Cam Smith sucks up most “brutal” day in majors career

Cameron Smith endured the most “brutal” day of his major championship career at the British Open, shooting an 80 for the first time in one of golf’s four biggest tournaments. The 30-year-old Queenslander, playing in his 33rd major over nine years, faced an unprecedented indignity with Thursday’s opening round at Royal Troon, carding a nine-over par round.

A bogey on the opening hole and a triple-bogey seven at the second set the stage for Smith’s worst round in a major, surpassing his previous low of 79 at the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills. This round was particularly harsh, featuring nine bogeys and a triple, while playing alongside an inspired Shane Lowry, the 2019 champion, who recorded a flawless 66 – a stark 14-shot difference.

Smith’s dismal performance effectively ended any realistic chance of reclaiming the Claret Jug he won at St Andrews two years ago. Reflecting on his day, Smith said, “Just a bad day, really. I mean, if you had have told me yesterday that I was going to shoot that, I wouldn’t have said that was possible. But yeah, just a bit of a crappy start and didn’t really manage to hole any putts when I needed to get back in it. Had some bad breaks as well.”

Despite his struggles, Smith managed to find some consolation by eking out two birdies over the final three holes. Playing alongside two major champions, Lowry and Matt Fitzpatrick, at least rekindled his competitive spirit. “It was really hard if you ask me. If you ask Shane, it would probably be a different story!” said Smith about their respective rounds. “No, it’s hard, mate. A lot of crosswinds. Hard to keep your ball in the fairway, and when you’re in the rough, you’re kind of guessing with landing something short with the bounces you get. It was brutal, it really was a good test of golf, and you needed to be on your A-plus game to shoot under par, and I witnessed it. Shane played good.”

After driving out of bounds at the second, Smith noted, “There was a lot of golf left after that point. Anything can happen. I’ve done it before. I think it was actually on the second hole, as well, where I’ve tripled, and gone on to win the golf tournament. There’s a couple of things that roll over in your mind just to boot you in the butt and get you thinking. But yeah, it was just a brutal day, really.”

Smith’s frustration was compounded by his recent form, having finished sixth last week at Valderrama in Spain and enjoying a series of top-10 LIV finishes. He remained hopeful, saying, “I’ll just go out there and try and shoot a really low one to get to the weekend. It’s a big task, given the golf course doesn’t really hand you a lot of easy shots out there. There’s nothing else I can do to change it up. It was just a bad day.”