Though disappointed after falling out of contention at The Masters, Cameron Smith will looking to tick some unchecked boxes at the RBC Heritage. Excerpts:
We would like to welcome Cameron Smith to the interview room here at the RBC Heritage. Cameron, you’ve had a nice start to the season, a couple of wins, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and THE PLAYERS Championship, a couple of stellar tournaments. Last week, obviously in contention at the Masters, it was
an emotional week, great playing. Just talk about what that week was like and then heading here to the RBC Heritage.
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Cameron: Yeah, it was a really good week. Another really solid week. Yeah, felt really, I guess comfortable last week and it was nice to kind of be in contention on Sunday to not quite get it done was perhaps a little bit frustrating, but Scottie (Scheffler) played some pretty good golf there toward the end, so hats off to him. But, yeah, just a couple of days rest for me after, I haven’t touched a golf club since.
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After a stressful week like that, a lot of emotions, how do you deal with the Sunday night the next few days before you tee it up the following week?
Cameron: Yeah, I think after last week especially being in contention the whole week gets quite mentally draining and just exhausting. So, yeah, a couple days off I went back to Jacksonville, spent a day there with some buddies, my mom and my dad, and then we come up here yesterday afternoon and, yeah, took a pretty easy again.
A lot of guys enjoy coming here after a week like a Major championship, it’s a bit of a relaxed vibe. This is your sixth start here, you finished in the top 10 one time when you were leading for the first round, you’ve obviously got some familiarity with the golf course. When you come here after being in contention in a major, what’s it like when you come here with the expectation of performing well again?
Cameron: Yeah, I try not to put too much expectation on myself typically I’m more of a process kind of person. I’ll get out there and just try and tick a few boxes that perhaps we missed at the end of last week or this week and the start of this week.
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That third hole where it just seemed like such a great example of how small little things can shift the entire perspective of a round. Both from your angle maybe your second shot wasn’t what you wanted, but from everything that happened from the favourable drop to like the chip-in, what does that say about golf and how things turn on such a dime?
Cameron: Yeah, I think after the first couple of holes the momentum was definitely in my favour and I felt as though I hit some really quality golf shots and my game felt really comfortable. I didn’t — I wasn’t fazed by the situation and then the momentum shifted basically as soon as he (Scottie Scheffler) chipped that in and I thought I hit a pretty decent chip shot up there and it just ran through and missed the putt. So, yeah, that’s just how I guess golf just kind of shifts so quickly. Even the next hole, Scottie hit it left and I hit probably one of the best iron shots I hit all week into that front bunker and I made another bogey. So it’s just how golf is. It’s so fiddly at times and it seems like sometimes those shots just go your way and other times they don’t, there’s no real way to put your finger on it, I guess.
As you’ve climbed the world rankings and had more success has the biggest change been something technical in your game or has it been something internal?
Cameron: Yeah, I think perhaps maybe just a little shift of mindset with my off-season I think was probably the biggest change for me. Typically I don’t do a lot, don’t spend a lot of time in the gym, just kind of, I’ve felt I guess in the past that we’ve had such a long season that it’s nice to take a couple of months off, but, yeah, last year was definitely different. I think I took a couple of weeks off where I just relaxed and then, yeah, really got into the gym and started working on my longer stuff, especially my longer irons and my driver I felt as though I did a lot of work on over the off-season and I think that was the biggest change for me, just that driver especially just giving me some more opportunities at birdie and the rest of the game I mean hasn’t really changed that much. I just think I’ve been in the fairway more often and yeah, had more putts at birdie.
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Being in contention in the Majors, is there anything you learned last week that will help you maybe eventually get that Major win?
Cameron: Not really. It’s obviously a little bit of a different feeling, I think, with the atmosphere, especially Augusta, you hear so many roars and cheers for other
guys and you almost figure out in your own head what’s going on without actually seeing it. But I think I’ve always been pretty good at just really focusing on myself, one shot at a time, really trying to play the right shot, not trying to play the shot that the circumstance really calls for. I think that’s a big part of winning tournament golf is just playing the right shot, not trying to play the situation, if that makes sense. So, yeah, just really trusting the game and, yeah, the game feels good, it just wasn’t my week.
