Cameron Smith’s scorecard suggested his day had been a mixed bag, including a penalty after taking an unplayable lie on the 18th hole, as he signed for an one-over 71 to begin his Australian Open campaign.
But the world No.3 had a far more brutal assessment declaring it was “pretty shitty” before heading straight to the driving range to prepare for a 7am tee time in the second round where he’ll go birdie-hunting at Kingston Heath.
Huge galleries surrounded the first tee and lined the fairway for Smith’s noon tee-time as fans flocked to the big-ticket item at Melbourne’s first major tournament since 2019.
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He was chasing the seven-under posted by local David Micheluzzi after a morning birdie blitz whet the appetite for the same from the British Open champion.
But an opening hole birdie was just one of two in his round as “delayed tiredness” after a massive homecoming in Brisbane last week hit the British Open champ hard increasing the need to get some sleep and find his best stuff on Friday morning.
“I don’t think it was a mixed bag, I thought it was all pretty rubbish to be honest,” Smith who was deflated but not defeated said.
“That’s as bad as I’ve played in a long time. It was pretty shitty.
“The course was pretty difficult, the conditions were pretty difficult but still I need to be better than that.
“Maybe some delayed tiredness, I did feel a little bit foggy and stuff out there at times, but still, it’s not really an excuse. It’s my job to take care of all that stuff.”
Smith has some catching up to do but was happy to be heading to Kingston Heath where birdies seem to be more plentiful.
He conceded he probably didn’t prepare well enough for a return to the sandbelt where being “spot on” is not just a requirement, it’s priority number one.
But there was no sense his chase for the Australian Open and PGA double was lost, with three more rounds, hopefully, to make up the seven shots he needs to lift the trophy.
“You need to be spot on. I mean, everyone knows that you need to be spot on around here. It’s not really a secret,” he said.
“It was pretty gusty … it was hard to adjust, I didn’t do as much prep as I wanted to given the circumstances last week and two courses is alway tough.
“It’s not like I don‘t’ know how to play golf. It’s just a bit of a bad day. Just a few things to clean up I think. Like I said last week, I felt as though the golf got better every day.
“I still feel like I’m in the tournament for sure but I need to do way better than that, especially if I want a trophy.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN GOLF LEADERBOARD (Day 1)
1. David Micheluzzi (-7)
T2. Josh Geary, Matthew Griffin (-4)
T4. Connor McKinney, Gunner Wiebe, Zinyo Garcia, Haydn Barron, Pierre Pineau, Nicolai Hojgaard (-3)
Notables
T10. Lucas Herbert (-2)
T21. Adam Scott (-1)
T35. Marc Leishman, Min Woo Lee, Matt Jones (E)
T62. Cameron Smith (+1)