The Mullet surges ahead, Rory folds, Tiger Cries, and LIV soldiers on.
Mullet Love
Cameron Smith with his trademark mullet ties the best round of the day propelling him to the title of Champion Golfer of the year.
The 8-under-par round was enough for Smith to edge the other Cam, Cameron Young, for an impressive 20-under-par final score and one shot victory.
The mullet on the front nine had a streak of 3 birdies in a row, and 4 birdies out of 5 holes.
The signature moment for Smith was his final hole of the tournament with an eagle to propel him into the league.
Smith won his first major championship of his career at the home of golf St. Andrews. Smith also won the Players championship back in March.
Smith outlasted the overnight leaders that failed to get it done on Sunday.
Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland were tied for 1st place entering Sunday’s championship rounds.
Hovland finished the round with three bogeys and just one birdie on a day when the conditions were favorable for scoring. Hovland’s round of 74 dropped the 54 hold leader down to 4th place in the final standings.
Hovland as likable a player as he is wasn’t the rooting favor for the golf establishment.
In Rory They Trust
Those rooting against LIVE were rooting for a Rory miracle at St. Andrews. Rory has taken up the mantle of chief prosecutor of everything that’s wrong with LIV’s emergence on the golf scene.
After saying this week that it would be better if LIV went away, and Tiger missed the cut, Rory emerged as the rooting favorite to win by those who want to see the current ecosystem in golf remain as it is.
But it wasn’t to be.
With just two birdies and the rest pars Rory didn’t make any mistakes, but he also didn’t take advantage of the many scoring opportunities on a course that freely yielded birdies to other competitors.
Tiger Watch Ends Early
Tiger’s rough week ended in a missed cut Friday afternoon. Nine over par for the first two rounds of the tournament left Woods in unfamiliar territory near the bottom of the leader-board.
A teary Tiger walked up the 18th fairway on Friday realizing that moment may be his last as a serious competitor at St. Andrews.
In his post round interview Friday with Sky Sports, Tiger mentioned that it would be possibly 2030 before the Open Championship returned to St. Andrews and it was probably his last British Open at the home of golf.
He mentioned the collective warm of the crowd, and his fortune to have won twice at St. Andrews.
Can I LIV?
There were 8 LIV players that made the cut this weekend. Three of them found their way to the top 15.
Dustin Johnson – T6
Bryson DeChambeau – T8,
Abraham Ancer – T11