British Open 2022: All the reaction as Australia’s Cameron Smith wins 150th Open Championship
The Wantima Country Club played a big role in the making of Cameron Smith. Father Des recalls his son’s journey and how the British Open champion will repay them.
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There are no silver spoons handed out at the Wantima Country Club and that just might have been the making of Cameron Smith, the 150th British Open champion.
“We always joke he had such a good short game because the golf course all those years ago was not in the shape it is in today so he had a lot of tough lies which he had to overcome,’’ Smith’s father Des quipped.
“If you could get out of the s**t around here you could get out of anything.”
Locals are proud of their modern course upgrades but, in a way, thankful for those tougher years of which Cam once said “if you can play to your handicap at Wantima you can play anywhere”.
Jokes aside, the Smith family are thankful for the role the Wantima club played in the role of developing the 150th British Open champion.
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Des believes that coming from a small club meant there was no way Cam was going to get ahead of himself. The locals would not have allowed it.
“They bring you down to earth pretty quickly around here,” he said.
Just a 30-minute drive from Brisbane’s CBD, Wantima was first constructed as a six-hole course in the 1960s after 10 couples purchased what was formerly a farm.
The affection between Smith and Wantima runs deep. The club has a shrine including a display cabinet to his career.
There are at least seven photos of him on the walls and in the cabinet including one where he has written “to Wantima, thanks for your support”.
When Cameron comes back to Brisbane he regularly drops in, hits a few balls, speaks with the members and juniors and occasionally has one of his favourite XXXX Golds.
“Whenever Cam has a win he puts money on the beer card for the members,” Des said.
“It’s quite funny because as soon as the members find out, ones who don’t normally have a beer line up. I would say he will probably do it again for this one on a Saturday.”
When Smith won the Australian PGA at the Gold Coast in 2017, he brought the trophy back to Wantima, filled it with beer and did a lap of the clubhouse so the locals could have a drink.
Des regretted not being at St Andrews this week but it was still a joyful day at Wantima as he sat back with mates in clubhouse for several hours, sharing a quiet beer as a replay of Cam’s day of triumph was replayed on the big screen right beside a rolling scoreboard of the Monday morning veteran’s single stableford.
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The memories flooding back for Des were many and sweet on Monday as he celebrated his son’s extraordinary come-from-behind win.
“I remember when he first started playing I used to put his little clubs in a (plumbing) pipe and put his little clubs in it and he would follow us around.”
Cameron was 12 when he first beat his father – a scratch marker – off the stick, but Des knew before then that his son was special.
“We played with him a lot younger than that and we kept on saying “imagine if he could hit the ball further, how good he would be because he never misses a shot”.
Des spoke to Cam immediately after the win and his son said “bet you wish you came over” but with Smith’s increasing popularity comes larger galleries and the television at home is still a great view.
“When I spoke to him I did not get many words out. Cam hasn’t changed. What you seen is what you get. He’s a bit of a larrikin who likes a bit of Aussie banter.”
Legend’s final act delivers Smith miracle
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British Open outcast Greg Norman has been blown away by Cameron Smith’s historic win in the 150th championship at St Andrews.
Norman actually tipped Smith to win the championship but even he was stunned by the Aussie’s breathtaking performance – as he stormed home on the back nine to win by a stroke at 20-under.
The last Aussie to win the British Open before Smith, Norman told News Corp: “All I can is drop the mic, so impressive.”
It had been 29 years since an Australian has won the Claret Jug but the Shark predicted that could change this week when the tournament returns to St Andrews.
And the player that Norman reckoned would do it is Smith, who won this year’s Players’ Championship in Florida and finished third at the Masters.
“Maybe this is it. A golf course like St Andrews would be great for Cam Smith,” Norman told News Corp.
“He’s just got to get rid of that going left-right every now and then.
“He’s done that a couple of times. He got away with it at the TPC so he’s got to eliminate that loose shot that he’s got going there.
“But I think St Andrews would be a good golf course for him because he hits a lot of run out of his driver.
“When he’s driving it well, he’s driving really well so I would put him up there to be a consideration of hoisting it.”
Smith became just the fifth Australians to have won the British Open, joining Peter Thomson (five times), Norman (twice), Kel Nagle and Ian Baker Finch (once each).
In a spooky twist to Smith’s stunning victory, Thomson - who passed away in 2018 - had his ashes scattered on the 18th green on the morning of the final round by his son, Andrew.
“At 6.45am this morning I scattered my father‘s ashes on the 18th green of the Old Course,” Andrew Thomson wrote on Twitter.
“12 hours later an Australian wins The Open. Cam Smith, Champion Golfer of the Year. Champagne golf.”
At 6.45am this morning I scattered my father‘s ashes on the 18th green of the Old Course. 12 hours later an Australian wins The Open. Cam Smith, Champion Golfer of the Year. Champagne golf.
— Andrew Thomson (@newsfromkyushu) July 17, 2022
Cameron’s dad Des Smith said he was “very excited” about the win and noted his son’s stroke was “brilliant”.
“I knew he’d get the (final putt) in. The one before was brilliant, I must say,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“I think he started playing as soon as he could walk, because I was a crazy golfer. He beat me when he was 12.”
Smith senior said was kicking himself that he decided not to fly to the tournament after seeing his son take out first place.
He is expected to see Cameron in November this year, but is considering going to watch him play at the FedEx Cup tournament in August.
“I’m going to cop that for a while, I think. I’ve done the long trips before, they’re killers. I’m regretting it now,” he said.
“I knew he could win. I think he could win nearly every event.
“November (is when) I’ll see him. Unless I go over for the Fed Ex Cup.”
Only four Australians have won the British Open: Peter Thomson (five times), Norman (twice), Kel Nagle and Ian Baker Finch (once each).
Nagle won the Centenary edition in 1960 while Norman is the most recent winner after triumphing at Royal St George’s in 1993.
Norman was banned from attending this year’s 150th celebrations as punishment for his involvement in the Saudi-funded rebel league but closely followed all 11 Aussies playing the tournament this year.
“There’s a lot of great young talent coming out. I love seeing these kids. I don’t know them, I wish I did, but we’re probably three generations apart but I love watching them and seeing their results and what they do,” he said.
“They all look technically pretty damn good. Wherever they come from, whether it’s colleges or whether it’s high schools, whether it’s academies or whatever, they’re technically good.
“There’s so many opportunities through technology nowadays like YouTube to study the golf swing down to a nanosecond and where you’ve got to be and what you can do and that’s why I think these kids are really advanced but you’ve still got to get out there and play.
“I do like what I see with this young talent though.”
Of the four men’s majors, the British Open is far and away Australia’s most successful, with 10 titles, more than the other three combined.
Norman thinks that’s because Australians are better at adapting to Scotland’s seaside links courses because they’ve grown up playing at Melbourne’s famed sand belt layouts.
“A lot of the links courses have massive run offs, look at St Andrews for example. A lot of our bunkers can be very nasty and penal on our sand belt golf courses,” he said.
“I shouldn’t say there’s a lot of similarities, but there are similarities.
“If you can play Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Yarra Yarra, Huntingdale, Metropolitan any type of golf courses you learn how to keep the ball on the ground as much as you can, and you learn how to spin the golf ball.”
Originally published as British Open 2022: All the reaction as Australia’s Cameron Smith wins 150th Open Championship
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