Two years after claiming his first major with a stunning finale at St Andrews in the 150th British Open, Cameron Smith is increasingly confident in his ability to nail his drives as he prepares for the test ahead at Royal Troon.
After finishing sixth in a LIV Golf event in Spain last week at Valderrama, Smith will be the last of the six Australians to tee off on Thursday in the first round of the British Open.
The 30-year-old will feature alongside Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick in the 45th group, which tees off at 2.59pm (11.59pm AEST) in Scotland as the ninth-last threesome to hit the links course.
Min Woo Lee (7.19am local-4.19pm AEST), Adam Scott (7.30am local-4.30pm AEST) and Jasper Stubbs (7.41am local-4.41pm AEST) will tee off in the morning on the first day of the 152nd Open, while Elvis Smylie (11.04am local-8.04pm AEST) and Jason Day (1.06pm local-10.26pm AEST) are scheduled to finish in the afternoon alongside Smith.
Lee (12.20pm local-9.20pm AEST), Scott (12.31pm local-9.31pm AEST) and Stubbs (12.42pm local-9.42pm AEST) all have early afternoon slots on Friday, while Smylie will tee off at 4.04pm local (1.04am AEST Saturday).
Day (8.04am local-5.04pm AEST) and Smith (9.47am local-6.47pm AEST) will featuring in the morning in Scotland in their second rounds.
Smith, who has posted five top 10 finishes in LIV events this year along with his sixth placed finish in the Masters, was pleased with the way he drove in Spain last weekend.
The former world No.2 is ranked in 49th position on the LIV rankings when it comes to fairways struck, averaging 49.74 percent, but felt more decisive off the tee at Valdemarra.
Smith, who missed the cut at Royal Troon as an amateur in 2012, hit the fairway almost 53 percent of the time when finishing behind Sergio Garcia in a confidence boost at a course which hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup.
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He told Australian Golf Digest that if he felt as comfortable off the tee at Troon, he was confident of being able to contend over the weekend.
“I had been feeling uncomfortable with the driver but Valderrama was a good test,” Smith said.
“I’ve been working hard on it at home in Florida. I’ve been forcing myself to hit driver a lot while playing when maybe I shouldn’t, because I wanted to test it repeatedly. Whenever I had a 50-50 tee shot at Valderrama (where a shorter club was an option), I hit driver. It was a good step in the right direction.
“This is probably one of the toughest Open tests because it’s penal off the tee, but I’m feeling good. If I drive it here at Troon like I did at Valderrama, I think I’ll have a good shot.”
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