Two years after securing the coveted Claret Jug with a phenomenal win at St Andrews, Cameron Smith narrowly avoided shooting his worst score in a major after an opening day of the British Open at Troon that he described as “absolutely brutal”.

The former world No.2 teed off in the most challenging conditions on a testing day at Troon and was under pressure immediately when triple-bogeying the second hole on the way to shooting a 9-over 80.

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In numerical terms, it is his highest score in a major, though he scored a 9-over 79 at Shinnecock Hills on a similarly brutal day at the US Open in 2018. He managed to drain a decent putt on the 18th for birdie, one of three for the day, to avoid a personal record.

“It’s just a bad day, really,” he said.

“I mean, if you had told me yesterday that I was going to shoot that, I wouldn’t have said that was possible. But (it was) just a bit of a crappy start and didn’t really manage to hold any putts when I needed to, to kind of get back in it. It’s just a bad day and I had some bad breaks as well.”

The 30-year-old turned in a seven-over 43 and while the weather settled to a degree after 6pm on a day where play began 12 hours earlier, Smith was unable to rally as he plummeted out of contention, with his score ballooning to 10-over after 15 holes.

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Rubbing salt into Smith’s wounds is that playing partner Shane Lowry shot an impressive 5-under after playing superbly despite the tricky conditions.

It left the Irishman one shot off the lead which is held by England’s Daniel Brown.

Fellow playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick was also among the handful of golfers including Australian Adam Scott to finish under par.

“If you ask Shaneo, it is probably a different story, but no, it’s hard, mate,” he said.

“There was a lot of crosswinds and it was hard to keep the ball on the fairway and then, when you landed in the rough, it’s kind of you kind of guessing when you land something short with the bounces you are going to get, so yeah, it was brutal.

“It really was a good test of golf and you needed to be on your A-plus game to be under par and I witnessed it.”

The weather has played havoc, with only 15 players under par at 7.20pm as Smith came up the 16th hole, having recorded eight bogeys to go with his nightmare on the second, along with a birdie in which he rattled in a 40-foot putt on the 3rd hole, and five pars.

Australia’s other leading contenders are far better positioned, headed by veteran Adam Scott, who providing an early highlight when chipping in from the bunker on the opening hole on the way to shooting a solid 1-under.

Scott wasn’t happy with his second shot, which found one of the several bunkers on 1, but made up for it with a classy chip from the deep trap, which rolled into the hole.

Compatriot Min Woo Lee is one shot back at even par, with two late birdies rocketing him back into contention after a slow start as competitors came to grips with a U-turn in the direction the wind is blowing from practice rounds earlier this week.

Jason Day battled well in the trickiest conditions to record of 2-over, which positions him in a tie for 48th, but other big names including Rory McIlroy (+7), Bryson deChambeau (+5) and veteran Ernie Els (+11) and Tiger Woods (+8) also endured nightmare opening days.

McIlroy said he can only focus on trying to make the cut after his disastrous opening round

The world number two was looking to bounce back from narrowly missing out on a first major title for 10 years at the US Open last month.

But McIlroy’s dreams of a second Claret Jug turned into a nightmare in the wind and rain on Scotland’s west coast.

Things began to go wrong for the Northern Irishman at the par-three eighth where he found a green-side bunker with his tee shot and then rolled back into the sand with his second to make a double bogey.

He then fired out of bounds to post another double bogey at 11 and also dropped shots at the 10th, 15th and 18th.

“Just one of those days where I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions,” said McIlroy.

“All I need to focus on is tomorrow and try to make the cut. That’s all I can focus on.” McIlroy was far from the only big name to struggle with the combination of tough conditions and a challenging course.

US Open champion DeChambeau needed an eagle on the 17th to post a five-over 76, while world number four Ludvig Aberg hit 75.

McIlroy explained how he had been caught out by cross-winds coming from a different direction to what he had faced in practice earlier in the week.

He last missed the cut at the British Open on home soil at Portrush in 2019, when a six-under par second round could not undo the damage of an eight-over 79 on day one.

“It was more like the conditions got the better of me,” added McIlroy. “I need to go out there and play better and try to shoot something under par and at least be here for the weekend, if not try to put myself up the leaderboard a bit more and feel like I have half a chance.

Australia’s amateur entrant Jasper Stubbs endured a difficult debut in the British Open when shooting 9-over, but was far stronger on the back nine and finished the round with a birdie to provide him with some optimism heading into the second round.

Elvis Smylie rallied late with three birdies from his final four holes to record 5-over.

“It was pretty solid,” Scott said.

“ I think the wind change … made the back nine play tougher, even though it was down wind, (because) I hadn’t really played in that wind and I made a couple of errors. But it was fairly uneventful day, so I’ve played solid and pretty happy to start off under par.”

While the back nine is traditionally more testing than the front at Troon, which is often described as a tale of two courses, the change in wind assisted golfers in handling some of the more testing par 4s.

But that did not mean it was less tricky, with Scott over-clubbing on 16 as a result.

“On these holes … the last time I played it was 2-irons and 3-irons into every hole (whereas) today it was a sand wedge into 15,” he said. “Trying to figure that out, it was a bit like a practice run back nine today. I made an error on 16, got one too much off the tee and it cost me a bogie, but other than that everything was good.”

The 44-year-old, who finished runner-up in the Scottish Open last week, feels in better control of his game than he has in years and is hopeful of being in contention at Troon on the weekend.

“It’d be great because my game is finally in some decent shape where I feel like I’m controlling the ball well,” he said.

“(That is something) you need to do out here, especially if you’re going to give yourself a lot of chances. It’s sometimes easy to scrap it around the links, but you’re not going to hold a lot of 40 foot (putts).

“So at some point, you’re going to need to hit some really quality iron shots from the fairway to get in close to some tough pins and give yourself more realistic chances. They are the guys who are going to be up there at the end of the week.”

Lee started slowly with consecutive bogeys on the second and third holes and double-bogeyed the 11th but played the last four holes in 3-under to finish square with the card.

He struggled early with the tempo of the greens, saying it felt like he was “smashing the putt but coming up short”.

“It was amazing. My caddie and I knew that it was going to be a tough day and, especially, the back nine is really tough,” he said.

“I made a quick double … but, you know, it was just one of those things where you know it is one of the hardest holes on (the) course. (But) I managed to hit a lot of good shots on the back nine over the last four or five or six holes and I was converting them.

“I was getting close. I feel like the putts that I’ve just missed, I read well, but just left it shorter, so I just needed to hit a harder and they went in.”

Stubbs, meanwhile, was relieved to finish with a birdie on the 18th after a testing start in which he put his opening tee shot out of bounds when pushing it towards the Firth of Clyde on route to shooting a 9-over the card.

“I finished quite nicely … but, yeah, I just got off to an annoying start to say the least,” he told foxsports.com.au

“It is not a good sign when you hit one OOB off the first, but it is what it is and I moved on. It didn’t get any better from there for a while but I fought back on the back nine.”

There was rain forecast across all four days of The Open, and a light shower has already passed through Royal Troon but hasn’t disrupted play.

AUSSIES AT THE OPEN

Adam Scott -1

Min Woo Lee E

Jason Day -2

Elvis Smylie +5

Cameron Smith +9

Jasper Stubbs +9

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