Cameron Smith stands proudly in front of the R&A’s headquarters – photo R&A via Getty
Cameron Smith has become the fifth Australian to win the Open Championship’s Claret Jug with a stunning final round of 64 to edge out American PGA Tour rookie, Cameron Young, by one shot and Rory McIlroy by two.
He joins Peter Thomson (5), Greg Norman (2), Kel Nagle and Ian Baker Finch as Open Championship winners from Australia but joins Thomson and Nagle as champions at the Home of Golf, St Andrews.
His 72-hole total of 268 is the equal lowest ever scored in relation to par (20 under) at an Open Championship, tying the record (264) set by Henrik Stenson when he won at Royal Troon in 2016, and betters Tiger Woods’ record total at St Andrews of 269 in 2000.
For Smith the win is the culmination of his career to date but continues a remarkable year in 2022 when he has won the Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship and now a breakthrough major victory.
He will move to number two in the world ranking, his highest ever standing in the game and given he was in 21st position in the world at the end of 2021, it has been a remarkable ride with even more to come. Another US$2,500,000 won’t go astray either taking his season earnings to US$9.89 million and career earnings on the PGA Tour alone to just under US$27 million.
The Fed Ex Cup playoffs are only a few weeks away now and this win takes him to 2nd in those standings and in line for further riches at the Tour Championship in six weeks’ time.
Beginning the final round four behind McIlroy and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Smith put together a solid front nine of 2 under 34 but he was still three behind McIlroy at that point.
It would be when turning for home that the fireworks began, however, a putter that had been only lukewarm for 27 holes all of a sudden became his friend once again.
Birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th and 14th from various ranges swept him into a one-shot lead over McIlroy and he was the chased instead of the chaser.
One of his many highlights however must surely be his great par save at the 17th. He took an aggressive line from the tee and was left with only a 9 iron for his second. He pulled and mishit it a little and finished in a seemingly impossible position behind the notorious road hole bunker but with both great imagination and skill, he putted up the slope to 12 feet and holed for par to maintain his one shot lead over McIlroy and two over Cameron Young.
Then at the last, after taking an iron from the tee on Saturday and Sunday he drove it just short of the green and proceeded to hit his approach to 3 feet. Despite Young finding the green with his drive and holing a remarkable putt from 18 feet for eagle to draw level, Smith was up to the task and converted his own birdie opportunity and was one ahead.
Back on the 17th McIlroy had hit a fine approach and, desperately needing a 3 to get within one and the driveable last still ahead, he missed his 15-footer and was left having to eagle to last to force a playoff. He was unable to do so and in fact could only make par and finished 3rd.
Smith was understandably lost for words when interviewed immediately after his round and during the prize-giving and why wouldn’t he be, given the magnitude of his achievement, but by the time he had gathered himself for the official media conference he had more to say.
“I feel like I can breathe,” said Smith referring to the tension that had built over the closing holes and the surreal nature of the immediate aftermath of the victory. “These last four or five holes aren’t easy around here, especially with the wind up off the left. Yeah, just stuck to what I was doing. Yeah, just really proud of how I kind of knuckled down today and managed to get it done.
“It was pretty tense. I think maybe after my second or third birdie there on the back nine, I was starting to think that I could really win this thing. I think I was three back with nine holes to go, and I really needed to make something happen.
“But, yeah, I would say those first three holes on that back nine really came to me, and then from there I was starting to get different emotions and really had to keep an eye on what I was thinking and just different shots into greens.
“I think, to win an Open Championship in itself is probably going to be a golfer’s highlight in their career. To do it around St Andrews, I think is just unbelievable.”
“This place is so cool. I love the golf course. I love the town. Yeah, hopefully we can keep that trend going with the every 50 years. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? (Laughter),” added Smith referring to the fact that his fellow countryman Kel Nagle had won the 100th staging of the event in 1960.
“I don’t think I hit the ball any differently all four days, to be honest. I felt like I kept hitting quality golf shots and kept giving myself looks at birdie, even from a distance, which is sometimes what you have to do around here.
“The only difference today, was the putts were dropping. I spent a little bit of time on the green yesterday night, last night, and just really wanted to see a few putts go in. Yeah, it turned out it was a pretty good thing to do.”
Smith was asked if his struggles on day three were important in steeling him for what happened today.
“I was really frustrated yesterday with how the round went. I just really put it down to links golf. I think you really have those days on these courses where you get a bit of a weird bounce here and there and puts you in a bad spot.
“So I shrugged it off pretty good, I think, last night. I really didn’t dwell on it too much. Yeah, but to go out there and really stick my head down and keep making birdies and keep making putts, yeah, it was really cool. I think that definitely helped yesterday.
“I knew my game was there. I felt really comfortable. At the end of last week, I started playing some really good golf. Yeah, I just really needed to keep doing what I was doing. I didn’t do anything wrong yesterday. It was just really one of those days.”
Cameron Young’s effort in his first Open Championship was particularly impressive keeping the pressure on the winner to the very last with his eagle at the par 4 from just under 20 feet.
Rory McIlroy left another great opportunity for his first major in eight years slip from his grasp, his putting proving his nemesis today.
Of the other Australians to make it to the weekend there were several good performances.
Adam Scott moved within four shots of the lead with four birdies in his first ten holes but struck trouble at the 12th and took double bogey bringing to an end any hopes he had of challenging for the title. Scott finished in a share of 15th along with fellow Australians Lucas Herbert and surprise packet, Anthony Quayle, who produced weekend rounds of 68 and 67 in his very first Open appearance.
Herbert also had 67 today to move up nine places for his share of 15th.
Min Woo Lee was 21st and Jason Scrivener and Brad Kennedy 53rd.
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Cameron Young eagled the last to grab second place – photo R&A via Getty
Stenson, Kokrak and Howell 111 complete LIV Golf field
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson during the 2016 Open Championship – both now LIV players – photo Getty
The field for the third LIV Series event being played in Bedminster New Jersey next week was released yesterday with three places left open for late inclusions.
A media statement released today, however, suggests those three places will be taken by Henrik Stenson, Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell 111, making up the field of 48 to play over 54 holes at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster in New Jersey.
The former No. 2 world ranked Stenson, has won 21 times as a professional and amassed 149 top-10 finishes. Throughout his career, he has earned more than a dozen honors as the top performing golfer on global tours and competitions, spending over 300 weeks ranked in the top 10.
Kokrak, an 11-time winner as a pro, has earned more than 40 top-10 finishes throughout his career. Since September 2020, he has been ranked among the top 50 players in the world, with a ranking as high as No. 20.
Howell III has amassed 102 top-10 finishes throughout his career, including three professional wins. He has been ranked as high as No. 15 in the world and has represented the United States in multiple international team competitions.
Amongst the 48 players will be Australians Matt Jones, Wade Ormsby, Jed Morgan and Travis Smyth, each of whom have played the opening two events to date.
Australians who played the inaugural event in London but have missed out as the fields become stronger are Kevin Yuan and Blake Windred, the latter of whom also played in the second event in Portland.
Xu and Bosio through to round of 32 at US Junior Girls
Justice Bosio – comfortable win in round one – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Australian Justice Bosio and New Zealander Fiona Xu have won their opening round encounters in the match play phase of the US Girls Junior Championship in Bowling Green Kentucky, both winning their matches in comfortable fashion.
Bosio, from Caboolture, accounted for Californian Kristina Xu by a 6&5 margin, racing to an early lead and leading by four holes at the turn before the match finished at the 13th hole.
Current Australian Amateur Champion and former New Zealand Amateur Champion Fiona Xu, from Auckland, also raced to an early 4 up lead through seven holes and eventually won 5&4 over her opponent Morgan Smith of Massachusetts.
The pair have reached the round of 32 where Bosio will face American Lee McKenzie and Xu tackles Emily Mathews of North Carolina.
Fiona Xu and Justice Bosio advance at US Junior Girls
Fiona Xu – in action today – photo USGA
Queenslander Justice Bosio and New Zealander Fiona Xu have safely advanced to the match play phase of the US Junior Girls Championship in Bowling Green in Kentucky, the pair sharing 6th place at 4 under and will tackle the head to head competition over the next few days.
Xu is a winner of both the Australian and New Zealand Amateur Championships in her career to date, winning the Australian title earlier this year while Bosio, from Caboolture, has been a winner of the Jack Newton Junior and Keperra Bowl Championships.
The pair will be looking to repeat the tremendous win of Minjee Lee in this event in 2012 when the West Australian defeated American Alison Lee.
Justice Bosio – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Match Play draw
Steve Alker the standout amongst eleven Australasians at Gleneagles
Steve Alker has dominated in the US in 2022 – can he do the same in Scotland?
Eleven Australasians will take to the Gleneagles in Auchterarder in Scotland on Thursday, chasing one of senior golf’s finest trophies.
Steve Alker, Stuart Appleby, Michael Campbell, John Senden, Robert Allenby, Peter Fowler, Peter O’Malley, Richard Green, John Wade, Glenn Joyner and Andrew Welsford will represent our part of the world in the US$2.5 million event.
The Senior Open Championship has a history dating back to 1987 when England’s Neil Coles won the inaugural staging of the event at Turnberry in Scotland.
Since then, Australasians have won the title on only two occasions, Sir Bob Charles successful in 1989 and 1993 while, in 2001, the now late Ian Stanley defeated Charles in a playoff to win at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.
In 2022, New Zealand’s Steve Alker will begin the event as the favourite amongst the Australasians and one of the favourites overall to take the title, given his outstanding season in 2022 where he leads the Charl Schwab standings on the PGA Tour Champions by some margin.
This will be the first Senior Open Championship for Alker but already in 2022 he has won a major and finished 3rd in another and seems to be in contention nearly every week.
Alker has experience in Britain having played there earlier in his career before focusing much of his attention in the USA where his career has been taken to a whole new level since joining the PGA Tour Champions nearly twelve months ago.
Michael Campbell is struggling in senior golf but amongst the group of eleven his regular tour career was outstanding winning the 2005 US Open, finishing 3rd at the 1995 Open Championship and winning eight events in total on the European Tour.
Appleby and Allenby had a stellar career on the PGA and Australasian Tours and Appleby has played reasonably well in a few events on the PGA Tour Champions although Allenby has battled at that level.
Interesting will be the return of Peter O’Malley to Gleneagles as it was at this venue in 1992 when he played the last five holes in a remarkable 7 under par to defeat a shell-shocked Colin Montgomerie. His game is well below that level now but he will enjoy fond memories of his great win in 1992.
Joyner, Wellsford and Wade are all in the field courtesy of recent Final Qualifying and get their chance to play in such a significant event.
Below Alker talks about the impact Sir Bob Charles had on his career.
Can Australia add another major in France
Minjee Lee with her trophy in 2021 – arrives as an even better player – photo LET
Just a week after Cameron Smith’s brilliant win at St Andrews, another Australian will start favourite to win one of women’s golf’s major championships in France this week.
Six Australasians will tee it up in the fourth major of the year in women’s golf, the US$6.5 million Amundi Evian Championship in Evian Les Bains, one of them looking to successfully defend her victory twelve months ago and, another, a former winner of the event.
Minjee Lee returns to the scene of her dramatic first major championship win in this event in 2021, her stunning final 36 holes of 65 and 64 sweeping her to a first hole playoff victory over Jeongeun Lee6 to claim the first of what are now two major championship titles.
Lee’s recent win at the US Women’s Open has her a significant leader over Jennifer Kupcho in the Race to the Globe LPGA Tour points standing and given her outstanding season to date, she will enter this week’s event as the warm favourite to win again.
Lee finished runner-up at her last start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, three weeks after her career defining win at the US Women’s Open and everything points to her contending again.
Lee’s win has played a key role in providing the confidence to go to the level she has in 2022.
“It was my first major win and there was quite a lot of pressure put on me to win a major after so many years on tour. It was just a great confidence boost for me after that win. I was able to have a good year last year and then bring it into this year.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is another to have held the Evian Championship trophy aloft having won the event seven years ago and, like Lee, she too is having a great 2022 season having a win and five other top 5 finishes this year. Ko has also been runner-up and 3rd in the event in a total of eight starts at Evian Les Bain.
Other Australasians in the event are Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Su Oh and Sarah Kemp.
Lydia Ko when finishing 6th last year – photo LPGA – Getty
Cameron Davis improves FedEx Cup standing
Cameron Davis – file photo
Cameron Davis’ 6th place finish at the Barracuda Championship in California over the weekend has moved the 27 year old seven places to 78th in the Fed Ex Cup standings and his next task is to elevate his standing further to ensure he is well placed to gains starts in the opening two events of the FedEx Cup Finals.
The top 125 at the completion of the regular season at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro on August the 7th will gain a start in the first of the Finals, the FedEx St Jude Championship in Tennessee, the leading 70 after that event are eligible for the BMW Championship in Delaware the following week and the leading 30 make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta beginning on August 25th.
Davis continues to impress in his early years on the PGA Tour and like Cameron Smith was an Australian Amateur Champion before turning professional and was also a member of the winning Australian Eisenhower Trophy team and a winner of the individual in that event in 2016.
Davis also won the 2017 Australian Open Championship at the Australian Golf Club further stamping his potential.
His progress on the PGA Tour has not been quite as meteoric as Smith’s but it has been solid with a victory, two 3rd place finishes and numerous top tens and he appears on track for a very successful career.
At this stage, the Australasians inside the all important 125 with just three regular season PGA Tour events to play are Cameron Smith (2nd), Lucas Herbert (43rd), Marc Leishman (60th), Matt Jones (61st) Adam Scott (74th), Cameron Davis (78th), Danny Lee (83rd) and Jason Day (122nd).
FEDEX CUP STANDINGS
Cameron Smith’s final round 64 wins Australia’s 10th Open Championship
Cameron Smith stands proudly in front of the R&A’s headquarters – photo R&A via Getty
Cameron Smith has become the fifth Australian to win the Open Championship’s Claret Jug with a stunning final round of 64 to edge out American PGA Tour rookie, Cameron Young, by one shot and Rory McIlroy by two.
He joins Peter Thomson (5), Greg Norman (2), Kel Nagle and Ian Baker Finch as Open Championship winners from Australia but joins Thomson and Nagle as champions at the Home of Golf, St Andrews.
His 72-hole total of 268 is the equal lowest ever scored in relation to par (20 under) at an Open Championship, tying the record (264) set by Henrik Stenson when he won at Royal Troon in 2016, and betters Tiger Woods’ record total at St Andrews of 269 in 2000.
For Smith the win is the culmination of his career to date but continues a remarkable year in 2022 when he has won the Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship and now a breakthrough major victory.
He will move to number two in the world ranking, his highest ever standing in the game and given he was in 21st position in the world at the end of 2021, it has been a remarkable ride with even more to come. Another US$2,500,000 won’t go astray either taking his season earnings to US$9.89 million and career earnings on the PGA Tour alone to just under US$27 million.
The Fed Ex Cup playoffs are only a few weeks away now and this win takes him to 2nd in those standings and in line for further riches at the Tour Championship in six weeks’ time.
Beginning the final round four behind McIlroy and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Smith put together a solid front nine of 2 under 34 but he was still three behind McIlroy at that point.
It would be when turning for home that the fireworks began, however, a putter that had been only lukewarm for 27 holes all of a sudden became his friend once again.
Birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th and 14th from various ranges swept him into a one-shot lead over McIlroy and he was the chased instead of the chaser.
One of his many highlights however must surely be his great par save at the 17th. He took an aggressive line from the tee and was left with only a 9 iron for his second. He pulled and mishit it a little and finished in a seemingly impossible position behind the notorious road hole bunker but with both great imagination and skill, he putted up the slope to 12 feet and holed for par to maintain his one shot lead over McIlroy and two over Cameron Young.
Then at the last, after taking an iron from the tee on Saturday and Sunday he drove it just short of the green and proceeded to hit his approach to 3 feet. Despite Young finding the green with his drive and holing a remarkable putt from 18 feet for eagle to draw level, Smith was up to the task and converted his own birdie opportunity and was one ahead.
Back on the 17th McIlroy had hit a fine approach and, desperately needing a 3 to get within one and the driveable last still ahead, he missed his 15-footer and was left having to eagle to last to force a playoff. He was unable to do so and in fact could only make par and finished 3rd.
Smith was understandably lost for words when interviewed immediately after his round and during the prize-giving and why wouldn’t he be, given the magnitude of his achievement, but by the time he had gathered himself for the official media conference he had more to say.
“I feel like I can breathe,” said Smith referring to the tension that had built over the closing holes and the surreal nature of the immediate aftermath of the victory. “These last four or five holes aren’t easy around here, especially with the wind up off the left. Yeah, just stuck to what I was doing. Yeah, just really proud of how I kind of knuckled down today and managed to get it done.
“It was pretty tense. I think maybe after my second or third birdie there on the back nine, I was starting to think that I could really win this thing. I think I was three back with nine holes to go, and I really needed to make something happen.
“But, yeah, I would say those first three holes on that back nine really came to me, and then from there I was starting to get different emotions and really had to keep an eye on what I was thinking and just different shots into greens.
“I think, to win an Open Championship in itself is probably going to be a golfer’s highlight in their career. To do it around St Andrews, I think is just unbelievable.”
“This place is so cool. I love the golf course. I love the town. Yeah, hopefully we can keep that trend going with the every 50 years. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? (Laughter),” added Smith referring to the fact that his fellow countryman Kel Nagle had won the 100th staging of the event in 1960.
“I don’t think I hit the ball any differently all four days, to be honest. I felt like I kept hitting quality golf shots and kept giving myself looks at birdie, even from a distance, which is sometimes what you have to do around here.
“The only difference today, was the putts were dropping. I spent a little bit of time on the green yesterday night, last night, and just really wanted to see a few putts go in. Yeah, it turned out it was a pretty good thing to do.”
Smith was asked if his struggles on day three were important in steeling him for what happened today.
“I was really frustrated yesterday with how the round went. I just really put it down to links golf. I think you really have those days on these courses where you get a bit of a weird bounce here and there and puts you in a bad spot.
“So I shrugged it off pretty good, I think, last night. I really didn’t dwell on it too much. Yeah, but to go out there and really stick my head down and keep making birdies and keep making putts, yeah, it was really cool. I think that definitely helped yesterday.
“I knew my game was there. I felt really comfortable. At the end of last week, I started playing some really good golf. Yeah, I just really needed to keep doing what I was doing. I didn’t do anything wrong yesterday. It was just really one of those days.”
Cameron Young’s effort in his first Open Championship was particularly impressive keeping the pressure on the winner to the very last with his eagle at the par 4 from just under 20 feet.
Rory McIlroy left another great opportunity for his first major in eight years slip from his grasp, his putting proving his nemesis today.
Of the other Australians to make it to the weekend there were several good performances.
Adam Scott moved within four shots of the lead with four birdies in his first ten holes but struck trouble at the 12th and took double bogey bringing to an end any hopes he had of challenging for the title. Scott finished in a share of 15th along with fellow Australians Lucas Herbert and surprise packet, Anthony Quayle, who produced weekend rounds of 68 and 67 in his very first Open appearance.
Herbert also had 67 today to move up nine places for his share of 15th.
Min Woo Lee was 21st and Jason Scrivener and Brad Kennedy 53rd.
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Cameron Young eagled the last to grab second place – photo R&A via Getty
Hillier and Geary fail to capitalise in Challenge Tour event
Josh Geary – opportunity missed in Austria
Daniel Hillier and Josh Geary finished 7th and 9th respectively in a European Challenge Tour event in Austria, Hillier improving to 16th in the Race to Mallorca standings but both players unable to take full advantage of their second placed position through 54 holes.
Geary who made the cut in a PGA Tour event in the US last week is back on the Challenge tour trying to gain access to the European Tour once again but he struggled for much of the day over the Golf Club Adamstal layout in Ramsau.
Geary has played only three Challenge Tour events in 2022 and is languishing back in 90th place in the Road to Mallorca standings with only twenty to gain their 2023 European Tour cards at the end of the season. His best finish came when 10th in Scotland two months ago.
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Dan Hillier and Josh Geary contend in Austria
Daniel Hillier – a win or top three finish tomorrow will go a long way to DP World Tour status next season
New Zealanders Josh Geary and Daniel Hillier are in a share of second place and three off the lead at the European Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open in Ramsau in Austria.
For both players, a win tomorrow would play a key role in their chase for European Tour status in 2023, Hillier in particular all but assured of playing at the next level should he win.
Hillier is currently 24th in the Road to Morocco standings but a win and the accompanying 40,000 points would move him to inside the top five and with the top twenty at season’s end earning their right to play the European Tour, tomorrow might prove a big moment in the life of Hiller.
Even a runner-up or 3rd place finish for Hillier would get him inside the top ten and leave him well positioned as the schedule leads into the last half of its season.
Geary would move inside the top 25 with a win and very close to the top twenty and while there are still another 13 events left before season’s end, a win would be of huge significance for both.
Hillier has missed the weekend ion four of his last five starts so this represents a major turnaround for the 23-year-old Wellingtonian his round of 63 today, the best on day three.
Hillier narrowly missed out on graduating last year when finishing 23rd in the season ending rankings and has for some time ben considered New Zealand’s brightest emerging stars. He won a Challenge Tour event last year but finished just short of the required mark to make it to the European Tour last year but could well get there in 2022.
The leader is Germany’s Freddy Schott.
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Cameron Smith’s putter cools on day three but hopes remain
Smith’s disappointing day began with a three-putt here at the first. Photo R&A via Getty Images
Cameron Smith took a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland into round three at the Open Championship and walked from the 18th green four shots behind that pair, although, despite an unexpected round of 1 over par 73, he cannot be considered out of contention for a first major title.
After such a magnificent putting display in yesterday’s second round where he created a PGA Tour record for distance of putts holed in any one round, the putter deserted him on day three, beginning at the very first hole where a 3 putt from 30 feet set the tone for a disappointing day.
The killer for Smith, however, would come at the 13th where he struggled to a double bogey 6 after a journey down the left rough left him with still 30 feet for bogey. He missed and he had fallen four shots from the lead of Hovland and McIlroy at that point.
A missed opportunity from 9 feet at the last cost him an important boost heading into tomorrow and he might consider a different option from the tee there having played his second from well back on both Friday and Saturday.
Still for Smith, however, it is now a case of convincing himself of the glass still being half full rather then half empty. He showed on Friday that a very low round is not beyond him over the layout and although he will need one to defeat McIlroy, in particular, golf does work in strange ways.
“It was just one of those days,” said a disappointed Smith. “Unfortunately, the golfing gods weren’t with me today. I felt as though I hit lots of good putts. Just nothing was really dropping. Yeah, quite the opposite to the first couple of days, which is pretty hard to take on the chin.
“It’s always hard to back up a good round. You know, to have one like that was definitely frustrating, but it will definitely motivate me tomorrow.
“I hit the ball as good as I did the first couple of days but the putts just didn’t go in.
“I love making birdies. I love making putts. That’s what I need to go out there and do tomorrow. I need to stay aggressive. Maybe a slightly different game plan off a couple of tees and just try and make a ton of birdies.”
Adam Scott kept himself within a very low round of potential contention tomorrow when he added a third round of 70 to move to 9 under and he is within seven. Admittedly he will need something very special if he is to have any chance but he is not without hope of a very high finish.
“I just didn’t hit good enough shots early on,” said Scott. “Just a hair off. Drove it in a bunker early on 4 and did well to make bogey. Then, yeah, a poor shot off 7 and not a good recovery shot and an even worse putt and another bogey. Did well to make another bogey.
“It just didn’t go the way I needed it to go the first seven holes today. That has to change tomorrow if I want to dream of playing with anything on the line on the back nine.
“I mean, there’s a lot of good golf in there. I just made the errors early today, and I guess some experience tells me that, when you’re playing good, you keep a calm head and work all the way in and you can post a respectable score, which I did.
“But I need to get out of my own way as much as possible tomorrow heading out. If it’s possible to attack a couple of pins, maybe attack a couple pins and have a bit of fun and try and shoot 6- or 7-under somehow on the front nine and put myself in the mix with nine to go.”
Anthony Quayle, playing his first open Championship and first major, produced a very impressive round of 68 to be the next best Australian in 24th place where he is tied with Min Woo Lee and Lucas Herbert who both finished with rounds of 73.
Quayle had his Japan Tour colleague Brendan Jones on the bag today after Jones had been sick on day two but was back on the bag today, the pair agreeing a few weeks ago for one to caddy for the other if either qualified for the event. Jones has been one of the most successful foreign golfers in Japan over the last 20 years.
Brad Kennedy continued his solid week with a round of 72 to be at 4 under and tied for 34th and Jason Scrivener improved his overnight position with a round of 71 to be tied for 55th.
But Smith and Scott are chasing a very much in-form Rory McIlroy and Patrick Hovland, the latter of whom is playing in just his second Open Championship after finishing 12th on debut in 2021.
“The support that I’ve gotten this week has been absolutely incredible,” said McIlroy. “I appreciate it and I feel it out there. But at the same time I’m trying my hardest just to stay in my own little world because that’s the best way for me to get the best out of myself. I try to acknowledge as much as I can but I’m just trying to stay in my process, stay in my own little bubble and I just have to do that for one more day.
“I just have to just stick to my game plan, stick to the process. The more people bring up the result, the more I’m just going to harp on about process and sticking to my game plan, because that’s the only thing I can do, and I’ve done that well for the last three days. And it’s put me in this position. I just need to do it for one more day.”
Hovland is thriving in the atmosphere created by playing with crowd favourite Rory McIlroy who he played with in the penultimate group today but who he will duel with in the final group tomorrow.
When asked as to his feeling of being the other guy out there because of McIlroy’s popularity Hovland responded;
“I don’t mind. It doesn’t take the pressure off of anything, but I feel like I had some experience with that in the Ryder Cup last year. And at the end of the day, they’re — well, there’s still some shouts there for me as well. So I appreciate those. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to play my game and not worry about anything else.
“I mean, it’s pretty crazy from where I grew up and so far away from playing the PGA TOUR, European Tour, for that matter major championships. Just to be here is very special, but to have a chance to win one is — yeah, I have to pinch myself, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hold back tomorrow.”
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Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland – together today and again tomorrow – photo R&A via Getty Images