Cameron Smith has vowed to find out how many beers he can fit into the Claret Jug trophy, after the Australian was crowned Open Champion at St Andrews. Smith carded a sensational eight-under-par 64 on Sunday to collect his maiden major title.
Following his victory the Australian star went through his usual post-tournament media duties, and during one interview revealed some of his celebratory plans. As a result, Smith revealed he was aiming to fill the historic trophy with as much beer as possible.
The Open champion said: “I'm definitely going to find out how many beers fit in this thing [the Claret Jug] that's for sure!"
Prior to revealing his Sunday night shenanigans, Smith initially found it hard to put into words just how much it meant to be crowned Open champion after giving his victory speech in front of the St Andrews crowd. Upon accepting the trophy he commented: “Jeez what a week. I'm going to fall apart here I know!
“I want to thank the team for all the hard work we've done.The last couple of years it has really started to pay off and this one definitely makes it worth it. It was absolutely awesome out there, I thought the course was exactly how an Open Championship should be played; firm and fast, tough pins - it was just unreal."
Smith’s famous victory at the Home of Golf came at the expense of Rory McIlroy, after overnight leader and well backed favourite was pipped following the Australian’s remarkable back nine performance, after he carded five birdies on the bounce between the 10th and 14th. The near miss means the Northern Irishman’s eight-year wait for a fifth major title goes on.
Expressing his disappointment post-round, McIlroy told Sky Sports: “I sort of expected someone to come from the pack. The two Camerons obviously played really, really well today and made life difficult for me. I was playing a controlled round of golf but when I really needed to make some birdies there at the start of the back nine, I just couldn't.
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“I was trying my hardest obviously. Cam played an unbelievable first two days then sort of got his bad one out of the way yesterday and followed it up with a great round today.I came up a couple short of what I thought I needed.
“I thought I'd need to get to at least 20 and I didn't quite get there so I'm disappointed I didn't do that. But I gave another good account of myself this week. You've just got to keep plugging away, keep the head down and keep moving forward."
