Australian golfer Cam Smith says the players supported his blistering assessment of how the courses were prepared for this year’s Australian Open after his stinging criticism on the tournament’s eve.
Smith hit a 65 at the par-71 Victoria Golf Club to be six under, and said the winner would need to shoot 20 under to contend for the title. But he was direct in his disappointment that the courses won’t provide the test expected at the famed Sandbelt courses.
Cameron Smith plays a shot from the bunker at the first hole at Victoria Golf Club during the first round of the Australian Open.Credit: Getty Images
“Hopefully, it firms up a bit and becomes a bit of a tougher test, but I can’t really see that happening,” Smith said after his round on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Smith caused a storm with his brutal assessment of the prepared course, refusing to accept recent rain as the reason it was slow.
“The weather down here the last couple of weeks has been pretty good. I know they had some rain over the weekend then again this morning, but I have played down here in rain before, and it’s still being like that the next day, so I think that’s a bullshit excuse, to be honest. I think it’s just been prepared like this for a reason, and it’s not how these courses are meant to be played,” Smith said on Wednesday.
The British Open champion said he received positive feedback from his peers.
“A lot of players liked [what I said],” Smith said.
Kingston Heath is ranked the 22nd best course in the world and is famed globally for its testing design, with numerous bunkers and fast greens.
Major champion Ian Baker-Finch said he understood Smith’s point of view, but he didn’t think they were softening the course up just for the event.
“I think by tomorrow afternoon we will see the greens get fiery,” Baker-Finch told RSN on Thursday morning.
Australian golf star Hannah Green in action during the women’s Open.Credit: Getty Images
Smith was good enough on Thursday to make the most of the conditions. Having started on the back nine at 7am, Smith hit the lead midway through his round at Victoria Golf Club when he hit six birdies in a row between the 14th and the first holes. He finished his round with two birdies.
“Finally woke up, the coffee worked, and I got on a good roll through the turn,” Smith said.
“The course is definitely gettable; the greens are soft and there wasn’t much wind out there this morning, a lot of those par fives played quite short.
“Six-under [par] is a really good score, but I’m sure it won’t be leading.”
Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano, who played Kingston Heath, made a bogey on his last hole to finish with 65 (-7) on the par-72 course while Smith’s LIV Golf teammate Lucas Herbert (-8) was leading midway through the day after shooting 63.
Herbert said it was disappointing how the course was playing but blamed the weather.
Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie (-1) had a slow start but recovered from being three-over par to finish with 70.
Australia’s Su-Hyun Oh (-6) started the women’s Open well at Kingston Heath to be joint leader with South Korean amateur Hyojin Yang (-6) who played Victorian Golf Club.
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