Cameron Smith can't wait to return home to take in a Brisbane Broncos game after missing his chance to become the first golfer in almost a decade to win successive majors.

The reigning British Open champion and NRL tragic had to settle as the leading Australian in a tie for 34th, after never really getting going in his sixth Masters appearance.

Smith was on the wrong side of the draw, forced to battle the elements during the weather-hit first three rounds.

The 2020 runner-up followed up his third placing last year with rounds of 70-72-75-75 to finish 16 shots behind Spanish winner Jon Rahm at four over par for the championship.

"I've been on the back foot all week with the weather and wasn't particularly striking it all that well," Smith said.

"There were lots of momentum par-saves but it was a bit of a rough week with the longer stuff."

After a spectacular victory in the Open at St Andrew's last July, Smith had been striving to become the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win successive major championships.

But the silver lining to his ho-hum performance is that the 29-year-old world No.6 now gets to return home to Australia for the LIV Golf International in Adelaide from April 21-23.

"I'm just looking forward to getting back to Australia," he said.

"I'm heading back there on Tuesday to spend four or five days in Brissie before I head down (to Adelaide).

"I've got a little bit of work to do and I wouldn't mind getting to a Broncos game. There will be a little bit of catch-ups, but there's some work because I wasn't really happy with how this week went."

Smith refused to buy into the theory he was lacking a competitive edge at the year's first major after playing only five tournaments in 2023.

LIV peers Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka finished joint runners-up at Augusta to support Smith's argument.

But he conceded he needed to be sharper.

"I typically don't play before this week and I don't think it was much of a hindrance (not) to play beforehand," Smith said.

"It was just a bit of a rough week, and it's been a bit of a rough start to the year to be honest.

"(But) it usually makes you work harder and hopefully there's some good stuff to come."

Smith "absolutely" welcomed talk Greg Norman's breakaway league was working towards holding two more tournaments in Australia, in addition to Adelaide.

"That was kind of one of the reasons I went over, to spend more time there and to play more golf there would be even better," he said, adding he enjoyed seeing Mickelson and Koepka prove the doubters wrong about LIV players not being able to compete against the PGA Tour's stars.

"It's been a great week. It's been great to see some old faces (from the PGA Tour) and it's good to see a couple of those (LIV) boys playing well.

"I would have liked it to have been me, but it was good.

"I've always said there's enough top-level guys (in LIV) to keep you on your toes.

"It wasn't really surprising to see a few guys up there. It's great for the tour."