Cameron Smith is licking his wounds after enduring the “most brutal” day of his major career at the British Open, shooting an 80 for the first time in one of golf's four major tournaments.
In 33 majors over the past nine years, the 30-year-old Queenslander has never suffered such humiliation as in Thursday's opening round at Royal Troon, when he shot nine over par.
A bogey on the first hole and a triple-bogey seven on the second hole put Smith on track to surpass his previous worst round in a major – another nine-over-par round of 79 strokes at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
But this match was perhaps even worse because, in addition to his nine bogeys and a triple, he managed to do so in the company of the inspired Shane Lowry, the 2019 champion, who swept into second place with a flawless 66 – no less than 14 strokes better than the Australian's disastrous performance.
His round rules out any realistic chance that Smith, who has played quite well on the LIV Tour, will now regain the Claret Jug he won at St Andrews two years ago.
“Just a bad day, actually. I mean, if you had told me yesterday that I would be shooting this, I wouldn't have said it was possible,” Smith said.
“But yeah, it was just a little bit of a shitty start and I didn't really manage to hole a putt when I needed it to get back in the game. Plus I had a couple of bad luck streaks.”
In reality, it could have been worse, as Smith only managed two birdies on the final three holes, giving himself a tiny consolation.
Playing alongside two great champions like Lowry and Matt Fitzpatrick has at least awakened his winning spirit.
“If you ask me, it was really tough. If you ask Shane, it would probably be a different story!” Smith said of their respective rounds.
“No, it's hard, mate. Lots of crosswinds. It's hard to keep the ball on the fairway, and when you're in the rough, the bounces you get are anybody's guess as to whether you're going to land short.
“It was brutal, it was really a real test of golf and you had to do your best to play under par and I saw that. Shane played well.”
After hitting out of bounds on the second hole, Smith shrugged: “There was still a lot of golf left from that point on. Anything can happen. I've done it before. I think it was actually on the second hole where I hit a triple shot and won the golf tournament.”
“There are a few things that go through your head that just kick you in the butt and make you think. But yeah, it was really just a brutal day.”
Doubly frustrating was that he said he was “quietly confident” after finishing sixth in Valderrama, Spain, last week – one of several top-10 LIV finishes he has recorded recently.
“I'm just going to go out and try to hit a really low shot to get through to the weekend. That's a big task because the golf course doesn't really give you a lot of easy shots,” Smith said with a shrug.
“There's nothing I can do to change it. It was just a bad day.”