Cam Smith appears to be well placed to compete for his second major title this week, with the Australian opening up with a 71 on Thursday at The Masters.
It has been a difficult start to the season for Cam Smith. His tied ninth finish at Doral was his first top 10 of the year on LIV Golf. Nevertheless, he went into The Masters with a phenomenal record at Augusta National.
Smith has four top 10s in his last five starts at the first major of the year. And he is in the mix to add another to the list in 2025, after ending the opening round at one under par.
It was actually quite an uneventful scorecard for Smith. He made just two birdies and one bogey, with a valuable three coming on the last.
Cam Smith left confused after his opening round at The Masters
But it seems that the feeling following the round is one of sheer relief for the 2022 Open champion.
Smith admitted that he went into the week with a lot of confidence following his performance in Miami last week. However, it proved to be one step forward and potentially two back for the 31-year-old, as Smith suggested that he was baffled by the battle he faced with his game.
“Yeah, it was nice for that putt to go in on the last. That felt a little bit better,” he said.
“I haven’t left myself too much work. For how I felt out there, it felt like it was going to be a bit of a long day. All in all, pretty pleased with the score. If I’m going to win this thing, I definitely need to do better than that. Golf is such a weird game.
“I feel like my last round last week at Doral was probably the best I’ve hit it in a long time, and coming out here today is probably the worst I’ve hit it in a long time.
“You kind of — yeah, it’s just such a weird game sometimes. I felt really good at the start of the week, just a little bit of cleanup on the range, and we’ll be good.”
Smith claims one part of his game was ‘unreal’ on Thursday at Augusta
It was Smith’s quality on and around the greens which seemed to prove to be pivotal in his victory at The Open more than years ago. He is arguably the best putter in the world, with one of the most aesthetically-pleasing putting strokes around.
And it seems that Smith felt that the flat stick was back to something like its best – giving him something to cling to as he tries to improve through the bag.
“Yeah, putting seems unreal at the moment. Yeah, I feel like this whole start of the year I’ve hit a lot of good putts and even a lot of great shots and haven’t really got much out of it,” he said.
“Today I definitely got the most out of my round, which is a good way to start. It gives you the confidence to go at some pins and do stuff you wouldn’t normally do and be aggressive. Looking forward to the weekend.”
The good news is that Smith also opened up with a 71 12 months ago when he went on to finish in a tie for sixth.
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