{"id":268359,"date":"2025-07-17T04:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268359\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T04:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:10:09","slug":"cameron-smith-sends-defiant-message-hours-before-the-open-i-am-trying-my-a-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268359\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron Smith sends defiant message hours before The Open: “I am trying my a*** off”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Open winner <\/strong>Cameron Smith<\/strong><\/a> has claimed he is working his butt off to try and rediscover the form that made him a champion golfer of the year.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Australian won the landmark 150th Open<\/a> at St Andrews three years ago and was expected to contend for many more major championships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But critics have suggested he is not the same player since he decided to join the PIF-backed LIV Golf<\/a> a few months after his remarkable triumph at the home of golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite winning multiple times on the breakaway tour, Smith’s performances in golf’s big four are clearly not representative of his talents.<\/p>\n

Since making the reported $120m switch, he has struggled to rediscover the form that saw him lift the Claret Jug and even the coveted Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the golfer, who has missed the cut at The Masters<\/a>, PGA Championship<\/a> and US Open<\/a> this year, claimed that isn’t because of a lack of effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s such a weird game sometimes,” Smith told Golf Australia<\/a> ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush<\/a>. “I feel like I’ve been playing really good and not really getting much out of my golf.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a really frustrating year. Everything feels good, particularly on the range, on the putting green and stuff like that. I just have struggled to take it to the course and feel like it’s now coming out.<\/p>\n

“I feel like I’m getting more confidence and committing to more shots and maybe hitting the shot that I don’t necessarily feel comfortable with, but the right shot. So that’s when I play my best and, yeah, it’s coming.<\/p>\n

“I am trying my arse off, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think much has been able to click from my practice to tournament play and it’s not from lack of hard work; it’s just been lack of commitment out in the golf course.”<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith Open record<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

Venue<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Finish<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

R1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

R2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

R3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

R4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Total<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Score to Par<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Royal Troon 2024<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

M\/C<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

80<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

74<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

M\/C<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Royal Liverpool 2023<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

T33<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

72<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

72<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

68<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

73<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

285<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

+1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

St Andrews 2022<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

67<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

64<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

73<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

64<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

268<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

-20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Royal St George’s 2021<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

T33<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

69<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

67<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

68<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

74<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

278<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Royal Portrush 2019<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

T20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

70<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

66<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

71<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

76<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

283<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Carnoustie 2018<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

78<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

73<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

71<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

73<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

77<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

294<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

+10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Royal Birkdale 2017<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

M\/C<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

74<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

75<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

\u2013<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

M\/C<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Smith is among the early starters on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He’ll play the first two rounds of The Open alongside Marco Penge and Justin Hastings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler<\/a> is the overwhelming favourite to clinch his first Open title and move one step closer to completing the career grand slam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/a> and Smith’s LIV peers Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> and Jon Rahm<\/a> are expected to mount serious challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s awesome. He’s a great guy, I’ve always loved Peakey,” said Smith.<\/p>\n

“Obviously got himself into a bit of strife, but it’s good to see him back out here playing golf for one, but also having just turned his life around. As a mate, that’s something you want to see. So, yeah, good for him.”<\/p>\n

Follow GolfMagic for live text updates of <\/strong>The Open<\/strong><\/a>, along with all the latest news, opinion and analysis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Open winner Cameron Smith has claimed he is working his butt off to try and rediscover the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[71437,2826,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-268359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-cameron-smith","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114866619948441247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}