The solid back nine of Cameron Smith

The winner of the 2022 Open Championship reflects with the media after the first round of the tournament

Yeah. How was it out there today, mate? Um, yeah, it was pretty good. Uh, pretty solid. Uh, particularly that back nine could have really got away from me, I think. Um, hung in there nice and just committed to some swings what I’ve been doing, um, the last, you know, few times out. So, um, yeah, gave myself a little bit of a talking two through nine and just, um, yeah, play that that that last nine really solidly. Would you I can’t say it. You explain it. Um, yeah. I mean, I’ve just I’ve just been doing a really good job of committing to swings and committing to shots and uh I think being a little bit uncomfortable out there, you know. Um, yeah, just just uh kind of slipped my mind a few times and hit a few bad shots and got myself into a bit of trouble when um I really shouldn’t have. Uh, I’ve been swinging the club really nicely. I just need to, like I said, just need to go out there and commit to some swings and, uh, was able to do that on the back nine and give myself a lot of looks, which was nice. How nice will it be to tee off tomorrow knowing you just shot three under for nine and kind of right back in it? Yeah, I mean, uh, definitely a bit of a confidence booster there on the back nine. For sure. Um, you know, when when stuff’s not going uh the right way sometimes, like I said, it can get really away from you. I did a really good job of hanging in there and um bit of Queensland spirit. Um, please. Um, no, but it was it was uh it was really good. Um, looking forward to tomorrow. Uh, it’s a tough test. You need to hit every shot perfect and um bit of luck of the Irish out there too. Wouldn’t hurt. tall 16 on the coverage. Uh 16 par three. Yeah, it’s pretty pretty nice. Five iron in there to about 30 ft and rolled one in. Um had a few nice looks uh you know leading up to that and was beginning to get a little bit frustrated again. So it was good to see that one go in. Um yeah, couple under on the back nine. Uh every day here will will work. Is it going to be that sort of week? Given the conditions, it looks like the is going to be pretty tough. Weather forecast is similar for the next few days. Yeah, I think um I think that’s every major, you know. Um you see the guys that are playing well and you know generally the guys at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the week are the guys that are grinding it out and really putting 100% into every shot. So um yeah, for sure that’s how it’s going to be. And um yeah, it looks like we’re going to get a bit of open weather um here the next few days. So, um, yeah, kind of strap in. How is that t-shirt on? [Laughter] Yeah, talking about committing to swings. Gee whiz. Um, it was, you know, we we warm up on the range and it’s kind of down out of the right and you kind of lead yourself into a bit of a false sense of security and then you get there and it’s like, yeah, all right, you really need to step up here. So, um I think I tried to hit that one underground. Um and yeah, almost missed it. So, um not the greatest start to a major championship I’ve ever had, but um you know, from there it was actually all right. Do you feel you’ve perfected the in between rounds at opens now, just like how how you know to switch off and and get ready for the next test because it is such a long and grueling week in this weather. Yeah, I think um you can definitely beat yourself up. I think you can beat yourself up even in the practice rounds out here. you can hit too many shots and do a bit too much lengthy stuff. Whereas, um I don’t think you really need to change anything other than a bit of flight stuff. You know, you don’t really need to hit it like so low. Um I think that’s where I got caught up when um when I was first over here. You know, you tell everyone tells you, “Oh, you need to keep the ball down and you just trying to hit it so low that you don’t actually hit a good golf shot.” And it doesn’t need to be that. Just needs to be, you know, a touch lower. um and and committing to swings and and lines. How will you switch off? Will you go into town and have a Guinness or are you sort of watch TV back at the house kind of guy? No. Yeah, I’ll probably just lay down to be honest. It was a pretty um it it was like a nap that we had overnight. So, uh yeah, I’m looking forward to a bit of a nap this afternoon and um bit of dinner and um go again tomorrow. Can I just ask how highly you rate this open uh course as a as an open venue? how highly you rate the the golf course. Um I mean it’s right up there. It’s it’s hard to beat St. Andrews and obviously I’m biased but um that it it seems like a there’s a lot of opens where the course is great but the town doesn’t really get involved. Whereas this one kind of seems like um everyone in town’s happy to have you here and um gets around the whole tournament. So um it’s right up there. Um it’s it’s a very similar feeling to St. Andrews for sure. And the fans play a big part in that. What did you make of the fans out there today? Uh there wasn’t many of them when we teed off. I think we were um it was almost dark when we teed off. Um but uh yeah, there was there was a few there was a few that got out there. The back nine, they’re great fans. I love the UK fans. They’re uh they’re polite. Um they know a good shot from a bad shot, you know. Uh I think sometimes when you’re playing golf, uh you hit a really nice shot to kind of 30 40 ft. Um, and maybe some fans don’t get that, whereas these guys out here really understand that it’s a that it’s a great shot. So, um, yeah, appreciate the fans. Hard to sorry, just hard to compliment, but, uh, nice see Westford back at the opening and playing so well. I mean, he’s right up there and he’s been quite modest. Yeah. Yeah. I played with him a few weeks ago. He was um, he was striking it really nice. This is the best I’ve seen him hit it um, you know, in the last few years. So, um, hopefully he stays up there. The old boy. Cam, Cam, could you any impressions of Justin Hastings? I’m sure you probably didn’t know much about him, but he’s he’s in here because he won the Latin America amid in the Masters in the US Open, low am I. I just wonder if you saw anything in his game that you liked or impressed you or I start. I mean, he Yeah, he got off to a bit of a rough start, but um kind of the same thing. Just hung in there. Um he hit the ball really good um and scrambled well. So I don’t really see too many things that he’s going to struggle with. Um yeah, hopefully hopefully he just keeps grinding out there and has a good weekend. Thanks a lot. Hi spot.