‘Keep Cam and carry on’ – Why Tiger Woods should be inspired by Cameron Smith’s maverick Open Championship golf triumph

It historically tends to be more a hellish business than landing in ‘Hell’ bunker at St Andrews.

Raising your head above the parapet to make predictions in professional golf has always been a business best left to an inebriated soul or three at the 19th hole. At least those at the bar can blame it on John Barleycorn. Sober-suited experts have nowhere to go when they set themselves up for a fall.

When Colin Montgomerie – the eight-time European Order of Merit winner and a former world No. 2 – began to bestow riches upon Rory McIlroy a good hour before the Northern Irishman teed off for the final round on Sunday afternoon, it was probably wise to start pricing up alternative options.

Monty witnessed McIlroy enjoy a four-shot lead over the field alongside Viktor Hovland on Saturday evening and boldly predicted the only man he needed to fend off was his playing partner.

With a waft of nostalgia drifting over his memories, Monty even compared McIlroy to Tiger Woods and recalled his problems in failing to upstage Tiger at the 2005 Open around St Andrews when he finished second, five strokes adrift of the US icon.

“I think this is Rory’s day. I think the thing about Rory now, in a Tiger-esque way,” continued Monty, warming to the theme. “I finished second to him in 2005. Did I think I would beat him in a round at St Andrews? Deep down? If I was honest with you, I’d say no.

“Did (Ernie) Els, did Vijay Singh, did David Duval in their day think they could beat Tiger when he wore that red shirt on Sundays? If they were honest with themselves they’d say possibly not and I think that’s what’s going to happen today.

The 2010 Ryder Cup captain was emboldened by odds that saw McIlroy start his final 18 holes at 10/11 on with Smith an 11/1 outsider despite the 28-year-old Brisbane professional boasting a putting stroke more formidable than his barnet.

Hopefully, Monty didn’t shell out too much on the outcome.

While Hovland fell away with a 74 under the extreme duress of the final group, 28-year-old Smith, the pugnacious Players champion around TPC Sawgrass in March, did not do retreat mode.

The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray, penned Monty’s fellow Scotsman Robert Burns long before Tommy Nakajima encountered the Road Hole Bunker at 17 in 1978.

McIlroy did not lose the Claret Jug on Sunday. He never had it in his possession to lose despite the whooping and the hollering that greeted his every movement from the vast partisan galleries.

By the time he wandered off the 14th hole, the Northern Irishman had relinquished the lead with four holes remaining as Mr Smith calmly assumed control of the Matrix with three left on his card.

The bounding McIlroy would finally finish third from a day that promised so much, but illustrated the ongoing difficulty of winning one of these blue-chip events when the bloke up ahead is seeing holes as wide as craters, striking only 30 blows on the back nine.

With four majors carried off so far between 2011 and 2014, McIlroy is a modern great of the game. The Holywood lad continues to bring a touch of Hollywood to golf, but he is no Tiger Woods.

That is merely an observation, not an insult. Nobody is.

Like big John Daly around St Andrews in 1995, you should always beware a man with a mullet on a mission.

While McIlroy could not find the putts to carry off his fifth major in carding a 70, Smith dissected the challenge with a putting stroke brimming with more gold than the Gold Coast.

When he occasionally fell out of position – especially at the 17th hole when he had to snake an approach putt around the Road Hole bunker to 10 feet or so (before of course sinking the par putt) – he found the answers in a short game that saw him single putt six greens on the closing nine.

His gladiatorial 64 was a vision of excellence in responding to an occasion with no room for error. When McIlroy chased the pressure putts off his pristine power play, the vital incisiveness that maketh the man at those moments eluded him.

It is one of the harshest schools in world sport when you consider he finished inside the top 10 of all four majors this season.

McIlroy was better or equal with 97.5% of the players he faced across the four majors, but won none. He was 29-under across the four majors in 1st place, eight strokes ahead of Will Zalatoris, but won none.

When you look at the two main protagonists on Sunday, Smith was the character who resembled Woods in his clinical pomp. In spirit and style of play rather than hairdo.

“I saw a guy, Tiger, doing that kind of stuff at one point,” said Smith’s countryman Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion. “He shot 30 to win the Open today, it’s really incredible.”

It is not a criticism, but you have to wonder if McIlroy’s fate would have befell Woods in his prime at the Old Course?

Well, we have the answer. He never. And neither did Cameron Smith. There was something fittingly appropriate about the Aussie’s splendid performance when he reached 20-under on the final green, usurping Tiger’s record of 19-under set when winning in 2000.

It has been alleged that this Open was overshadowed by rebel alliance LIV, but this does the bigger picture a disservice. The 150th Open Championship was one of the most memorable on record with a gloriously absorbing finish to match.

McIlroy can take solace from the fact he was rumbled by one of the great back nines in Open history. A king’s knock from the understated sporting Queenslander, who is set to embark upon a spot of fishing after landing the big one.

It was as memorable as Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo or Woods conquering the Old Course. Smith’s Titleist Scotty Cameron putter is already an item of golfing folklore at the Open, as poignant as a pair of Old Tom Morris’ tartan trews.

In many respects, Woods should take note of the happenings around the Old Course over the weekend and chase his own blue skies out on the course. Keep Cam and carry on, if you like.

He has achieved a minor miracle this year by returning to such a competitive level of golf at the majors. He impressed at the Masters in making the cut with a 47th finish.

That he returned to the fray so soon after a horrific car crash in February 2021 when his right leg was so badly damaged suggests Woods should walk before he can run.

He is far from near his best, but neither does he go on without hope.

He clearly has pain to contend with and a swing issue to address, but it would not be ridiculous to imagine him overcoming such obstacles. Defying the doubters is what he has always done best.

He notably drags the ball left with some regularity as he contends with the limitations of his injuries, but the problem is not unworkable in future times if he can solve the conundrum.

“We will do more hard work and give myself some more chances next year to play a few more events,” he said after missing the cut by nine strokes in Scotland.

Some of the experts predicting the demise of Woods were the same figures who could not see past McIlroy on Sunday. Such exclamations were as useful as a snap hook.

One suspects Woods – the greatest figure golf has produced alongside Nicklaus – is far from finished with the sport he transcends.

Cam Smith merely reminded us of the importance of maverick quality. That there is more value in being your own man rather than accepting the odds are against you.

Desmond Kane

Open Championship record totals at Old Course

• 2020 Cameron Smith 268 (-20)
• 2015 Zach Johnson 273 (-15)
• 2010 Louis Oosthuizen 272 (-16)
• 2005 Tiger Woods 274 (-14)
• 2000 Tiger Woods 269 (-19)
• 1995 John Daly 282 (-6)
• 1990 Nick Faldo 270 (-18)
• 1984 Seve Ballesteros 276 (-12)
• 1978 Jack Nicklaus 281 (-7)