Cameron Smith loses British Open lead due to balky putter

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Cameron Smith was pissed off.

The 25-year-old Aussie took a two-shot 36-hole lead into the third spherical of the one hundred and fiftieth British Open at St. Andrews on Saturday, however on Sunday he’ll start the ultimate spherical 4 pictures out of the lead.

Smith, who shot a disappointing 1-over 73 on Saturday to fall to 12-under, trails leaders Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland, who're 16-under after every shot 66.

Smith shot 64 on Friday and was exceptional on the greens, setting a PGA Tour document by making 255 toes in putts. He made the whole lot he checked out, lengthy or quick. On Saturday, Smith made solely 50 toes in putts.

“No putts have been dropping, and it was fairly irritating,” Smith stated. “It’s in all probability the most effective I’ve struck the ball all week; I had plenty of alternatives. It’s all the time laborious to again up a superb spherical and to have one like that was irritating, but it surely’ll positively inspire me tomorrow.

Cameron Smith appears right down to the bottom after lacking a putt on the 18th gap through the third spherical of the British Open.

AP

“I like making birdies. I like making putts and that’s what I have to do on the market. Keep aggressive. I’ll have a barely totally different recreation plan off a few tees and attempt to make a ton of birdies.”

Smith, who’s ranked No. 6 on the planet and received The Gamers Championship in March, on Sunday will once more be paired with Westchester County native Cameron Younger, this time within the second-to-last group, not the ultimate pairing they have been in on Saturday.

Smith’s day started poorly when he three-putted the primary inexperienced for bogey. It received no higher. He missed quick birdie putts on the par-5 fifth, in addition to the seventh, twelfth, fifteenth and 18th.

On the par-4 thirteenth, Smith made a mistake: He opted to make a full swing from an ungainly stance, when his ball was sitting on the lip of a fairway bunker, which he caught heavy en path to a double-bogey.

“I believed I hit an ideal drive down there; it will need to have received a nasty kick and ended up the place it was,” he stated. “It wasn’t my day … to get one thing like that [happen] after an already irritating 11 or 12 holes.”

His 73 was one among solely two over-par rounds from gamers inside the prime 20.

He has not misplaced hope, nonetheless. Each winner from the 29 earlier Opens performed at St. Andrews has been inside 4 pictures of the lead beginning the ultimate day.

So, you’re saying there’s an opportunity.