[Photo: Golf NSW]
Cameron Smith lived up to his billing as the superstar golfer on the Murray River, grabbing the lead after the morning wave at the NSW Open with a sensational opening round at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club.
Several hundred golf fans walked in the fairways after Smith, his fellow LIV Golf star Lucas Herbert and amateur Declan O’Donovan teed off No.10 at 7.20am. Smith wowed the crowd with birdies on the 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes to grab the lead before the turn. The 2022 British Open champion rattled off three more birdies on his closing nine to take a one-stroke clubhouse lead over his LIV Golf Ripper GC teammate Lucas Herbert before Andrew Martin and Nathan Page matched Herbert’s 65.
“It was a little bit tricky out there today,” Smith said. “I thought I did a really good job of just hitting lots of fairways and giving myself plenty of opportunities. That’s what you need to do around here. There were lots of wedges into greens and being one of the first out there today, it was nice to take advantage of that.”
Smith and his caddie, Sam Pinfold. Image: Golf NSW
Former No.2 Smith also welcomed the return of full-time caddie Sam Pinfold for after swing coach Grant Field looped during his T-3 at the Queensland PGA Championship two weeks ago.
“There were no real bad bits today; everything seemed pretty solid,” Smith, who was T-6 at Augusta National in April, said. “It was nice having Sam back on the bag. I had my coach at Nudgee and he was horrendous,” he said with a laugh. “So it was nice to get some positive thoughts and some actual (distances) out of him and get back to some really good stuff. So, yeah, it was good.”
Herbert said he had been rusty having not competed since Ripper GC’s season-long teams victory was sealed with LIV Golf Dallas in September. He had nine-birdies and three bogeys at Murray Downs. “I’ve been kind of rusty coming into the week so I can’t expect too much but to walk off with a 65, it certainly exceeded my expectations,” he said. “I’m very happy with that.”
Herbert in action on day one. Picture: Golf NSW
Former amateur star Harrison Crowe shot 66. After the two state-level events, Smith will tee up in next week’s PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and the Australian Open in Melbourne.
