Open Championship: Cameron Smith, defending champ shunned by R&A

Cameron Smith took dwelling the Claret Jug in epic trend final 12 months. As he makes an attempt to defend his title, Smith surprisingly is not in a featured group for the 151st Open Championship.

Did the R&A purposefully shun their present Champion Golfer of the Yr? Does his LIV Golf standing have an effect on his capacity to be in a featured group?

The Open’s web site would not have a lot promoting about Smith both. The occasion tweeted about him earlier, but it surely’s been fairly slim for the defending champion.

They’ve carried out an important job highlighting former Open champ Rory McIlroy, who gained at Royal Liverpool in 2014. Tommy Fleetwood has gotten a whole lot of love as properly.

Why hasn’t Smith gotten extra consideration? The R&A was one of many first governing our bodies of golf to permit LIV Golf gamers into the majors. That call is sensible as a result of Smith is their defending champion.

Now that The Open is right here, Smith seems to get the silent remedy. Not having your defending champion in a featured group looks like a stance. The R&A would not have the PGA Championship winner, Brooks Koepka, in a featured group both.

Koepka, in fact, additionally being a member of the LIV Golf Tour.

Is that this LIV scenario so upsetting that the R&A can’t even embody two of the very best golfers on this planet of their featured protection? As an alternative, their featured teams are Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jason Day. The second morning group is Scottie Scheffler, Fleetwood and Adam Scott.

These two appear comprehensible. Scheffler is No. 1 on this planet, and Fleetwood is from Liverpool. However the group of Spieth, Fitzpatrick and Day is a curious one which simply may have had the defending champion in it as an alternative.

Within the afternoon wave of protection, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland and Justin Thomas make up the primary featured group. McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose make up the second.

McIlroy, Hovland, Rose and Rahm make sense. Nevertheless, Finau and Thomas do not. It isn’t taking something away from these two, however Smith and Koepka would have made for a significantly better possibility. Thomas hasn’t performed properly a lot of the season, so that includes him within the final main is a daring alternative.

Perhaps the R&A will function Smith at the very least on Friday earlier than the minimize is made.