Stewart Cink a five shot leader – photo Getty Images Sam Greenwood
Cameron Smith was unable to repeat his opening day brilliance at the RBC Heritage Classic in South Carolina but his second round of even par 71 has him at 9 under par and tied for 4th, although now seven shots from the lead held by two-time winner of the event Stewart Cink.
Cink, who finished a very encouraging 12th at last week’s Masters, added a second consecutive round of 63 today to lead by five over Canadian Corey Conners with another shot back to Argentinean, Emiliano Grillo.
Cink won this event on debut in 2000 and then again in 2004 although in more recent times his record around the Harbour Town Links layout has not been quite so good. He has not recorded a finish better than 30th in his last seven starts in the event but coinciding with his recent overall form improvement is a significantly better showing this week.
When asked how he is able to keep performing in what is his 22nd start in the event, Cink responded:
“I love playing golf, and the players I’m playing against aren’t getting worse, and that’s just the simplest answer. I don’t really want to stop doing this as a job, and the guys that come out here year after year get better and better, younger and younger, and they don’t make it any easier.
“So I have to continue getting more out of myself and managing myself different ways, and Reagan has been a huge help as far as that goes. To me it just feels like, duh, what other way is there.
The Reagan he is referring to is Cink’s son who is caddying for him at present and they seem to be gelling as a combination.
Reagan had his own thoughts on how it is working: “I think I call the shots. He listens to me most of the time. It’s a blast out there. We operate on the same wavelength pretty much all the time, so we get to joke around and have a great time in between shots, even when the stakes are pretty high and he’s playing really well. And then it’s efficient planning when we get to the shots, so it really works on a lot of levels.”
Cameron Smith – unable to keep pace after his brilliant start yesterday – photo Patrick Smith Getty Images
Smith was philosophical about his day. “Wasn’t actually too bad out there,” said the Queenslander. I think the golfing gods got a few back on me today. They let everything in yesterday, and today I thought I was putting really good and just had a lot of putts that went over the edge, didn’t go in.
”I’m pretty chilled out, to be honest. I just went and had pizza with my caddie last night and a couple beers and went to sleep, and woke up this morning feeling pretty fresh, ready to go this morning. Everything felt great on the range. It just wasn’t quite the day.”
Cameron Davis, the only other Australian in the field added a second consecutive round of 69 to be at 4 under and tied for 31st while New Zealander Danny Lee missed the cut by one, continuing a run of disappointing form in recent months.
World number one, Dustin Johnson, is at 5 under.
