US OPEN REPORT: CAM 'TICKS BOX' WITH SOLO 4TH
LOS ANGELES – Cameron Smith didn’t raise the trophy Sunday at the U.S. Open but his hopes for future success at the major that generally has bedeviled him certainly have been raised.
With a final-round 3-under 67, Smith finished in solo fourth at 6 under, four shots behind winner Wyndham Clark. It’s Smith’s best result at the U.S. Open since 2015 when he made his major debut at Chambers Bay and tied for fourth.
In the ensuing six U.S. Open starts, he missed the cut three times and never finished better than T38. So if there’s a moral victory to be had, perhaps this is it. Not completely satisfying, but certainly a positive step, especially as his form continues to trend in the right direction going into his title defense at next month’s Open Championship.
“This is kind of a big tick of the box, I think,” Smith said. “Obviously a world-class field, world-class venue, and it got really tough on the weekend, as well. So the game is feeling really good, and just probably a little bit of confidence.”
Succeeding at U.S. Opens generally requires finding fairways. Smith hit 67% of his fairways this week, tying for 32nd in that category. More to the point, he was a plus-0.08 in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, ranking 34th.
With Smith’s short game and putting ability, he doesn’t need his driver as a primary weapon. He just needs it to be accommodating.
“The U.S. Open typically hasn't been a happy hunting ground for me, probably due to lack of driver accuracy,” Smith said. But this week, he “really hit that driver in the fairway and give myself a lot of opportunities.
“I feel like if I had to reflect, those first two days for me is where the putts just didn’t quite drop. Definitely should have been a little bit further up on the leaderboard.”
Starting the day seven shots off the lead, Smith knew it would take a record-setting performance to get in the mix. A glimmer of hope flashed through his mind after his first birdie at the short par-4 sixth. But bogeys at the next two par 3s essentially doused his hopes of applying pressure on the leaders.
Still, his back-nine performance created good vibes at a bogey-free 3 under. His solo fourth is his second consecutive top-10 performance in a major after his T9 at last month’s PGA Championship.
“Just played the back nine just really solid,” the Ripper GC captain said. “There was a couple of good up-and-downs there to kind of keep the momentum going, but I don't think I would have done too much different on that back nine. It was really solid. …
“All in all, if you had given me 3-under at the start of the day, I think I would have taken it.”
So now he has two LIV Golf League tournaments – at Valderrama June 30-July 2, then the next week at London July 7-9 – before his title defense at Royal Liverpool. Currently with a streak of six consecutive top 10 finishes in all starts, Smith likes his current form. Especially with his driver.
“We have a week off now before we get to Spain, so I'll probably just hang out, really not do much practice,” he said. “It's going to be kind of a busy part of the year here for us the next kind of seven or eight weeks. Just lay low and get to Spain and just focus on that driver again.
“I think for me, that's the difference to winning the golf tournaments and not winning. Just keep that driver on a string.“
Asked to compare his current form with the form that won the Open Championship last year, he replied: "It feels right there If anything, I think the driver feels better than what it did last year, and the irons and the short game, I think they're right there. I think I'm a better player than what I was last year."
That's good news for his growing legion of fans – and ominous news for his competitors.
TOP 5 UPDATE
With his solo fourth Sunday, Cameron Smith became the fifth different LIV Golf League member to finish top 5 in a major this season.
Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson tied for second at the Masters, with Patrick Reed tying for fourth.
Koepka, of course, won the PGA Championship, with Bryson DeChambeau tied for fourth.
PUTTS, NOT QUAD
It’s easy to point to the quadruple-bogey 8 that Dustin Johnson suffered in the second round as the determining factor to his fate at LACC. Give him a par instead, and the 4Aces GC captain would’ve been within one shot of the lead going into Sunday. Instead, he was five back and needed a miracle rally.
It didn’t happen, of course, as Johnson shot an 2-over 72 to finish at 3 under and in a four-way tie for 10th.
But for DJ, it wasn’t the quad, but his putter that kept him from making any noise this week.
“I played really, really nicely I felt like,” Johnson said. “Just didn't hole any putts was the key. For me, I hit it really nice. I hit a lot of great shots, gave myself lots of opportunities for birdie. Just didn't hole enough putts.”
Johnson’s best putting day actually came on Friday when he suffered the quad but still shot 70. He gained 2.76 strokes on the field with his putter that round.
But this weekend, he indeed couldn’t find the bottom of the cup – especially on Sunday when he ranked 62nd out of 65 players in Strokes Gained: Putting, giving up 3.27 strokes to the field.
BLINDED BROOKS
Brooks Koepka revealed before the tournament that he had issues with Los Angeles Country Club. On Tuesday, after only playing the front nine, he said, “I'm not a huge fan of the blind tee shots or even blind shots going into the green. I've never been a real fan of it. I like to see where your golf ball goes.”
The next sign of concern? The first round when he made just two birdies during what turned out to be the lowest scoring first round in tournament history.
Then, after shooting 71-69 that left him 10 shots off the lead, he reiterated his thoughts on LACC. “I'm not a huge fan of this place,” he said. “I'm not a huge fan of blind tee shots, and then I think there's just some spots that no matter what you hit, the ball just ends up in the same spot.”
So it shouldn’t be a surprise he never was in the mix for a second consecutive major win, as he shot 70-69 on the weekend to finish T17 – despite a Saturday four-putt.
He didn’t play poorly; he just didn’t have many fireworks in his bag, making 13 birdies all week. Still, he goes to Royal Liverpool with a chance to win two majors in a season, which he did in 2018.
BRYSON'S T20
Bryson DeChambeau's week started with lots of promise after an opening 67. But it ended on a sour note with a 74 in which he made just one birdie – at the par-5 14th – followed by a bogey at 16 and a double bogey at 17.
The putter that worked for him on Thursday when he gained 2.18 strokes on the field betrayed him in the final three rounds, as he lost 3.57 strokes to the field.
Still, the T20 finish is his best result at the U.S. Open since winning in 2020.
PUIG'S BIRDIE STREAK
Torque GC's David Puig, the second youngest pro to make the cut at age 21, reeled off four consecutive birdies from holes 12-15 on Sunday en route to a 3-under 67. That moved him to 4 over and a tie for 39th in his first major start.
"Hit perfect shots and made very good putts," said Puig, who made seven birdies on Sunday and finished the week ranked 8th in Strokes Gained: Putting.
For a complete story on Puig's thoughts on his first major, click here.