Cam Smith cherishes fond memories of The Open following his victory in the Claret Jug two years ago, however, he faced one of the most challenging days of his career at Royal Troon, and he was not the only one.
Cam Smith, the previous Open champion, faced a tough day at Royal Troon as his chances of winning the claret jug again this year came to an end.
The Australian struggled, finishing nine-over-par and finding himself near the bottom of the leaderboard in a tie for 145th place. Playing in the afternoon on the west coast of Scotland, Smith’s round got off to a rough start with a bogey on the first hole and a triple bogey on the second.
The LIV Golf star found some relief with a birdie at three, but unfortunately, he struggled with four bogeys on the front nine, effectively diminishing his chances of contending. Smith now faces a challenging task to make the cut on Friday, and will likely need to shoot well under par to have a fighting chance.
“It was just a tough day,” Smith commented. “Honestly, if you had told me yesterday that I would shoot that score, I wouldn’t have believed it. I had a rough start and couldn’t make the putts when I needed to. It was just a bad day with some tough breaks.”
It’s a tough course, buddy. There are so many crosswinds. It’s difficult to keep your ball on the fairway, and when you’re in the rough, it’s a bit of a guessing game trying to land it close with the unpredictable bounces. It was really tough. It was definitely a true test of golf, and you had to bring your absolute best game to shoot under par.
Smith wasn’t the sole big name to face challenges in the windy and rainy conditions in Ayrshire on Thursday. Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler both finished eight-over, with Rory McIlroy not far behind at seven-over. Also struggling at the bottom of the leaderboard was 2023 US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who is probably out of contention at seven-over.
Smith’s colleagues Bryson DeChambeau, David Puig, Louis Oosthuizen, and John Catlin were outperformed by Royal Troon. DeChambeau’s eagle on the par-five 16th provided a glimmer of hope for climbing the leaderboard in the final three days, concluding at five-over.
On the other hand, Puig struggled with a nine-over-par round of 80, putting the Spanish newcomer at risk of missing the cut in his Open debut. Catlin, on the other hand, has shown great form recently as a substitute for DeChambeau’s Crushers team while Charles Howell III recovers from an injury. However, the 33-year-old is in danger of missing the cut at The Open for the third consecutive time after finishing at five-over-par.
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