- Australian golf star struggled in first round of British Open
- Cameron Smith bowled nine overs on a day he described as ‘brutal’
- Smith, 30, a Queensland and LIV star, won the Open in 2022
Australian golf star Cameron Smith has been left licking his wounds after enduring the most “brutal” day of his career at the British Open’s major championship, shooting an 80 for the first time in one of golf’s four major tournaments.
In 33 major tournaments stretching back nine years, the 30-year-old from Queensland had never before suffered such an indignity as Thursday’s opening round at Royal Troon, when he carded a round of nine over par.
A bogey on the first hole and a triple-bogey seven on the second set Smith up to eclipse his worst previous round in a major: another nine-over-par round of 79 at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
But this one may have been even worse, with his nine bogeys and a triple in company with the inspired Shane Lowry, the 2019 champion who stormed into second place, posting a flawless 66, no less than 14 shots better than the Australian’s calamitous effort.
His round rules out any realistic chance of Smith, who has been playing fairly well on the LIV circuit, now regaining the Claret Jug he won at St Andrews two years ago.
“It was a bad day, actually. If you had told me beforehand that I was going to film that, I wouldn’t have said it was possible,” Smith said.
“But yeah, it was a bit of a bad start and I couldn’t make any putts when I needed to get back in. I had some bad spells as well.”
It actually could have been worse, as Smith grabbed two birdies in the final three holes to gain some consolation.
Australian golf star Cameron Smith was left licking his wounds after enduring the most “brutal” day at the British Open.
The Queenslander shot nine over par at Royal Troon, looking at times like a weekend hacker.
Playing alongside two great champions like Lowry and Matt Fitzpatrick at least awakened his champion spirit.
“If you ask me, it was very difficult. If you ask Shane, it would probably be a different story,” Smith said of their respective rounds.
-No, it’s tough, man. There are a lot of crosswinds. It’s hard to keep the ball in the fairway and, when you’re in the rough, you have to guess if you’re going to land something short with the bounces you get.
“It was brutal, it was a really good test of golf and you needed to be at your best to play under par, and I saw that. Shane played well.”
After going out of bounds on the second hole, Smith shrugged: “There was a lot of golf left to play after that point. Anything can happen. I’ve done it before. I think it was on the second hole as well, where I made a hat trick and won the golf tournament.”
“There are a couple of things that go through your head and make you think. But yes, it was a brutal day, to be honest.”
What was doubly frustrating was that he reckoned he had been “quietly confident” after finishing sixth last week at Valderrama in Spain, one of a string of LIV top-10 results he has enjoyed recently.
“I’ll go out there and try to hit a low shot going into the weekend. It’s a tough task given that the golf course doesn’t offer you many easy shots,” Smith shrugged.
“There’s nothing else I can do to change it. It was just a bad day.”