Aussie star Cameron Smith endures a British Open shocker at Troon
Two years after clinching a famous British Open win, Cameron Smith has endured a horror day at Troon, but fellow Aussies Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Jason Day are within striking range after a testing day on the course.
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Two years after securing the coveted Claret Jug with a phenomenal win at St Andrews, Cameron Smith narrowly avoided shooting his worst score in a major after an opening day of the British Open at Troon that he described as “absolutely brutal”.
The former world No.2 teed off in the most challenging conditions on a testing day at Troon and was under pressure immediately when triple-bogeying the second hole on the way to shooting a 9-over 80.
In numerical terms, it is his highest score in a major, though he scored a 9-over 79 at Shinnecock Hills on a similarly brutal day at the US Open in 2018. He managed to drain a decent putt on the 18th for birdie, one of three for the day, to avoid a personal record.
“It’s just a bad day, really,” he 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 bit of a crappy start and didn’t really manage to hold any putts when I needed to, to kind of get back in it. It’s just a bad day and I had some bad breaks as well.”
The 30-year-old turned in a seven-over 43 and while the weather settled to a degree after 6pm on a day where play began 12 hours earlier, Smith was unable to rally as he plummeted out of contention, with his score ballooning to 10-over after 15 holes.
Rubbing salt into Smith’s wounds is that playing partner Shane Lowry leads the field at 5-under after playing superbly despite the tricky conditions.
Fellow playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick was also among the handful of golfers including Australian Adam Scott to finish under par.
“If you ask Shaneo, it is probably a different story, but no, it’s hard, mate,” he 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.”
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The weather has played havoc, with only 15 players under par at 7.20pm as Smith came up the 16th hole, having recorded eight bogeys to go with his nightmare on the second, along with a birdie in which he rattled in a 40-foot putt on the 3rd hole, and five pars.
Australia’s other leading contenders are far better positioned, headed by veteran Adam Scott, who providing an early highlight when chipping in from the bunker on the opening hole on the way to shooting a solid 1-under.
Scott wasn’t happy with his second shot, which found one of the several bunkers on 1, but made up for it with a classy chip from the deep trap, which rolled into the hole.
Compatriot Min Woo Lee is one shot back at even par, with two late birdies rocketing him back into contention after a slow start as competitors came to grips with a U-turn in the direction the wind is blowing from practice rounds earlier this week.
Jason Day battled well in the trickiest conditions to record of 2-over, which positions him in a tie for 48th, but other big names including Rory McIlroy (+7), Bryson deChambeau (+5) and veteran Ernie Els (+11) also endured nightmare opening days.
Australia’s amateur entrant Jasper Stubbs endured a difficult debut in the British Open when shooting 9-over, but was far stronger on the back nine and finished the round with a birdie to provide him with some optimism heading into the second round.
Elvis Smylie rallied late with three birdies from his final four holes to record 5-over.
American Justin Thomas shares the lead with Ireland’s Shane Lowry at 3-under late on the first day with Troon truly showing its teeth in tricky conditions.
“It was pretty solid,” Scott said.
“ I think the wind change … made the back nine play tougher, even though it was down wind, (because) I hadn’t really played in that wind and I made a couple of errors. But it was fairly uneventful day, so I’ve played solid and pretty happy to start off under par.”
While the back nine is traditionally more testing than the front at Troon, which is often described as a tale of two courses, the change in wind assisted golfers in handling some of the more testing par 4s.
But that did not mean it was less tricky, with Scott over-clubbing on 16 as a result.
“On these holes … the last time I played it was 2-irons and 3-irons into every hole (whereas) today it was a sand wedge into 15,” he said. “Trying to figure that out, it was a bit like a practice run back nine today. I made an error on 16, got one too much off the tee and it cost me a bogie, but other than that everything was good.”
The 44-year-old, who finished runner-up in the Scottish Open last week, feels in better control of his game than he has in years and is hopeful of being in contention at Troon on the weekend.
“It’d be great because my game is finally in some decent shape where I feel like I’m controlling the ball well,” he said.
“(That is something) you need to do out here, especially if you’re going to give yourself a lot of chances. It’s sometimes easy to scrap it around the links, but you’re not going to hold a lot of 40 foot (putts).
“So at some point, you’re going to need to hit some really quality iron shots from the fairway to get in close to some tough pins and give yourself more realistic chances. They are the guys who are going to be up there at the end of the week.”
Lee started slowly with consecutive bogeys on the second and third holes and double-bogeyed the 11th but played the last four holes in 3-under to finish square with the card.
He struggled early with the tempo of the greens, saying it felt like he was “smashing the putt but coming up short”.
“It was amazing. My caddie and I knew that it was going to be a tough day and, especially, the back nine is really tough,” he said.
“I made a quick double … but, you know, it was just one of those things where you know it is one of the hardest holes on (the) course. (But) I managed to hit a lot of good shots on the back nine over the last four or five or six holes and I was converting them.
“I was getting close. I feel like the putts that I’ve just missed, I read well, but just left it shorter, so I just needed to hit a harder and they went in.”
Stubbs, meanwhile, was relieved to finish with a birdie on the 18th after a testing start in which he put his opening tee shot out of bounds when pushing it towards the Firth of Clyde on route to shooting a 9-over the card.
“I finished quite nicely … but, yeah, I just got off to an annoying start to say the least,” he told foxsports.com.au
“It is not a good sign when you hit one OOB off the first, but it is what it is and I moved on. It didn’t get any better from there for a while but I fought back on the back nine.”
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There was rain forecast across all four days of The Open, and a light shower has already passed through Royal Troon but hasn’t disrupted play.
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STAR FUMES AT CADDY WHACK
Shane Lowry has leapt to defend the caddie of good friend Rory McIlroy, Harry Diamond, who was heavily criticised after McIlroy’s late choke at the US Open.
Shane Lowry 🤠Harry Diamond
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) July 16, 2024
Lowry says he will 'argue with anyone' who questions Rory McIlroy's caddie 😡😤#BBCGolfpic.twitter.com/XMAe3UnYsm
McIlroy had a two shot lead on the back nine but bogeyed three of the last four holes to lose the tournament, with most of the criticism for the late collapse directed at Diamond.
Now Lowry, a two-time Ryder Cup teammate of McIlroy and Olympics teammate for Ireland in 2021, has lashed the critics.
“It makes my blood boil, to be honest,” Lowry told BBC Sport NI.
“People don’t see how hard Harry works and how good he is for Rory. Just because he’s not standing in the middle of the tee box like other caddies who want to be seen and heard doesn’t mean that his voice isn’t heard by Rory.”
“He works harder than any of the caddies out here,” he added. “He’s the best caddie for Rory. I’ll fight that with anyone that wants to. I’ll argue that with anyone who wants to argue with me.”
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