THE 151ST OPEN

July 21, 2023

Travis Smyth

Mixed Zone

Q. How did that feel?

TRAVIS SMYTH: It was amazing. A bittersweet actually. I had a shock of the day before, made double bogey, and I was just really happy I hit a good shot because I was just so disappointed from the day before. Yeah, huge surprise that it went in the hole.

It was just the perfect distance, perfect wind and the club. Everything just kind of came together, and it was a moment I'll never forget.

Q. Did you know as soon as you hit it it was going to be good?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Not really. There was a fair bit of wind up there, and we're chipping 9-irons and the ball can kind of balloon a fair bit, but --

Q. It was a 9-iron?

TRAVIS SMYTH: It was a chippy 9-iron, and yeah, just probably halfway through the flight I was like, all right, this is going to be good. It looked amazing.

Q. Have you ever had a hole-in-one before?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, I've had two others. Both those ones were kind of -- I wouldn't say poor shots, but I wasn't aiming at the flag. I kind of pushed one in the hole and then I pulled another, and then today was kind of my first hole-in-one that I've actually attempted to get it close.

Q. To do it on a hole that's been so widely debated this week --

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, it's crazy.

Q. A little bit of history.

TRAVIS SMYTH: For sure. It's super cool. When I first played it I think last Friday, I thought it was a great hole, for the length. If it was a little bit longer and we were hitting 6-iron it would be pretty unfair. But there's enough green over there for a 9-iron or 8-iron.

The punishment is big, but it makes for great golf come Sunday.

Q. You come off, and the champion's there to greet you.

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, pretty cool. I don't know Cam too well, but just enough to have chitchat here and there, so that was cool.

Q. How were you trying to play the shot? What adjustments were you making in your technique?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, so I was trying to -- I hit a 9-iron. I took some pace off to keep the ball flight down. I put it back in the stance a little bit, I gripped down a little, as well, and I tried to hit it 20 feet right of the pin and allowed for the wind to bring it back to the middle or basically the flag.

Q. I noticed a lot of players tee up their ball even though it's a short shot. Why is that?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Probably just like less interaction with the ground. When you're trying to hit a low one, you are coming in quite steep and we're hitting 9-irons so probably it's easier off a tee a little bit so you're not catching the ground instantly at impact, which will create spin, which into the wind you don't want to do.

Some tee it quite high when they want to hit low ones. Yeah, that's why.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey from last year when you were here for Centurion and had an amazing week, a million dollars in a week, and then suddenly -- talk about that journey.

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, it was amazing. So the week before the Centurion LIV event was the International Series England was the name of the tournament. It was an Asian Tour event.

About a month prior to that event, we got told, us Asian Tour players, that depending on how you play, if you come top 3, top 4, top 5, there may be a spot in the very first LIVE event. So we're all very excited and I went and came second, and then, yeah, I narrowly missed a playoff.

But got to play the first LIV event and it was unbelievable. Then yeah, when I was at the prize ceremony for the International Series England, I got told that I'd get to play three. Then there was another sort of qualification process.

I was never really booted off LIV. I just was always granted three from the start. Ever since then, it's changed my life, obviously, for the better financially. Professional golf is very, very expensive. Most people don't realise that.

Since the LIV experience I've been able to do my thing much more comfortably, and I've been better for it.

Q. If you hadn't been on that journey, would you have been here at this Open?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Well, I qualified for The Open through another Asian Tour tournament, so yeah, LIV and this weren't really intertwined. But I came third in it was called the World City Championship in Hong Kong.

They gave us four spots for that, which was cool, and I came third. That's why I'm here.

Q. Winning a million dollars in a week or an ace at The Open, what's better?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Ooh, that's a tough one. Probably a million dollars.

Q. What was the interaction with the crowd like?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, it was really, really loud. It was awesome. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have known it went in. You couldn't see it. You couldn't probably see half of the flagstick.

If it wasn't for the guys up by the green, I wouldn't have known it went in. It was great. It was awesome. Even walking back to 18th tee people were yelling my name; walking down 18 people were yelling my name.

Yeah, it was cool. I almost hit the same ball down 18, but with the out of bounds just there I thought I should change balls and leave that ball with a good memory.

Q. So you kept that?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Kept the ball, yeah. A few kids asked for it, but I felt bad I needed to keep that one.

Q. Will you put it in a case or --

TRAVIS SMYTH: I don't know. I'll figure it out once I get home. Maybe.

Q. (Indiscernible).

TRAVIS SMYTH: To be honest, no, I didn't play very good this week. I didn't have much control of my golf ball at all. It's a pretty demanding golf course. Kind of felt like I was on the wrong end of it all week. Yeah, obviously this has chewed me up a lot. It's as good as you can feel making the cut, put it that way.

Q. Where are you living at the moment?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Sydney and Chicago.

Q. You've got a place in Chicago?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, my girlfriend has a place there and I spend maybe three months of the year there. It's wintertime in Sydney, kind of off-season right now for the Asian Tour, and it's summertime there, so Chicago is my second home.

Q. Nice boost for the rest of the season.

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, of course, yeah. It's amazing. We're going to have a busy back end of the year with the Asian Tour, and I'm going to do Q-school, as well, for the Korn Ferry TOUR, and just see where we're at at the end of the year.

Q. Are you going to play International Series in Scotland?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yes, yes, for sure. I'm going to go back to Chicago for a couple weeks and then come back and play those. Can't wait.

Q. Asian Tour Order of Merit, is that something on your mind?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yes, for sure. Winning the International Series for the Asian Tour, obviously everyone knows you get a spot on the LIV Tour, so that's what I'm aiming at for sure.