{"id":36716,"date":"2026-07-14T23:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/36716\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:37:18","slug":"i-want-to-win-travis-smyth-has-high-hopes-at-happy-aussie-hunting-ground-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/36716\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I want to win’: Travis Smyth has high hopes at happy Aussie hunting ground \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travis Smyth has spent his practice rounds at Royal Birkdale imagining packed galleries as he walks down the 18th fairway aiming to join the list of Open Championship winners at the course.<\/p>\n

The Australian circuit\u2019s Order of Merit winner earned DP World Tour status to book his second Open appearance as one of seven countrymen in the year\u2019s final golf major.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Jason Day is turning heads with (latest) wild outfit<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to win. I want to play well. I want to be in contention,\u201d he said ahead of Thursday\u2019s (AEST) first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to have that walk down the 18th with the grandstands full. I think that would be so cool. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been envisioning during the practice rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smyth drained a long eagle putt on the 72nd hole to win the International Series Japan in April and then helped Crushers GC to a team win as a late-call up for LIV Golf Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel like I\u2019ve got a lot to prove because I haven\u2019t played well in majors on this stage yet,\u201d he said of his next goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played well on the Australian and Asian tours, but in terms of this world stage, I feel like I\u2019m yet to put my name out there and put my hand up.\u201d<\/p>\n

History is on his side at the classic Southport links course in England\u2019s northwest, where holes wind their ways through towering dunes near the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n

Peter Thomson won at Birkdale twice, in 1954 and 1965, and Ian Baker-Finch lifted the Claret Jug there in 1991.<\/p>\n

MORE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe course is incredible,\u201d Smyth said. \u201cWhen the wind gets up, it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s really firm, which we all like, and this golf course asks so much precision from you. You\u2019ve got to hit some really quality shots if you want to play well around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

World No.24 Min Woo Lee arrives after a runner-up finish at the Scottish Open, a tournament he won in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited,\u201d he said of his form line. \u201cI don\u2019t think I missed too many shots out there which was great to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, you\u2019re nervous on some shots, but I seem to get on the better side of it, and I think that\u2019s a lot of maturity and a lot of good stuff with technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith, who sizzled with the putter to win the Open four years ago, broke a run of six-straight missed cuts at majors when he tied for seventh at the PGA Championship in May.<\/p>\n

With no LIV events since last month\u2019s US Open, where Smith missed the cut at the brutal Shinnecock Hills, he\u2019s been playing practice rounds at courses near his Florida home.<\/p>\n

Ripper GC teammate Lucas Herbert will join him at Birkdale thanks to his runner-up finish at the New Zealand Open, while Cameron John \u2013 qualifying courtesy of a runner-up finish at the Singapore Open \u2013 will make his major debut.<\/p>\n

Major winners Adam Scott and Jason Day round out the Australian contingent, while Elvis Smylie was a late withdrawal due to a rib injury.<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIAN ROUND ONE TEE TIMES (AEST):<\/p>\n

* 5.47pm (Thursday) \u2014 Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth<\/p>\n

* 6.25pm \u2014 Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee<\/p>\n

* 6.47pm \u2014 Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day<\/p>\n

* 9.14pm \u2014 Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Gregan\u00a0<\/p>\n

* 11.09pm \u2014 Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert<\/p>\n

* 11.31pm \u2014 Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott<\/p>\n

* 12.59am (Friday) \u2014 Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow<\/p>\n

MORE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travis Smyth has spent his practice rounds at Royal Birkdale imagining packed galleries as he walks down the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9961,825,44,2191,2636,519,6197,2193],"class_list":["post-36716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aussies","tag-cameron-smith","tag-golf","tag-min-woo-lee","tag-open-championship","tag-royal-birkdale","tag-the-open","tag-travis-smyth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}