Cam Smith compares Royal Portrush to St Andrews after completing his first round of The Open Championship

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Cam Smith is eyeing another win at The Open this week at Royal Portrush, having clinched the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 2022.

Smith is struggling for form as he takes on The Open, which he won by one shot over Cameron Young on the Old Course three years ago.

The Australian, who is currently playing on LIV Golf, produced a masterclass on the greens to secure a memorable win.

Smith has now finished his first round at Royal Portrush, in which he carded a one-over 72 in difficult conditions.

He was part of the group teeing off third at the tournament, where he was joined by Marco Penge and Justin Hastings.

Cam Smith compares Royal Portrush and St Andrews after day one of The Open

Afterwards, the one-time major winner was asked to rate Royal Portrush as an Open venue and as a course in general.

The 2022 champion replied: “I mean, it’s right up there. It’s hard to beat St Andrews. Obviously I’m biased.

“It seems like there’s a lot of Opens where the course is great but the town doesn’t really get involved, whereas this one kind of seems like everyone in town is happy to have you here and gets around the whole tournament. It’s right up there. It’s a very similar feeling to St Andrews for sure.”

READ MORE: The Open Championship organisers have made a change to the bunkers to make them even more difficult at Royal Portrush

Smith also discussed how nervy the first tee shot is, having bogeyed the very challenging par four, saying: “Talking about committing to swings.

“We warm up on the range, and it’s kind of down out of the right and you kind of lead yourself into a bit of false sense of security, and then you get there, and it’s like, yeah, all right. Really need to step up here.

“I think I tried to hit that one underground and almost missed it. Not the greatest start to a major championship I’ve ever had, but from there it was actually all right.”

Cam Smith shares honest verdict on The Open crowds at Royal Portrush

It was Padraig Harrington who was handed the honours of hitting the first tee shot, with the popular Irishman going on to birdie the hole.

He received huge applause both before and after his opening round, with Smith having been asked for his opinion on the crowds for day one of the event.

READ MORE: Royal Portrush names two holes after former major champions ahead of The Open Championship starting

“There wasn’t many of them when we teed off,” he said. “It was almost dark when we teed off, but yeah, there was a few that got out there on the back nine. They’re great fans. I love the UK fans. They’re polite.

“They know a good shot from a bad shot. I think sometimes when you’re playing golf, you hit a really nice shot to kind of 30, 40 feet, and maybe some fans don’t get that, whereas these guys out here really understand that it’s a great shot. So I appreciate the fans.”

And analysing his round, the LIV Golf ace noted: “It was pretty good. Pretty solid, particularly that back nine. Could have really got away from me, I think.

“Hung in there nice and just committed to some swings, what I’ve been doing the last few times out. Gave myself a little bit of a talking to through nine and played that last nine really solidly.”

When asked to explain that, he responded: “I’ve just been doing a really good job of committing to swings and committing to shots.

“I think being a little bit uncomfortable out there, it just kind of slipped my mind a few times and hit a few bad shots and got myself into a bit of trouble when I really shouldn’t have.

“I’ve been swinging the club really nicely. Like I said, I just need to go out there and commit to some swings. I was able to do that on the back nine and give myself a lot of looks, which was nice.”

Smith will be happy with his three birdies and 12 pars from round one, but he will be disappointed with the two bogeys and one double bogey.

But there is a lot of golf to be played over the coming days on the north coast of Northern Ireland, and the Australian definitely isn’t in a bad position heading into Friday.