LIV GOLF LONDON

July 9, 2023

Cam Smith

Centurion Club

Ripper GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's bring up our individual champion of LIV Golf London, Cam Smith, captain of Ripper GC. Congratulations, Cam.

CAM SMITH: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: It is your first win of the season on LIV Golf, and you are heading into the Open. What kind of a statement does this make heading into the Open, winning this event in the UK? Tell us a little bit about that.

CAM SMITH: You know, it's good. I think it's more of a confidence thing there. Just winning again I think is nice.

It really hasn't been that long, I think. In Australia at the end of the year was my last win, but it feels like forever, and especially the way I've been playing the last couple months, I've been knocking on the door. It's nice to get one out of the way, and hopefully it opens the floodgates a little bit.

Q. Is this one a little bittersweet for you, what happened on the last hole and Ripper missing out on the playoff?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, my last three shots there were really quality shots. The shot into the green just got hit by the wind a little bit more than we were kind of anticipating. Nice bunker shot and a nice putt, but yeah, wasn't to be for the team this week.

It's nice to see that we were up at the top of the leaderboard there.

Q. How was it playing with Marc the last two days? Did that give you a little bit of encouragement?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it was nice playing with Leish. I haven't played with him in a competitive round in it seems like forever. He's hitting the ball so good at the moment. He probably got a little bit unlucky on the greens this weekend. Could have been a little bit of a different story, I think, for the team and for the individual outcome if some of those had gone in.

Yeah, it's good to see him back doing what he does out on the golf course, being creative and at the top of the leaderboard.

Q. In terms of your emotions, is it almost 50/50? Is it kind of weird to process you've got a win but you didn't get the playoff? What's going through your mind really?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I don't even know, to be honest. I kind of figured, you never know if your score counts, as well, so I was thinking that that putt on the last meant something, and like I said, I hit a good putt.

Really mixed emotions. We've been talking about it all year. It's been in the group chats. Everyone has been playing good the last couple of weeks, Spain and here. I think the practice rounds have got a little bit tidier, a little bit more crisp. Probably just a little bit more attention, I guess, to detail out on the golf course.

I was really expecting a big week last week. It wasn't really our weekend in Spain. We showed that we're a contender of the team stuff, and that's where we want to be every week.

Q. How did you process the entire day knowing that you were at the top of the leaderboard, you've got Marc chasing you, you've got others coming up to chase you, got the team element. As you're going through the round, are you looking at the leaderboards? Are you looking at where the team is?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, all that stuff. I'm a bit of a leaderboard watcher. I love to know where I'm at. I love to know kind of what I have to do.

This course is so fiddly, it's tough to play with a lead. You're almost trying to place it in the fairway and place it on the green rather than just hitting your shots. It can get to you.

I think it's the best the putter was felt for a long time, and I think that definitely saved today's round.

Q. Just wanted to ask what you've got planned now between now and going to Hoylake. Do you take a little bit of time off? Do you play some links golf other places?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, probably no golf for me next week. I'll be heading up to Hoylake on Saturday, so I'll have a bit of a longer prep than usual, but yeah, put the clubs down for three or four days, just hang out in London, see all the sights, and yeah, just have a good time, relax.

Q. Is there anything you feel you need to work on even though you've just won? Anything that's not where you want it going in?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I feel like I've done so much work on my driver this year, and it's really been feeling good. It wasn't its best weekend this weekend. I feel like I have to do some work on that.

Even though it's a links course, generally you have to hit a lot of different shots off tees. If there's one thing, I think it would just be tidy up that driver, and I'll be set.

Q. I take it you've never been to Hoylake?

CAM SMITH: No, it'll be my first time.

Q. You're standing on 18; do you know you have a two-shot lead?

CAM SMITH: Yes.

Q. If there isn't a team element with LIV Golf and you're just playing in individual play, are you going to play the hole differently than the way you played it?

CAM SMITH: Geez, if I could do it again I'd hit the fairway. That would be probably number one.

I'd play it exactly how Leish played the last hole. That was pretty much perfect.

No, I don't think any different. It's a par-5. Obviously Patrick was up at the green. You're kind of not expecting eagle, but it can definitely happen. So you've got to stay aggressive. You've got to stay on the gas there and try and make a birdie.

Q. Were you playing for yourself or were you playing for the team walking down 18, walking into that bunker? Did you know where you were at?

CAM SMITH: I kind of looked at the leaderboard there. I knew where I was at. It's kind of always a little bit tricky with the three scores counting rather than four.

Obviously I wanted to get up-and-down, just in case. Like I said before, I actually hit a nice wedge shot in there, it just got smoked by the wind. Probably shouldn't have even been there in the first place.

It would have been so cool to be a part of the first playoff in the team events and also be up there with the boys. It would have been awesome.

Q. Commiserations to your cricket team, but you are the winning Australian in this country today. Going into Hoylake, now coming off the back of a win, does that take the pressure off of it, because once you get going it's easier mentally, so with all the other hoopla you'll have around as the defending champion, does this take some of the pressure off?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I wouldn't say it really takes the pressure off. I think it's just nice to be playing good golf. There's nothing worse going into a big golf tournament and you're playing crappy golf.

Like I've mentioned, there's probably a few things to clean up if I want to contend in a couple of weeks' time, but yeah, it's still a big event. It's still got all the biggest names there. It's the Open Championship, so you want to do your best. There's always that pressure.

Just more of a confidence booster, I think, this weekend.

Q. You mentioned you're a leaderboard watcher in these LIV Golf events, but to what extent do you know what your other teammates are doing, because Jed Morgan made a pretty crazy eagle at 10. Is that the kind of information that gets spread down to you by your caddie or something?

CAM SMITH: No, I didn't know that. Rant, his caddie, was just telling me on 18 green there. Yeah, it was a pretty cool finish by Jed.

I think for a young fella like Jed, that's the reason you have to hang in, not only for the team now but for yourself. I think hanging in there, you never know what's going to happen on those last five or six holes. You could finish with five birdies and really make a difference. It's nice for him to experience that.

I kind of wish I had have been there for him, to be honest. It would have been cool to see.