A great Cameron Smith, once again sensational with the putter, snatched from Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy in the cradle of golf, the Old Course of Saint Andrews, the Claret Pitcher of the 150th edition of the British Open, the first great conquered by the Australian golfer.
Smith, who achieved his sixth victory on the PGA Tour, started four strokes behind McIlroy, who finished third, and Norway’s Viktor Hovland on the last day of the Open after a poor third day in which he had been above par (+ 1).
He recovered his solvency in time to star in an exciting and open ending, a pulse from which Hovland got off the hook and that remained between Smith and McIlroy, with the American Cameron Young, the first leader of this edition of the Open, waiting, so much so that in the last hole, with an eagle, finished second.
A 64-shot card (-20 overall, better than Tiger Woods’ -19 in 2000 at St Andrews) catapulted Smith to the title in Scotland.
“What a week…” said Smith, who first thanked his team for all their work. “This (the conquest of the Open) is what makes all the work done for years worthwhile”, he valued.
This is how the last day of the tournament unfolded
The two leaders on Saturday began the last game with -16 in the aggregate, with McIlroy, encouraged by the fans, as the favorite against a rival who had, in their favor, playing without that pressure. After the first three holes with par in both cases, the Norwegian left a bogey in the fourth, which placed the Northern Irishman in the lead.
In the appointment of ‘the Camerons’, Smith had signed a birdie in the second and another in the fifth, finer than the third day in the putt, and Young, who started in the worst way, with bogey, immediately recovered with three consecutive birdies.
Pressure for Mcilroy and Hovland, with the Australian Adam Scott and the American Dustin Johnson with their cards in red and -12 after seven holes, who were also joined at that point in the match by the British Tommy Fleetwood and the South African Dean Burmester, but already after 15 holes. McIlroy put land in between on a hole that finished below par in the four days of the championship, the fourth of the Old Course, and stood at -17 cheered by the public. The excitement rose with three birdies in a row from Smith at the start of the second round to get -17, one from McIlroy, who also took advantage of the 10th hole. Hovland, for his part, reacted on the 12th with the first birdie.
In that and in 9, the Northern Irishman missed extending the lead. The Australian caught up with McIlroy at 13 and took the lead at 14 with the fifth birdie in a row (the best at 11 and 13) to take -19. Smith had problems on the 17th, but he solved them with par and closed the 18th with the birdie that allowed him to enter the Club House with the victory in hand.
There came his party partner, Cameron Young, with an eagle, the one that McIlroy would have to sign to draw with the Australian, but he did not succeed. Hovland (+2 this Sunday) finished fourth, like Fleetwood, ahead of Americans Brian Harman and Dustin Johnson.
Inside the top-10 were the Americans Bryson Dechambeau, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth, who saved par on the 17th with a great shot from the path to the green.
The leader of the world ranking, the American Scottie Scheffler, did not have a good day, who closed the first round with three over par and dropped from the fight for victory: he was twenty-first with -9, as did the British Matt Fitzpatrick .
Balance of Latin Americans: this is how it went for Muñoz
Mexican Abraham Ancer finished as the best Latin American, in box 11, with seven birdies (he forgave another in the ninth) and no bogeys on a sensational Sunday.
For his part, the Colombian Juan Sebastián Muñoz delivered his best card of the tournament on Sunday, 70 hits (-2) to close his second participation in the Open with 275 hits (-3), in box 63.
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