Open Championship

Through 14 holes, Cameron Smith led the leaderboard while the rest of St. Andrews followed Rory McIlroy. Smith's name was carved into the Claret Jug an hour or so later.

There wasn't a blink from him on Sunday. It was when he held the trophy that he initially appeared slightly rattled.

This is going to be a terrible week, I know," he said. Despite a difficult Saturday, he never crumbled over these past four days.

In the days leading up to his announcement as Champion Golfer of the Year, Smith was trying to figure out what went wrong. A round of 73 had been carded by him.

There was a look of dejection on his face. According to him, the golfing gods were against him. With a double bogey on the 13th, he regretted attacking it with gusto instead of playing it carefully.

We had thought that the championship would be a straight shootout between the overnight leaders, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland. Despite this, Smith had not given up hope.

The round [Saturday] left him very frustrated, he said. In the end, I just shrugged it off pretty well. I didn't dwell on it too much."

With Australian support behind him, Smith started dancing again on Sunday. He shot 8-under 64, just like he did on Friday, to gate-crash what was meant to be McIlroy's coronation.

With a birdie on the last hole, Smith led McIlroy by two shots. The crowd gathered on the fairway praying for a miracle as he walked off to sign his scorecard.

Rather than my family, my team is here," he said. He wasn't able to travel for a week due to his father's health.

The person who was supposed to come over was actually my dad," Smith said. He is obviously kicking himself now.

[Sunday] was much softer. There was a lot of ground contact with the ball. [Saturday] was frictionless. It almost felt like a USGA event from 2015 or 2016.

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