well."

Smith plants a kiss on the Joe Kirkwood Cup as the Australian PGA Champion. PHOTO: Getty Images.

He welcomed the challenge of the Melbourne Sandbelt courses, describing them as a mix between links golf like St. Andrews where he won the Open, and the sweeping fairways of Augusta.

"You get to play plenty of shots, you have to play good golf around here,” Smith said.

"I feel like I play my best golf when I'm creative and I'm just happy to be down here.

"This is the best that golf has to offer."

– Melissa Woods (Australian Associated Press)