Smith says the “darkest moments” of the Open are in the past, with the tournament flourishing with McIlroy-mania and its return to the traditional format after three years as a dual-gender event.
Golf’s newest grand slam winner, McIlroy earned his huge appearance fee when a rare air swing left him sweating on making the cut on Friday, before the Northern Irishman roared home with three late birdies to the delight of the packed galleries at Royal Melbourne.
Smith had been highly critical of the innovative format, which also didn’t suit Australia’s star women golfers, and said the tournament had regained its appeal.
“This is what the Aussie Open should be – it should be like this every year and there’s no reason why it can’t be,” the 2022 British Open champion said.
“I think it had its darkest moments the last few years and I can’t wait to see this tournament grow over years to come.”
After a bogey-free second round, Smith is level with Adam Scott, two shots off the lead, with the Australian big guns tied for fourth alongside Mexican Carlos Ortiz, with the trio teeing off at 11.39am.
Ex-Masters champion Scott, who won the tournament in 2009 and was runner-up to McIlroy in 2013, said the current Open was one of the biggest he had played in.
“Probably; I mean, I feel it’s the biggest recently, that’s for sure,” the former world No.1 said.
“In fairness to Rory, I remember the fairways lined at Royal Sydney on Sunday as well back in 2013. So we’ve been lucky to have great Australian Opens in the past; I just think it’s been a few years since we’ve had this level of hype around it.”
Sitting one shot back in third after his impressive second round of 65, Lee will play alongside overnight joint leaders Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Portugal’s Daniel Rodrigues, on the first tee at 11.50am.
Currently seven shots off the pace, world No.2 McIlroy will tee off at 9.39am in a group with Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and Englishman James Morrison.
While McIlroy was paid big bucks to play, he has always been a fan of Australian golf and said it deserved to have a global showpiece.
“I’ve always said it, but that’s the potential that this country has – to have these really, really big events and look at the other two events that are happening in other places in the world, they have nothing like the atmosphere that this tournament has,” McIlroy said.
“So it has so much potential and it’s just great to see so many people come out and support the tournament.”
