[PHOTO: Golf NSW]
He is usually among the world’s best putters, but Cameron Smith has lamented a day in which his hottest weapon turned cold.
Three-putts on the last two holes at the Ford NSW Open cost Smith the chance to try and force a playoff with a birdie on 18 while his LIV Golf teammate, Lucas Herbert, strode to a maiden victory on Australian soil.
Herbert, who had won three DP World Tour titles and once on the PGA Tour but never in his homeland, shot a final-round 67 to finish at 15-under-par (269) at Murray Downs Golf & Country Club. Smith, the 2022 Open champion at St Andrews, made bogeys on the final two holes to shoot 74 and drop to a share of second with Alex Simpson and Corey Lamb at 12-under.
“It’s just brutal; I feel like I hit a pretty good putt up the hill [on 17] and I had about 10 feet left,” Smith said of putting directly into the breeze. “I feel like I did everything I could.”
To be fair, Smith, 31, dug himself a hole well before the finish. He went out in one-over for the front nine on Sunday while Herbert pounced with a trio of birdies. As Smith continued to struggle on the back nine, Herbert added pressure with birdies at 12 and 14. He also made bogey on 13. Herbert, 28, then closed with four straight pars to secure victory, while Smith dropped shots on 14, 17 and 18.
“I had about 85 putts [today],” a disappointed Smith joked. “I feel like I did everything I needed to do, I just couldn’t hole anything. That was basically it. There were a few gusts and I didn’t even feel like I was hitting bad putts to be honest. It was pretty comical at the end there. It is what it is.”
The final round of the NSW Open was delayed 30 minutes due to extreme winds and it hardly relaxed when the field did get going. Herbert backed off a birdie putt four times on 17 due to severe gusts.
Smith said there were no excuses, though.
“I feel like we deal with that sort of stuff fairly often [wind delay],” he said. “It probably gives you an indication of how hard it’s going to be when it’s called off for wind. It didn’t change anything. I went out there and hit some balls, did everything right. It just wasn’t my day.”
While Herbert promised to celebrate his team and friends in attendance, who drove two hours from his hometown of Bendigo, Smith should hold his head high for providing a massive boost to the NSW Open. He and Herbert lived up to their billing as superstars playing a state open in a regional town with a prize purse of $800,000. They posed for every photo request, did every interview and were gracious with fans.
Spectators walked in the fairways during all four rounds, watching up close as Smith and Herbert navigated the delightful Murray River resort course.
