Smith rides hot putter to Open Championship

Willie Park Jr., who won the Open Championship back in 1887, once said that a man who can putt is a match for anyone.

Clearly, that adage still holds true 141 years later as Cam Smith proved in winning the 150th edition of the Open Championship.

The Australian, known as much for his mullet as his putting, came from four shots off the pace to win the Open Championship, his four-round total of 20-under equaling the lowest score in relation to par in major championship history.

“I feel like I can breathe,” said Smith who joins Jack Nicklaus in winning the Open and the Players in the same year. “These last four or five holes aren't easy around here, especially with the wind up off the left. Yeah, just stuck to what I was doing. Just really proud of how I kind of knuckled down today and managed to get it done.”

While all parts of his game were working on Sunday, Smith used just 28 putts to get around the Old Course in 64 strokes to slip past favourite Rory McIlroy and hold off upstart Cameron Young to win the Claret Jug. His putter was especially hot on the back nine where he used it on the greens just nine times, making birdies on the first five holes. On six occasions, he needed just one putt to finish the hole. His score of 30 on the back nine was the lowest closing nine in Open Championship history.

He also utilized his putter from off the green on the rock-hard links at the Old Course and two of those may have been the most impressive shots of his week.

The first came on the 17th when he short-sided himself with his approach. Between his ball and the hole sat a deep hazard known as the Road Hole bunker. Ending up in there was a certain double bogey or worse so Smith elected to run his ball past its edge and onto the green and it came to a stop nine feet from the cup. He calmly rolled that in for a remarkable par save.

“I was just trying to get it inside 15 feet, and the putter felt really good all day,” he stated. “I knew if I could get it somewhere in there, that I'd be able to give it a pretty good run. Yeah, managed to get away with a four there.”

One hole later, his drive on the 18th stopped short of the green leaving the Valley of Sin, a deep swale, between him and the cup. Again, he rolled the ball through the dip, up and onto the green leaving just a short tap in to finish at 20-under.

While starting four back wasn’t the best of positions, Smith, who struggled to a 73 on Saturday despite what he called solid golf, said it did bring out the fight in him for Sunday.

“I sometimes think that being behind on certain golf courses and in certain situations is maybe a good thing,” stated Smith. “I think it's very easy to get defensive out there and keep hitting it to 60, 70 feet, and you can make pars all day, but you're not going to make birdies.

“I think it was a good thing that I was definitely behind. I think my mindset would have been a touch different coming in, especially on that back nine, if I was ahead.”

For McIlroy, it was another heartbreaking loss. While he put on a brave face in the post-round interviews, it was easy to see that inside he was crushed. It was another opportunity to end the eight-year major drought that came up short.

“Disappointed obviously,” he said. “I felt like I didn't do much wrong today, but I didn't do much right either.”

As the putter was Smith’s strength, it was the coldest club in McIlroy’s bag. He hit every green in regulation and didn’t make a bogey on the day. Usually that would be good enough to win a tournament, especially when he started four shots ahead of Smith.

But McIlroy couldn’t get his putts to drop. He didn’t have many good looks as his approach shots left him some distance from the cup on most holes. When he did have a chance, he left many on the lip and rarely had anything more than a tap-in, but with the exception of the fifth and 10th holes, he could only manage pars.

The third-place finish for the Northern Irishman gives him top-10s in all four majors this year but there’s little doubt he’d trade them all for one victory.

“I've just got to keep putting myself in position, keep putting myself in there,” lamented McIlroy, who has finished inside the top 10 in majors 17 times since he last won one. “And whenever you put yourself in that shining light, you're going to have to deal with setbacks and deal with failures. Today is one of those times. But I just have to dust myself off and come again and keep working hard and keep believing.”

Smith joins Kel Nagle, Peter Thomson, Greg Norman and Ian Baker-Finch as Australians to win the Open. He also becomes the second golfer, after John Daly, to win the Open while sporting a mullet.

As for his celebration, Smith said it looked as if the Claret Jug could hold two beers.

“I’ll probably have about 20 Claret Jugs,” he said with a wide smile.