'Jeez, what a week' - Aussie Smith savours awesome triumph

ST ANDREWS, Scotland : Australian Cameron Smith was almost lost for words after shooting a flawless closing 64 to win the 150th British Open on Sunday.

The 28-year-old world number six overhauled a four-shot deficit to claim his maiden major title, becoming the first Australian to lift the Claret Jug since Greg Norman in 1993.

"Jeez, what a week. It's unreal to look at the names on this trophy and then see mine... I'm lost for words," he said after receiving the trophy.

"I'm going to fall apart here I know. I want to thank the team here for all their hard work, and this one makes it worth it.

"To the R&A - a fantastic week, to St Andrews Links and everyone involved - it was absolutely awesome out there.

"The course was exactly how an Open championship should be played."

A large group of Australians in the crowd celebrated wildly, a week after they had watched Nick Kyrgios lose the Wimbledon tennis final to Novak Djokovic.

"Lastly to you guys the fans - I had a lot of support out there, especially the Aussie guys," Smith said.

"You guys really kept me going. Seemed like that there was a lot of you guys and you kept me plugging away. This one's for Oz."

The Queenslander led the tournament at halfway, plotting his way round the Old Course superbly in rounds of 67 and 64.

His putter went cold on Saturday, however, when he battled hard to eke out a grinding 73 and stay in contention.

FRONT NINE

Starting the final round four shots adrift of Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland, Smith made a cautious start and picked up only two shots on the front nine.

But suddenly the winner of this year's Players' Championship, the unofficial fifth major, found inspiration once again.

Five birdies in a row from the 10th hole took him top of the leaderboard and