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Cameron Smith comes from behind to steal British Open from Rory McIlroy: Golf Twitter in shock

By Cody Williams

Australia's Cameron Smith watches his second shot on the 15th hole played from the rough during his final round on day 4 of The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 17, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Australia's Cameron Smith watches his second shot on the 15th hole played from the rough during his final round on day 4 of The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 17, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Cameron Smith entered the final round of the British Open four strokes behind the lead but won The Open Championship with a historic finish. 

Coming into the final round of the British Open, it seemed as if The Open Championship was a two-man race. Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland had a four-stroke lead at the Old Course at St. Andrews and, with the way they played, it was hard to imagine anyone catching them. Cameron Smith, however, more than imagined it.

Recapturing the putter that put him in the 36-hole lead before a disappointing Saturday, the Australian who has been in contention at The Masters on a couple of occasions already made sure to not just get back into contention, but to pull off the robbery of the century.

McIlroy didn’t play badly, but Smith played historically good, firing off a Sunday 64 — making him the first golfer to shoot two rounds of 64 or better in Open Championship history — to best his Northern Irish counterpart and win the British Open.

Cameron Smith win the British Open: Golf Twitter in awe of surreal comeback

Golf Twitter was both gutted for McIlroy (as many were) but also had no choice to applaud what Smith did on Sunday to take the major championship, his first, by the neck and bring it home.

Smith was all class from start to finish with controlled aggression and an en fuego flat stick. Everything he looked at, he rolled, in, particularly on the back-nine as he needed just 12 putts on his final nine holes coming in to move to 20-under for the tournament and win.

This is likely a floodgates moment for Smith. We’ve seen this coming and, in the most unlikely of circumstances, he made history to get his first major. But it’s also immense heartbreak for Rory McIlroy, whose major drought will now enter its ninth year, despite being all so close so many times this year.

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