Despite two opening bogeys, Australia’s Cameron Smith opened up a three-shot halfway lead on 17-under following a superb 64. Excerpts from his post-round interview:
Clearly not the start you were looking for, but you kept your head on and then just on fire from there. 20-under on the rest of the way those two days.
Cameron Smith: Yeah, a few bad shots there the first couple of holes. I didn’t really feel that comfortable on the range this morning. Yeah, and it kind of showed those first couple. Yeah, figured it out by the 4th or 5th and was able to get on a bit of a roll with the putter as well.
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How do you turn something like that around? If you definitely have a feeling that it’s not going to start out the way you want, the range doesn’t quite go the way you want it, how can you manage to turn that around?
Smith: Well, you would like to think, I’ve been playing golf basically my whole life, I could figure it out pretty quickly, and like I said, I figured it out within a few holes, started to feel really comfortable there, especially with the driver. Yeah, then the putter felt good the whole day.
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But it was a space where you could have just fallen out of it. I think at the time before you made that eagle at 5 you were down to like 15th, 16th, because people were going low. You just kept your head in the game?
Smith: Yeah, I mean, there’s no point bashing clubs around and doing all that stuff. It was definitely frustrating, but kept the head on, and I knew there was plenty of birdies out there seeing everyone go low.
What you’ve proven is there a low score out there each day. Do you think the guys are going to be coming hard at you now for the weekend and so what’s the plan for you?
Smith: Yeah, I mean, the course is still kind of receptive. It was nice to see a little bit of run in the fairways again today. But, yeah, there’s going to be low scores. There always is around here. And, yeah, just got to prepare for that the best I can and hopefully have a good weekend.
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Ernie Els was 17-under after 36 when he went 31-under for a PGA Tour record in 2003. Do you think about numbers like that? And when you think about being at the same point as he was on the way to 31, what’s your reaction to that?
Smith: Yeah, I mean, if you hadn’t have told me that, I would have had no idea. I’m really, I’m just trying to do the best I can, to be honest. I’m worried about one shot at a time. Those records are cool and stuff, but, yeah, I’m just trying to do my best I can every shot.
Is it mind-boggling to think about a final score under par that starts with a 3 and has a digit behind it?
Smith: Yeah, it is pretty crazy, especially back then, he must have played some great golf, I’m sure.
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