[Photo: Ross Flannigan]
Cameron Smith impressively fronted up to media after his worst score at the major championships came on day one at the Open Championship at Royal Troon.
A bogey on the opening hole, and a triple-bogey 7 immediately after, amounted to a nine-over-par 80, eclipsing a nine-over 79 at the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills as his worst round in golf’s four biggest championships. Smith actually got to 10-over before an 18th-hole birdie. He finished day one at the 152nd Open a whopping 15 shots behind first-round leader, England’s Daniel Brown (65), who at six-under led Shane Lowry by one shot. Two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas was three-under (68).
The 2022 Open champion Smith made the turn in seven-over-par 43 and added four more bogeys, and two birdies, on the back nine to plummet out of contention. His hopes of a second career major were all but over.
Afterwards, Smith was requested at the flash interview area and showed character to answer a few questions on a gut-wrenching day for a player who finished T6 at the Masters only three months ago.
“It’s just a bad day, really,” Smith said. “I mean, if you had told me yesterday that I was going to shoot that, I wouldn’t have said that was possible. But (it was) just a crappy start and didn’t really manage to hole any putts when I needed to, to get back in it. It’s just a bad day and I had some bad breaks as well.”
Smith also watched on as playing partner and fellow Open champion, 2019 winner, Lowry, carded a hot 66.
“If you ask Shaneo, it is probably a different story, but no, it’s hard, mate,” Smith said. “There was a lot of crosswinds and it was hard to keep the ball on the fairway and then, when you landed in the rough, it’s kind of you kind of guessing when you land something short with the bounces you are going to get, so yeah, it was brutal. “It really was a good test of golf and you needed to be on your A-plus game to be under par and I witnessed it.”
Meanwhile, Adam Scott, playing his 24th consecutive Open, shot a one-under 70 to sit five back of the lead. Min Woo Lee was next best of the Australians after an even-par 71. Jason Day was two-over (73) while young Queenslander Elvis Smylie was five-over (76). Victorian amateur Jasper Stubbs, like Smith, shot nine-over 80.
