Monday At The Open Championship
Smith holds back tears while returning the Claret Jug. Fitzpatrick welcomes his brother to a major, Jordan gets to hit the opening tee shot and other notes from a busy Day at the 151st in Hoylake.
On a busy Monday at Royal Liverpool the Claret Jug was returned, Matthew Fitzpatrick all but ruled himself out of a top 20, a popular local qualifier will hit the first tee shot, Rory McIlroy made news hours after winning the Scottish and The Open week began in earnest.
As is modern The Open tradition, Cameron Smith pulled into the Mercedes Benz of Greater Wirral to return the Claret Jug a year after securing the prize given to the Champion Golfer Of The Year. The R&A’s Chief Martin Slumbers was on hand to receive the jug, inspecting the goods for any incidental damage, and to welcome Smith back to The Open.
In a press session hours later, Smith said he was not expecting emotions that came with the ceremonial return.
“I thought I was going to do all right, but I was actually holding back from tears,” he said. “A bit of a moment, I guess, that crept up on me.”
He assured all reporters in the full interview room that he’s recovered from the moment.
“I'll be able to sleep tonight,” the 2022 Open champion said.
The press conference was inundated with questions about his departure for LIV Golf and any apparent scarring as a result of being asked about the eventual move 16 questions into the 2022 champions press conference.
“It was frustrating at the time, just given the circumstance, but then I guess looking back on it, it's just a guy just trying to do his job and asked a question that everyone really wanted to know,” Smith said. Asked again about it later in the session, Smith implied he knew the question would be asked but also suggested agent Bud Martin had not prepped him for the moment.
“Internally I probably knew it was going to get asked, but yeah, there was no one there really backing me up,” he said as Martin smiled from the left side of the room.
Smith was also asked about an array of topics, including LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman (“I'd love to see him keep on”), his later-than-expected arrival in the region after choosing to drive from London (“a bit of a longer journey…than I was expecting”), and his assessment of Hoylake’s flatter greens where the punishment for missing the green “is maybe a little bit worse” than navigating contours.
As for a potential 2023 rematch with McIlroy, Smith said it would be a nice story but plenty of others in form should have their shot.
“He's played great golf the last few months here,” Smith said. “It looked like he finally got one on and it may have opened the floodgates for him for sure. But yeah, it would be a cool story for sure.”
McIlroy, the Genesis Scottish Open winner informed the R&A he would be passing on his 9 a.m. press session Tuesday just as he did at the U.S. Open. No reason was given but it’s presumed his Sunday win at Renaissance Club pushed back a few obligations and rest time.
The R&A is “efforting” for quotes but McIlroy was on the grounds Monday hitting balls, chatting up with pal Niall Horan and eventually playing the front nine with Padraig Harrington.
In other press sessions, 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick discussed the excitement of playing in the same major as his brother, Alex, a survivor of Final Qualifying who played the 2019 Walker Cup here.
“I think my biggest thing, a couple bits of advice I've given him, he came last week to play 18, which I think was helpful, see the golf course, no stress, no rush, and then I just told him take these next few days easy, nine holes each day,” he said.
The Fitzpatrick family is staying together and Matt noted the family name is about where the similarities end.
“On paper my strengths are driving and putting, and his strengths are short game and approach play,” he said. “Then off the golf course, yeah, we are just literally polar opposites. I'm like a control freak, OCD, organised, and he's not.”
Fitzpatrick turned a few heads by downplaying his chances at Royal Liverpool despite earning the silver medal as low amateur in his first Open (T44) at Muirfield.
“I've got to be realistic about where I am, where my game is,” he said. “No, it's not obviously where I would like it to be. I think everyone would be like to be playing golf like Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler right now, but that's pretty rare for the rest of us. I think for me, a good finish, all jokes aside, would be kind of top 30 this week. I really do.”
Well okay then.
Fitzpatrick entered the press session in the 33-1 to 45-1 range, which may soon become his price for low Fitzpatrick depending on how bookmakers read the remark delivered sincerely.
Fitzpatrick also spoke of his indifferent history on links and thought his best finish was 18th in The Open (it was 9th in 2022).
“It's always been when I've played well, it's been tough, it's been windy, it's been firm, it's been hard, but it's just purely a different type of golf course,” he said. “Maybe I do need to spend a bit more time getting used to it. I just think it's one of those things that hopefully will come.”
Not with that attitude.
Another Englishman and home course hero, Matthew Jordan, stopped in and had the R&A reveal he will be first off at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.
“It's an amazing honour,” the 27-year-old said. “I'm sure the first tee, no matter what was going to be special, but obviously to have this as a kid growing up, I used to wake up early, 6:30, and that was The Open commencing.”
The remaining times will be announced Tuesday on Sky Sports.
Jordan has not been out at Hoylake in the weeks since qualifying and said he’ll be discerning about what kind of advice he shares if asked by others during the practice days.
“I'm just looking at certain spots that you can hit it in terms of like I want to see where the rough is in certain places,” he said. “I'm not going to reveal where because I don't want to give away too many tips.
“Then I just want to see exactly how firm it is in terms of like hitting shots towards bunkers, how big the bounce is, how big the bounce is on greens. Instead of looking at the course, being able to actually feel it and see the bounces and everything like that.”
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