While the entire St. Andrews followed Rory McIlroy, Cameron Smith, a team ahead, strung together a run of five birdies in a row to jump to the top of the leaderboard through 14 holes. An hour or so later, Smith’s name was engraved on the Claret Jug. He never closed his eyes on Sunday. The first time he looked slightly rattled was when he was holding the trophy. “What a week — I’m going to collapse here I know,” he said. But if there was one thing he never did over the last four days, it was collapse, despite a tough Saturday. A day before he was announced as Champion Golfer of the Year, Smith weighed in where it all went wrong. He had a round of 73. He looked disappointed. He talked about how the golf gods had gone against him. He regretted how he had boldly attacked the 13th, instead of playing it carefully — and left with double bogey. The optimism we’d seen from him in the first two rounds had momentarily subsided, leaving us with what we thought would be a straight shootout between the overnight leaders — McIlroy and Viktor Hovland — for the championship. But Smith hadn’t given up hope — far from it. “I think I was really disappointed [Saturday] with how the round went,” he said. So I took it really well. I really didn’t dwell on it too much.” 2 Related On Sunday, Smith started dancing again, with Australian support behind him. With his focus elsewhere — mostly on McIlroy — he put together another flawless round like he did on Friday, shooting an 8-under 64 to crush what would have been McIlroy’s crowning glory. By the time Smith birdied the final hole, he had a 2-shot lead over McIlroy. He left to sign his scorecard as the crowd poured into the street praying for a miracle. But when McIlroy’s drive failed to reach the green and his attempt to hole out for eagle to force the playoff slipped away, Smith emerged from the shack as the winner of golf’s oldest championship. He hugged his box and then looked a little lost. “I have no family here,” he said. “I have my whole team here.” The week of travel was too much effort for his father. “My dad was supposed to come and he backed out at the last minute,” Smith said. “I had a quick chat with him before. He’s beating himself up now.” It is fitting that the 150th edition of The Open was played like the first in 1860. Back then, the home favorite was Old Tom Morris. He knew the course better than anyone. But then Willie Park managed to win the inaugural championship. We’ve seen this before — like Stuart Cink passing Turnberry crowd favorite Tom Watson in 2009. But this should be remembered for Smith’s remarkable weekend, not McIlroy’s near miss. We should look past the romance of what a McIlroy win would mean and focus on Smith’s incredible performance. I am playing 1:04 Rory McIlroy reflects on his Open Championship performance after finishing third. Make no mistake about it: Smith deserved to win. The way he negotiated the course on Sunday was incredible, especially as he had to recover from the disappointment of Saturday’s round. It all started with the birdie, each one majestic. His chip on the 10th from 27 yards gave him a 5-footer for birdie. On 11 and 12 he held from 16 feet and 11 feet, respectively. But it was the way he navigated the 13th that made him believe he was going to win the championship. That was his enemy on Saturday. On Sunday, he found the fairway and then hit a beautiful approach shot from 184 yards for an 18-foot birdie putt. He came in too. “I think my second shot on 13 was really when I thought we can win this thing,” he said. “Hitting that shot in there, or the two shots, the drive and the second shot, were two of the best all week. I think that was it for me.” And then on the 14th he found himself off the back of the green. He returned to the putt, which left him with a 5-footer to make it five birdies in a row. “I knew I just had to be patient,” he said. “I felt good all day, and those putts just started coming in on the back nine and they just got a lot of momentum.” If that string of birdies put him in his place, it was the way he approached the 17th that arguably won him over. The infamous Road Hole has dashed hopes. On Sunday, Smith found himself in a spot of bother between that famous, dreaded bunker and the green. But he worked his way to save parity. His 20 under tied for the best score in a major. He became the fifth golfer to win The Players and a major in the same year, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Martin Kaymer and Hal Sutton. But realizing that the company he’s keeping now can wait. He said his first priority is to see how many beers he can fit in the Claret jug. In this Open, he talked about how he listens to the TV series “Peaky Blinders” and “State of Origin”. He also takes his bike out for a spin every morning on the coast to work his legs. It all helped him stay calm and ready for the championship-winning moments he eased into Sunday. But having won, his first feeling was relief. “I feel like I can breathe,” he said soon after. McIlroy will regroup, but that will hurt. The hotel room he and his family are staying in overlooks the 18th. Every morning he would look out and dream of being on top of that yellow scoreboard above the bleachers. “At the beginning of the day he was on top, but at the beginning [Monday], it won’t be,” he said. “Of course you have to let yourself — you have to let yourself dream. You have to let yourself think about it and what it would be like. But once I was on the golf course, it was just a job at hand and trying to play the best golf I could. I’ve got some time to rest and recover and try to take the positives, learn from the negatives and move on.” McIlroy will have further efforts to end an eight-year wait for his fifth major, but Smith will relish the feeling of winning his first. Smith’s next challenge is to see if he can stay awake past 10 local time tonight. He says he’ll try to drink 20 or so Claret Jugs of beer, even though he’s exhausted. The last few days have brought it out of him. The magnitude of what he has achieved has yet to hit home. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before I got one of those,” he said. “I’ve knocked on the door, I think, maybe too many times now. So it’s nice to do it. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t think it will for a couple of weeks. Yeah, it’s just unreal.”
