Cameron Smith reveals 150th Open Championship snub from HIS DAD as champions jokes 'he's kicking himself now'

Cameron Smith revealed his old man missed out on his magical Open triumph because he couldn’t be bothered travelling from Australia to St Andrews for a week.

The Queenslander was the daddy at the 150th Championship with a blistering final-round of 64 to shatter home favourite Rory McIlroy and the rest at the Old Course. Smith claimed the Claret Jug by a shot from American Cameron Young to carve his name into the folklore of the game with a searing triumph at the Home of Golf.

The 28-year-old wished his father Des was in attendance to see him seal his greatest-ever success. But he was left kicking himself after deciding against a long flight as the Champion explained: “Actually, I don’t have any family here. My dad was meant to come over and he pulled out at the last minute, basically. I had a quick chat with him before. It was kind of the thought of doing all that travel for one week, basically.

“He’s definitely kicking himself now. And I really wish he was here, too. It would have been such a cool week, even without this, to be at the Home of Golf. Dad loves his golf as well. It would have been awesome.”

Asked if he’d had a message, he said: “I haven’t looked at my phone yet. When you win golf tournaments, you have friends that you didn’t even know were friends. So I’m sure it’s going to be busy.”

Smith became the first Aussie to win The Open since Greg Norman triumphed in 1993 at Sandwich. Ironically, as he was collecting the trophy, rumours were sweeping St Andrews that he was about to join the Great White Shark’s controversial LIV Golf set up.

Smith shut the matter down at his champions media briefing when quizzed as he said: “I’ve just won the British Open and you’re asking about that? I think that’s pretty