Cameron Smith finds redemption and acclamation to win his first major
Talent demands a price, and great golfers know that sooner or later they have to pay for their gifts with a dip in performance that drags them back towards the field, where lesser mortals toil. Cameron Smith found himself in that Gethsemane on Saturday, but was determined not to suffer there on Sunday. And so it came to pass. Redemption and acclamation at last.
What a magnificent win it was, fashioned from solid, long drives in mostly still air, astute selection of landing spots with his laser-like irons and some quite spectacular putting, his sword and shield, for an eight‑under-par 64 to go with 67, 64 and 73 for a four-round total of 268. Five birdies in a row on the back nine (among eight on the day) first caught then consumed Rory McIlroy, who had led alone from the 4th to the 12th before the Australian slipped past him. It left the gallery stunned, the Northern Irishman bereft. Surely the Mullet King can afford a haircut and shave now. Maybe he won’t bother. He is very much his own man.
Of the 14 allowed clubs in a bag, the flat stick is the most temperamental – but not, usually, for Smith, who is scarily cool from any distance. Yet it had gone strangely cold on day three, as he struggled against the course and his own game after rounds of 67 and 64, drifting out to a 73, with just two birdies, a double bogey and bogey. That left him four shots adrift of McIlroy and Viktor Hovland. He does not dwell much on the past, but Smith surely wanted more consistency than at the Masters this year where he bookended eight birdies on day one with two double bogeys for a 68. That is eccentric golf, by any standards. It did not stop Gary Player describing him in typically avuncular tones as “one hell of a putter”. Indeed, he is: