The Open: In-form Cameron Smith ready for title defence

There is no extra motivation for Cameron Smith as he prepares to defend his Open Championship title because he wants to prove a point for LIV Golf. The Australian is inspired to do well for his own sake. The 29-year-old from Brisbane capped a stunning 2022 when he won the 150th Open Championship, putting together a remarkable back nine with six birdies on Sunday at St Andrews for his first career major title. Smith started the day four shots behind third-round leader Rory McIlroy and beat him by two shots. American Cam Young was the solo second, one behind Smith.

Shortly after that magical evening, Smith became the highest-ranked player in the world at the time to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf. The Greg Norman-led Tour had a running battle against the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour before hostilities came to a sudden end last month as the Tour shook hands with Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign fund, and agreed to work together.

“I think LIV aside, I’m determined to try my best every week and just try and be a better golfer than I was last week,” said the world No 7, who won the LIV Golf title two weeks ago in England.

“I never really expect too much of myself. The thing I expect are doing everything 100 per cent, ticking all the boxes early in the week, making sure I’m prepared, and then just go out there and give it my all. That’s all I can really do.

“I think I’ve done that fantastic this year and especially last year. It was so good last year that you almost expected to win everything. I think that’s not really a good way to look at golf. Just expect to do all the things that you’re meant to do 100 per cent and then go out there and give it a crack. And if you win, you win.”

Smith sounded an ominous warning for the field, which also includes India’s Shubhankar Sharma, saying he feels he is playing even better than he did last year.

British Open will be held from July 20-23 in Liverpool.

“I think as a person, I am the same. I think my old boy would give me a clip around the ears if I was any different,” said Smith. “As a golfer, I think I’m actually better now than what I was last year. I think the stuff that I had to clean up is progressing. It’s still a little bit of a work in progress. My 5-iron and up has always been a bit of a struggle for me, and that’s an area of the game that we’ve worked probably harder than we have on in the past. I feel like it’s right there. It just has to come together.

“I think the first round I had at Centurion a couple of weeks ago was the first time where I felt like it had all come together. And then, the driver wasn’t my best friend on the weekend there. But I managed to kind of scramble out a good week. It feels really close.”

Even though a truce has been signed, there is still a lot of uncertainty with the PIF agreement, and many PGA Tour players have not taken lightly to the fact that it was done without keeping them in the loop.

There have been talks that LIV Golf might cease to exist in the future and all its players are re-inducted in the PGA Tour, but Smith said he was optimistic about the future of LIV Golf.

“Yeah, I’m absolutely optimistic. I think golf is in a great spot. There’s obviously a lot of things that are up in the air that no one really knows at the moment. I don’t think even the guys that are trying to sort it out really know what this outcome is going to be like.

“A lot of uncertainty, but I’m optimistic that LIV will be around in the future. “Like I’ve said in the past, the PGA Tour is a great place to play golf, and it will be for a very long time. But by joining LIV, I don’t think there was any part of me that made me think I made the wrong decision throughout these last eight or nine months.”

The 151st Open Championship, the last major of the golf season, starts Thursday.

(Author:Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) is a Dubai-based golf journalist who has been associated with the sport for nearly three decades. A former media manager of the PGA Indian Tour, he has covered over 25 major championships and Ryder Cups)

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