Cameron Smith doesn’t defend his British Open title until July, but has already devoted plenty of thought to how ready he and his game needs to be when he gets to Royal Liverpool.
And while carding seven birdies in a second-round 66 at the LIV event in Adelaide on Saturday left him 11-shots off the runaway leader Talor Gooch, everything he saw and felt added to a growing confidence that despite results, his game was on the upward trajectory it needed to be.
The masses that have followed Smith through the opening two days continue to surprise the Queenslander who baulked at a suggestion the numbers were “Tiger-like”, referencing the greatest needle-mover in world sport.
But they were certainly big enough to be something of a day one distraction, and it was only in the second round Smith, who did on onstage shoey with DJ Fisher on Friday night to avoid another on-course attempt,…
