Cameron Smith captures Claret Jug

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

 

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND.  The song “What a difference a day makes” by Dinah Washington captures the essence of the 150^th Open Championship. The lyrics speak about “24 little hours” and for Cameron Smith the end of the third round had him wondering if his opportunity had passed — scoring a one-over-par 73 and leaving him four shots behind 54-hole co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.

A tall order to face with just 18 holes to play but one he saw as not being insurmountable.

Being able to put matters in perspective — not allowing one day’s poor play to spill over to the next presented a significant challenge but also an opportunity to test himself.

Overcoming such a deficit on the Old Course had not happened since 1939 when Englishman Dick Burton mounted a similar final round charge. The odds for Smith doing similarly seemed improbable but that did not deter him knowing full well that final rounds at major championships can always be unpredictable.

But as Sunday’s final round beckoned Smith stepped up in a big-time manner — firing a second 64 in the championship earning a one-shot win over his playing partner Cameron Young. The two men both made final round moves scoring 129 between them. In the end — it was the Aussie capturing the Claret Jug for his first major title and being proclaimed the “champion golfer of the year.” 

 

 

Smith matched the lowest under-par score for a major championship with a -20 total. The last time that happened was when Dustin Johnson captured the Masters in 2020. The 28-year-old, originally from Brisbane, also bested the 72-hole scoring record at the Old Course set by Tiger Woods when winning the 2000 Open Championship — Smith’s 268 cumulative tally now one better than the previous mark.

When the leaders reached the final nine holes — Smith still trailed McIlroy by three shots. Then lightning happened. Smith made five consecutive birdies with a putting wizardry equivalent to Merlin. When winning the Players Championship this past March — Cameron one-putted no less than thirteen times giving him the edge he needed for victory. Coupling a Players win with an Open Championship in the same year has only been done one other time — Jack Nicklaus accomplished that in 1978 with his Open triumph also at St. Andrews.

Smith’s ending 64 also matched fellow countryman Greg Norman’s final round when the Shark took the Claret Jug in 1993 at Royal St. George’s. The win coming at the 150^th Open Championship also followed-up another milestone win by an Aussie when Kel Nagle won the 100^th Open at St. Andrews, He becomes just the fourth Australian to win The Open Championship along with the aforementioned Nagle and Norman as well as Peter Thompson and Ian Baker Finch.

For Cameron the combination of circumstances was noteworthy.

“That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that. I think, to win an Open Championship in itself is probably going to be a golfer’s highlight in their career. To do it around St Andrews, I think is just unbelievable. This place is so cool. I love the golf course. I love the town. Yeah, hopefully we can keep that trend going with every 50 years. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? (Laughter),” said Smith.

After taking a late final round lead it was up to Smith to close out his pursuers. Standing in his way were the always dangerous Road Hole at the 17^th and the reachable closing par-4-hole 18th.

The Aussie’s approach at the penultimate hole came up short and with the Road Hole bunker staring him in the face he wonderfully putted from off the green around the bunker leaving him a 12-foot par putt to keep his lead. He flawlessly sunk the putt.

At the final hole — his drive was able to get near the front of the 18^th green but he would need to putt through the Valley of Sin with the pin position placed so near the frontal fall-off edge. His approach putt was magnificent – leaving him no more than just under three feet which he made to seal the triumph.

For Smith the win marked a sign of redemption in major championship play. He had finished solo second at the 2020 Masters and this past spring he placed himself into contention trailing eventual winner Scottie Scheffler by three shots entering the final round. The Aussie would limp home with a 73 eventually earning a tie for third.

Breaking through and winning a major title is no small achievement and like other first-time winners in the game’s most sought-after titles — he had to overcome past failures and see matters through. To do so at the Old Course provided a grand redemption. 

“Yeah, I think so. I’ve definitely kicked myself a couple of times over the past few years. To do it the way I did today was pretty cool to be back and really apply pressure, keep holing putts. Yeah, it was awesome,” said Smith.

Coming down the stretch of any major event is always a twofold trial by fire — executing shots precisely and keeping one’s emotions on an even keel basis. 

“It was pretty tense. I think maybe after my second or third birdie there on the back nine, I was starting to think that I could really win this thing. I think I was three back with nine holes to go, and I really needed to make something happen.”

“But, yeah, I would say those first three holes on that back nine really came to me, and then from there I was starting to get different emotions and really had to keep an eye on what I was thinking and just different shots into greens.”

Saturday’s poor play could have proved an anchor to overcome for others — Smith used it as a motivator to believe what a difference a day can make.

“I think I was really frustrated yesterday with how the round went. I just really put it down to links golf. I think you really have those days on these courses where you get a bit of a weird bounce here and there and puts you in a bad spot. So, I shrugged it off pretty good, I think, last night. I really didn’t dwell on it too much. But to go out there and really stick my head down and keep making birdies and keep making putts, I think that definitely helped yesterday.”

Winning any golf tournament takes perseverance and Smith kept putting himself into contention knowing full well anything can happen in a final round — most notably in a major event.

 

 

“I guess, at the start of the year to really knuckle down and try and get over the line. For it to happen three times this year is pretty unreal. I really wasn’t expecting that. I would have been happy with one. Just lots of hard work and keeping at it.”

Being in the position in trailing played a crucial role for Cameron — playing both smartly and aggressively keeping his foot down on the pedal.

“I think it was a good thing that I was definitely behind. I think my mindset would have been a touch different coming in, especially on that back nine, if I was ahead. I think my shot into — my second shot into 13 was really when I thought that we can win this thing. I think I had three birdies in a row before that, and then to hit that shot in there, or the two shots, the drive and the second shot, were two of the best all week. For that to go in, I think, that was it for me.”

Now with the event in his rear-view mirror — Smith was asked about how many beers it would take to fill the Claret Jug? 

“I’m going to guess two, two cans of beer,” said Smith jokingly. He then whimsically added — “I’ll probably have about twenty Claret Jugs.”

Besides his calling card being an unerring putting stroke — Smith was quick to point out his renowned mullet hair style will remain. “I think it’s going to stay mate.”

The 150^th Open at St. Andrews concludes the final major event for ’22. The next takes place nine months from now when the Masters is played at Augusta National. The Old Course once again provided the ultimate stage for an ending few likely ever thought possible.

Smith’s opening comments during the Claret Jug presentation summed up matters ever so succinctly — 

“What a week.” 

Indeed — it certainly was.

 

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Cameron Smith	-20	67	64	73	64	268
2	Cameron Young	-19	64	69	71	65	269
3	Rory McIlroy	-18	66	68	66	70	270
T4	Tommy Fleetwood	-14	72	69	66	67	274
T4	Viktor Hovland	-14	68	66	66	74	274
T6	Brian Harman	-13	73	68	68	66	275
T6	Dustin Johnson	-13	68	67	71	69	275
T8	Bryson DeChambeau	-12	69	74	67	66	276
T8	Patrick Cantlay	-12	70	67	71	68	276
T8	Jordan Spieth	-12	71	69	68	68	276
T11	Sadom Kaewkanjana	-11	71	67	74	65	277
T11	Abraham Ancer	-11	71	68	73	65	277
T11	Dean Burmester	-11	71	73	67	66	277
T11	Tyrrell Hatton	-11	70	66	73	68	277
T15	Lucas Herbert	-10	70	68	73	67	278
T15	Xander Schauffele	-10	69	70	72	67	278
T15	Anthony Quayle	-10	74	69	68	67	278
T15	Francesco Molinari	-10	73	71	66	68	278
T15	Adam Scott	-10	72	65	70	71	278
T15	Si Woo Kim	-10	69	69	67	73	278
T21	Billy Horschel	-9	73	69	70	67	279
T21	Min Woo Lee	-9	69	69	73	68	279
T21	Trey Mullinax	-9	71	73	66	69	279
T21	Shane Lowry	-9	72	68	69	70	279
T21	Kevin Kisner	-9	74	70	65	70	279
T21	Matt Fitzpatrick	-9	72	66	69	72	279
T21	Scottie Scheffler	-9	68	68	69	74	279
T28	Tony Finau	-8	73	71	70	66	280
T28	Corey Conners	-8	71	71	71	67	280
T28	Harold Varner III	-8	73	67	72	68	280
T28	Will Zalatoris	-8	73	67	71	69	280
T28	Dylan Frittelli	-8	70	71	69	70	280
T28	Thomas Pieters	-8	75	67	67	71	280
T34	Thomas Detry	-7	70	69	74	68	281
T34	Robert MacIntyre	-7	70	74	69	68	281
T34	Talor Gooch	-7	68	69	75	69	281
T34	Lee Westwood	-7	68	71	73	69	281
T34	Sahith Theegala	-7	69	68	74	70	281
T34	Jon Rahm	-7	73	67	71	70	281
T34	Victor Perez	-7	71	69	71	70	281
T34	Aaron Wise	-7	72	67	71	71	281
T42	Sam Burns	-6	72	69	77	64	282
T42	Jason Kokrak	-6	72	70	72	68	282
T42	Thriston Lawrence	-6	69	71	73	69	282
T42	Adrian Meronk	-6	75	68	70	69	282
T42	Chris Kirk	-6	75	68	69	70	282
T47	Garrick Higgo	-5	72	69	76	66	283
T47	Patrick Reed	-5	72	68	76	67	283
T47	Jordan L Smith	-5	73	71	72	67	283
T47	Yuto Katsuragawa	-5	71	68	75	69	283
T47	Joohyung Kim	-5	69	71	72	71	283
T47	Filippo Celli	-5	74	67	71	71	283
T53	Joaquin Niemann	-4	69	74	73	68	284
T53	Danny Willett	-4	69	73	73	69	284
T53	Robert Dinwiddie	-4	67	77	71	69	284
T53	Lars Van Meijel	-4	74	70	71	69	284
T53	Justin Thomas	-4	72	70	72	70	284
T53	Paul Casey	-4	71	72	71	70	284
T53	Jason Scrivener	-4	72	71	71	70	284
T53	Brad Kennedy	-4	68	72	72	72	284
T53	Nicolai Hojgaard	-4	73	67	71	73	284
T62	Cameron Tringale	-3	71	71	74	69	285
T62	Sebastián Muñoz	-3	73	71	71	70	285
T62	John Parry	-3	69	74	70	72	285
T62	David Carey	-3	72	67	73	73	285
T62	Ian Poulter	-3	69	72	70	74	285
T62	Russell Henley	-3	70	72	68	75	285
T68	Hideki Matsuyama	-2	71	72	76	67	286
T68	Sergio Garcia	-2	75	66	72	73	286
T68	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	-2	73	71	68	74	286
T68	Richard Mansell	-2	73	71	68	74	286
T72	David Law	-1	72	69	77	69	287
T72	Kurt Kitayama	-1	68	73	73	73	287
T74	Marcus Armitage	Par	71	72	71	74	288
T74	Justin De Los Santos	Par	71	73	70	74	288
T76	Wyndham Clark	+1	71	73	76	69	289
T76	Adri Arnaus	+1	74	70	73	72	289
T76	Aaron Jarvis (a)	+1	75	69	72	73	289
T79	Laurie Canter	+2	72	70	74	74	290
T79	Barclay Brown (a)	+2	68	70	77	75	290
T81	Sam Bairstow (a)	+4	72	72	79	69	292
T81	Sungjae Im	+4	71	73	74	74	292
83	Jamie Rutherford	+8	73	70	78	75	296
CUT	Henrik Stenson	+1	75	70			145
CUT	Justin Harding	+1	74	71			145
CUT	Louis Oosthuizen	+1	71	74			145
CUT	Keith Mitchell	+1	76	69			145
CUT	Max Homa	+1	73	72			145
CUT	Webb Simpson	+1	71	74			145
CUT	Ben Campbell	+1	74	71			145
CUT	Brandon Wu	+1	71	74			145
CUT	Jamie Donaldson	+1	76	69			145
CUT	Ernie Els	+1	70	75			145
CUT	Scott Vincent	+1	69	76			145
CUT	Collin Morikawa	+1	72	73			145
CUT	Takumi Kanaya	+1	74	71			145
CUT	Zander Lombard	+1	77	68			145
CUT	Ryan Fox	+2	71	75			146
CUT	Richard Bland	+2	78	68			146
CUT	Emiliano Grillo	+2	78	68			146
CUT	Matthew Griffin	+2	74	72			146
CUT	Chan Kim	+2	74	72			146
CUT	K.H. Lee	+2	69	77			146
CUT	J.T. Poston	+2	73	73			146
CUT	Matthew Jordan	+2	74	72			146
CUT	Alexander Björk	+2	75	71			146
CUT	Shaun Norris	+3	74	73			147
CUT	Aaron Rai	+3	75	72			147
CUT	Keita Nakajima (a)	+3	72	75			147
CUT	Padraig Harrington	+3	69	78			147
CUT	Keegan Bradley	+3	76	71			147
CUT	John Catlin	+3	74	73			147
CUT	Guido Migliozzi	+3	73	74			147
CUT	John Daly	+3	73	74			147
CUT	Zach Johnson	+3	72	75			147
CUT	Matt Ford	+3	71	76			147
CUT	Bernd Wiesberger	+4	72	76			148
CUT	Kevin Na	+4	72	76			148
CUT	Min-gyu Cho	+4	75	73			148
CUT	Ashley Chesters	+4	75	73			148
CUT	Brooks Koepka	+4	73	75			148
CUT	Seamus Power	+4	73	75			148
CUT	Rikuya Hoshino	+4	75	73			148
CUT	Mackenzie Hughes	+4	73	75			148
CUT	Haotong Li	+5	73	76			149
CUT	Fabrizio Zanotti	+5	72	77			149
CUT	Stewart Cink	+5	78	71			149
CUT	Kazuki Higa	+5	73	76			149
CUT	Mito Pereira	+5	75	74			149
CUT	Phil Mickelson	+5	72	77			149
CUT	Luke List	+5	76	73			149
CUT	Sihwan Kim	+5	76	73			149
CUT	Marco Penge	+5	76	73			149
CUT	Aldrich Potgieter (a)	+6	74	76			150
CUT	Gary Woodland	+6	74	76			150
CUT	Marc Leishman	+6	76	74			150
CUT	Harris English	+6	76	74			150
CUT	Minkyu Kim	+6	73	77			150
CUT	Tom Hoge	+6	74	76			150
CUT	Oliver Farr	+6	76	74			150
CUT	Dimi Papadatos	+7	77	74			151
CUT	Jorge Fernández Valdés	+7	74	77			151
CUT	Ronan Mullarney	+7	73	78			151
CUT	Paul Lawrie	+7	74	77			151
CUT	Stephen Dodd	+7	77	74			151
CUT	Sam Horsfield	+8	76	76			152
CUT	Shugo Imahira	+8	80	72			152
CUT	Tiger Woods	+9	78	75			153
CUT	Sepp Straka	+9	81	72			153
CUT	Darren Clarke	+10	79	75			154
CUT	Jack Floydd	+10	75	79			154
CUT	Jediah Morgan	+11	79	76			155
CUT	Alex Wrigley	+11	82	73			155
CUT	David Duval	+12	82	74			156
CUT	Pablo Larrazabal	+12	75	81			156
CUT	Mark Calcavecchia	+21	83	82			165