The Open Championship is notorious for its slow play because the massive 156-man field at Royal Birkdale lacks split-tee starts, course bottlenecks, length and difficulty, and complex pre-shot routines. The R&A has enforced the Pace of Play Policy for this reason to ensure that the championship keeps moving. Many players complained about the slow play, but not Cameron Smith, who spent nearly five and a half hours grinding through this year’s opening round. Speaking at the post-round conference, he addressed the topic when asked whether it bothered him.

“Not really. I think we’re used to it. Major championship venues are going to be long days. They’re tough tests. It’s just kind of what you expect. I definitely wasn’t frustrated with the pace of play. I think you’re just kind of waiting for it,” he said.

In the classic style, The Open features tricky crosswinds and long walks between tees that add up fast at a links course, and this year has been no exception. Rory McIlroy’s group needed four hours to play just 11 holes at last year’s edition. And Justin Thomas pinned that delay squarely on swirling winds that made it hard to find fairways.

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Smith’s round mirrored McIlroy’s experience. The wind greeted him on the first hole and flipped in the other direction by the time he reached the second. He shared that he spent the rest of the day fighting crosswinds that turned tee shots into a lottery.

On the front nine, the 32-year-old made par on the first and second holes despite the crosswinds, but bogeyed the par-3 4th, par-4 6th, and par-4 8th. On the back nine, he made only one birdie on the par-4 11th to finish with a 3-over 73. Later, Smith made sure not to dwell on mistakes, insisting he wouldn’t change much about how he played the round.

The strangest moment of the day for Smith came right near the finish. Smith found the 18th green with a strong approach, only to watch his putt take an unexpected bounce and slide past the cup instead of dropping. He chalked it up to the firmness of a green that hadn’t been softened by a full day of play, noting that it wobbled early and never came back.

“I think we got the 1st hole with that morning wind, and about the time we reached the 2nd hole, the wind switched,” he added. “Like I said, a lot of those holes, particularly off the tee, played like that crosswind, and it’s just hard to kind of hold the fairway; you have to hit a really nice shot to hold the fairway. It changed a little bit, the wind direction, but the course was honestly pretty good the whole day. It didn’t really change a whole lot.

“No, I honestly feel like I hit it pretty good today. Yeah, like I said, just need to get a meter in the fairway rather than out of it, and I think it’s a different story.”

That said, the 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year has had a rocky run at majors over the last two years. But despite missing cuts at Portrush and Troon, Smith is confident heading into Friday.

Smith believes Friday’s early tee time could shift momentum; he’s counting on the greens, and he feels he could make a major comeback in the game.

Smith’s 2017 Open debut at Birkdale gives him course familiarity heading into Friday. Whether he can use that to turn it in on the weekend remains to be seen.