3 minute read
After relaxing by watching his favourite comedy cop show, Cameron Smith will put on his finest Queensland maroon and try to pull off a great Open charge.
Cameron Smith reckons he just can't keep still even when there's not really anything for him to do.
So filling in those idle hours waiting for his latest shot at glory in the final round of the British Open at Royal St George's on Sunday will doubtless drive him nuts.
"I can't sit still when I'm at home - I go and practice golf, I'm mowing the lawn, I'm fiddling with my cars and I just can't sit still - drives my girlfriend insane," Smith smiles.
And it's just the same here where he's sharing accommodation with his caddie Sam Pinfold, who, as Smith puts it cheekily, is "one of them Kiwis".
With nothing to do but dream of his long shot at becoming the first Aussie for 28 years since Greg Norman to win the Open, he planned a late night and sleep in before his 1.55pm tee time.
"I mean, it's Netflix that's been saving me," Smith says, explaining his current favourite show is his way of late-night relaxation.
"Yeah, it's Brooklyn Nine Nine. It's funny, I have a little giggle for myself before I go to be bed - and it puts me to sleep."
That he'll have the last laugh on Sunday, he accepts, is pretty unlikely as he goes into the final round six shots behind 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen, who's being pursued by American major winners Collin Morikawa, one behind, and Jordan Spieth, three adrift.
Yet you never know. The forecast is all sunshine and birdies but if the wind does whip up as the links course gets more firm, the bounce gets more unpredictable and the last-day pin positions more fiendish, Smith reckons there's still a chance he could shoot a winning 62.
Er, a "very slim" chance, he admits, but he does feel he can do something "very special".
So he'll be power dressing for the occasion. In finest maroon.
"I'll definitely always give them (maroon shirts) a crack on Sunday afternoon. I grew up in Queensland, I'm an avid State of Origin fan, so I feel like it's who I am - I'm a Queenslander, so I may as well show it on the last day."
Even on Saturday, in the heat of battle during the penultimate round, Smith still found time when someone the galleries hailed him with "Up the Maroons!" to turn and give them a thumbs up as he marched down the fairway.
"I enjoy the interaction - I think they can be definitely be on your side or against you. I'd rather have banter with them and get them on my side!" he said.
With the magnificent mullet flailing behind him in the sea winds - it's longer and thicker than the rough in these parts, goes the joke here - Smith cuts a relaxed and charismatic character who's clearly going to be good for golf.
What's been great about him at Sandwich in a fairly woeful tournament for his compatriots is that Florida-based Smith has kept battling on so commendably amid an 18-month period when he's found it brutal never to see any of his close family.
"I'm dying to get back to Australia," he says. "I miss it so much. I miss all my mates, I miss my family. So I'm just doing my stuff and I know my day will come...."
A Sandwich Sunday couldn't be that feast day, could it?
