AUGUSTA – Cameron Smith was 8-under over 16 holes on Thursday. Unfortunately for him, those holes were sandwiched by a pair of unsightly double-bogeys on Nos. 1 and 18. As it was, the 29-year-old Australian known for the PGA Tour’s best mullet, was the leader in the clubhouse after carding a first-round 68.
“I’ve moved on already,” Smith said of the two holes in 4-over. “The less y’all bring it up the better I’ll be. The stuff in between was pretty good.”
Indeed, Smith made eight birdies over 12 holes from No. 5 to No. 16. But his day started by hitting his tee shot into the bunker right on No. 1, having to blast out, hitting his approach over the green, then two-putting after a long chip. He was right again off the 18th tee, hitting a magnolia tree. He had to punch out, his approach came up short and rolled back, then he three-putted.
“Obviously very frustrating,” Smith said.
It was a wild and weird day all the way around for Smith and playing partner Bryson DeChambeau. They found out on the practice range before their 10:23 a.m. tee time that Paul Casey, the third in their group, withdrew with a back injury. That meant their twosome was sandwiched between slap in the middle of 29 threesomes.
“We had a lot of waiting around,” Smith said. “But because we were waiting so much, I felt like a fan out there. I found myself watching Tiger (Woods) a lot, which I actually enjoyed. You can’t not watch him.”
Woods, playing in the threesome behind Smith, shot 1-under and set off huge roars with birdies at 6, 13 and 16.
Rough day
Matthew Wolff had nearly the high round of the day with a 9-over par 81 on Thursday.
Wolff started with a double-bogey on No. 1 and added bogeys on Nos. 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17 and 18. He had just two birdies on Nos. 9 and 15.
Only elder statesman Sandy Lyle finished worse with a round of 10-over 82.
This and that
* Daniel Berger turned 29 on Thursday and finished with a round of 1-under par 71 following a tough double-bogey on No. 18.
Any plans to celebrate?
“Probably just with dinner with my parents and early bedtime,” he said.
* Scottie Scheffler came into the tournament ranked No. 1 in the world. It didn’t really matter as he shot a 3-under 69 in the opening round.
“They didn’t give me any extra shots or anything this week ,” He said. “So not too much. It’s a tremendous honor to be ranked No. 1, but at the end of the day, I don’t get any shots for it.”
- Chip Towers and Chris Vivlamore contributed to this report.
