Golf Isn’t Fair”: Cam Smith Reflects on Tough Day at Valderrama

Cam Smith, captain of Ripper GC, reflects on a wild, windy opening round at LIV Golf Valderrama. After going bogey-free through 14 holes, Smith ran into trouble as gusts intensified, forcing tough breaks and frustration across the field.

In this candid interview, Smith discusses the mental and physical toll of playing in brutal conditions, the impact of course setup, and how the round could be ideal preparation for next week’s Open Championship.

Hear from the Aussie star as he keeps his cool and stays in contention heading into Round 2.

Okay, let’s welcome captain of Riper GC, Cam Smith. Cam, uh, going well today, one under par, currently tied for the lead. Um, still got two holes to go. Can you just talk about the conditions? Pretty windy in here, but you, you know, you were out there um having to play it. Yeah, I mean, it was windy uh the whole day really. It got up the last probably couple hours and uh uh yeah, just kind of had to deal with it and get on with it. Um it was very tricky out there. Had a very good scrambling day. Um hit a lot of good iron shots, a lot of good wedge shots, and um a lot of good putts in in those conditions as well. So, um yeah, cruising along. All right. Got two hours to finish off tomorrow morning. What sort of um what what will you take him uh over the night before you go in tomorrow then heading into round two uh tomorrow? Um h I don’t know really. I think um just keep doing what I’m doing. Um hit I mean I even hit a lot of drives today that would that felt like good shots and um didn’t quite catch the fairway. It just seemed like one of those days where um if you got a if you got a bit of a gust it um it was just going to take your ball anyway. So um did a good job of staying patient. Made a lot of birdies and um yeah, like I said, just keep doing what I’m doing. Hopefully I find some more fairways and make some more putts. Some questions from the media. We start with English and then we continue with Spanish. So we have there it works. Cameron uh how much energy does it take to play uh under conditions like today? Verama is always a challenge. Today I wouldn’t say it was not tough. It was brutal. Yeah. What do you think? Um yeah, I mean it takes it takes a lot of energy out your out of you. Um just an extra I think the extra thinking. Um this is quite a tough course to walk as well, the ups and downs. So you kind of get the physical um effort and the mental effort and um it was definitely getting to a stage, you know, with three or four holes to go that um everyone was pretty tired out there and and angry to be honest. Um it was a very frustrating day. So all of that stuff combined is is just really tough. And the golf course, I mean, you could play this golf course with no wind and it’s and it’s brutal. So, um, when you get 30 mph gusts, it’s um definitely not an easy place to um to get around. Cam, do you think that the horn should have blown earlier? You said there was some anger amongst the players. Do you think this decision could should have come a little bit earlier? Um, I mean, I was out in that back nine. Um, I my my I hit a good shot into 14 there and and my ball struggled to stay still. It wasn’t if it wasn’t for um a bit of a lull in the wind. I think I wouldn’t have been able to hit my putt. Um, and we went we went on to play uh 15 16 and and then the T-shot on 17. So, um it’s it’s easy to feel frustrated um particularly when um I I doubled 15 and and then bogeied 16 as well. I was trottting along pretty good before that. Um but I mean it’s it’s golf. Golf isn’t fair at the end of the day. Um were the conditions fair? You know, probably not for a little bit, but um yeah, it is what it is. We’ll get on with it and um I’m sure we’ll make a good tournament out of it. Where does that in the most difficult rounds that you you’ve played? Um yeah, I mean it’s pretty brutal. I mean um you know I I don’t like the cold. So I’m loving that it’s still hot. I mean if it was freezing out here and maybe a little bit of mist it would be it would be brutal. But um it’s it’s definitely pretty intense. I mean, like I said before, you hit a couple of good shots that you think are going to be pretty good and they end up in the rough and you know, out here generally when you’re in the rough, you’re you’re under a tree and you got to hit a like a kind of little low card or low hook under under something and it just makes it that much harder. So, um yeah, it’s just just one of those days. It’s just a tough day and you take the good with the bad and um I think I did a pretty good job of staying kind of levelheaded out there today. Hi Cameron, thanks for your thanks for your time. How do you manage to isolate yourself from the conditions and focus on your game and then is this windy conditions a good preparation for next week Open Championship? Yeah, I think um you know it’s a bit of a cliche, but definitely one shot at a time out here definitely helps. You know, you’re going to have you’re going to hit some bad shots. Um you’re going to get blown over by the wind. The ball’s going to do some crazy stuff. Um it’s just stuff that you have to kind of take on and and really move on with. And um the second part of your question there, I think it’s uh it’s really good. I mean, you have to hit some really good golf shots out here. You have to fly it. You have to shape it. Um everything you have to do next week. Um you know, like I mentioned before, if it if it was another 20 or 30° colder, it’s it’s probably right up there with perfect preparation for next week. If it wasn’t for the heat, um it’d be perfect. like um uh are you happy with the with the core setup or did you saw anything weird with the pins or something because it’s kind of strange to to restart the first round at 8:00 a.m. when there’s plenty of time to to finish the first round and then play the second round. Um yeah, I mean the the greens out here are just brutal anyway. And um a lot of the times I’m sure the officials were looking at pins kind of scratching their heads anyway. It’s kind of the lesser of most evils out there on most of the greens today. Um, you know, greens like 11 and 14, they have so much slope in them and it’s so windy that’s so exposed that it’s kind of hard to almost get a good pin out there today. Um, I think those greens firm out a little bit quicker and kind of bake out a little bit more as well. So, um, you know, I personally would have loved to see us go out a little bit earlier like you mentioned and um, you know, kind of get the the round in. um before all the gusts, we knew the gusts were coming. So, um you know, it it is what it is. Like I said before, you know, golf is an unfair game anyway. So, um yeah, take the good with the bad. No, Mike, is it Camdo’s first 14 bogey-free holes? Is that about as good of a stretch as you’ve had you feel like this season? Yeah, I think so. I think um I think I just stayed really patient. You know, I think the conditions kind of give you that anyway. You have to stay patient out there. Um you know, I’ve been working hard, been hitting lots of shots, been working on my flights and and all that stuff at home in preparation for this week or really the next three weeks. Um I I knew my chances were going to come out there with birdies and um I was, you know, uh got off to a really good start. Made it made a few in the first kind of five or six holes. So um yeah, just kind of had to keep doing what I was doing, stay patient, but yeah, it was a really good stretch. I mean, anytime you bogey free around here is is a good thing. Um you know, particularly given those conditions. And you hit your first fairway and then I think you missed the next day. Were you close off the fairway or were how how did you feel like obviously you scrambled and are still bogey free? Yeah, I hit um like I mentioned before, I hit a lot of good drives that kind of just kind of landed in the fairway and you know scutted into the first cut or just maybe the first bit of rough. Um the fairways are so tight around here too if if you try and play aggressive and you’re trying to take on those corners um they’re pretty hard to hit anyway. Um yeah, so I feel like, you know, I only hit one more fairway, I think, the rest of the day, but I feel like I hit a few, you know, better shots that maybe should have been on the fairway, but um we’re still in a pretty nice spot. So, um although I was off the fairway was in a pretty good position most of the time. Thanks. All right. Thanks, Cam. Appreciate it. Play well tomorrow. Thank you.