If Rory McIlroy is the lion taking control of St. Andrews and ran the field to his will on Saturday to Sunday a year ago, Cameron Smith was the fox lurking in the shadows. A person may not always move forward, but he is never far from his goal and – at the end of a long emotional day at the golf house – he or she will sip a piece of silver. when the lion left to lick the wound.
So that was at the 2022 Open Championship. So that was when Smith entered the 2023 Open Championship.
Smith is a chameleon. Part of this is because the game doesn’t jump off the page like it did with Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler or Viktor Hovland. Slug guys. Smith slithered slyly. He’s often so laid back that you can forget him as a top contender.
The personality that believes in competitiveness lies underneath. Because underneath the mullet and the smile and put stroke made of butter Being an aggressive person like him is annoying. Smith is absolutely unafraid of the biggest moments he encounters.
Yet another reason he’s still in disguise is because we don’t see him much anymore. Currently, Smith plays almost exclusively LIV Golf, far from most of the world’s best players. Even when we Have seeing him, the powerful performances perfectly masked his conspicuousness. Late penalties at both the PGA Championship and the US Open resulted in a top 10 finish, but he never really blended in in either tournament.
However, golfing lately has been pretty good. In addition to top 10s in two of the first three majors, he’s been in the top 10 for six consecutive LIV events and took top spot at LIV London a few weeks ago. The opening was a perfect match for his slick play, and some of the clumsy tee-offs at Royal Liverpool were reminiscent of the driving test at TPC Sawgrass where Smith won a year and a half ago.
The key in Hoylake may be whether he drives it well enough to keep up with the top dogs. If he does, he will certainly work his way up to becoming the first Open repeat champion since Padraig Harrington in 2007-08.
“I think I’m actually a better golfer now than I was last year,” Smith said. “I think the things that I have to clean up are progressing. It’s still a bit of work in progress. I told someone this morning that my 5 irons and above are always going to be a problem. for me, and it’s an area of the game where we’ve probably worked harder than we’ve been in the past.
“I feel like it’s right there. It all has to come together. I think the first round I had at Centurion a few weeks ago was the first time I felt like it all came together, and then it was the driver who was, again, not my best friend for the weekend there. But I managed to win a good week, so yeah, it was there. It wasn’t. there in all four rounds. But it feels really close.”
Perhaps part of the reason people feel Smith is crafty is that he doesn’t get caught up in the narratives and history that the big weeks offer. It’s easy to get caught up in the plot of the PGA Tour-LIV, Smith vying to repeat, McIlroy’s attempt to exact revenge on this tournament and this man, Koepka bidding for a sixth trophy or whatever. What other story would you like to tell yourself this week? But Smith refused to do that, and he did a great job of not putting too much on his shoulders because he knew that wasn’t how he grew.
In other words, Smith stays in his lane.
“I’m determined to give my best every week and just try to be a better golfer than I was last week,” he said. “I never really expect too much from myself. What I expect is to do everything with 100% energy, finish all the boxes at the beginning of the week, make sure I’m prepared. and then just go out there and give it my all. That’s all I can really do.
“I think I’ve done that great thing this year and especially last year. Last year was a great year, you almost expect to win. I think it’s not really a good way to go. look at golf. things that you have to do 100% and then go out there and try, and if you win, you win.”
Just like last year when the 150th Open Championship returned to town at St. Andrews in the last round, Smith is hiding in the back. He is again willing to strip the Claret Jug from anyone who believes they are in possession. Maybe it was someone who wasn’t the lion of last year’s Open…or it could be the same prey as before.
Because last year’s lion is also this year’s lion. While McIlroy was not the defending champion of the tournament, Mr To be the defending champion of this course, where he won The Open in 2014 at the age of 25. Rory was the favorite on April 21, and as soon as he had nine holes left in St. Andrews, he comes into Royal Liverpool as a sure-to-beat man. The fox usurped him last year; Will he do the same again?
That’s purely metaphorical right now, of course, as McIlroy and Smith and 154 other golfers on the course participate on par with the tournament yet to begin. However, it can become literal as there aren’t too many golfers who play better than the two who gave us the best performance 12 months ago at the Old Course.
“I guess it would be a good story for you to write about,” Smith said. “Like I said, there’s a lot of people here whose week could be right there on a Sunday afternoon. I’m sure Rory will be one of them. He’s been playing great golf the past few months here here. . It looks like he finally got one and it certainly could have opened the floodgates for him. But yeah, it’s definitely going to be a good story.”
