Cameron Smith has made a good start to his bid to win the $US 900,000 winner's prize at the Saudi International but reckoned it could have been even better.
Cameron Smith's magic touch with the putter deserted him after a dazzling start to his bid to win the money-spinning Saudi International tournament.
The Australian admitted to being left a little frustrated that, after firing four birdies in the first eight holes at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, the putts just stopped dropping for him.
He ended up parring the final 10 holes, missing chance after chance to set a really low score and threaten the eight-under par 62 shot by first round leader, Matteo Manassero.
Smith had instead to settle for a four under 66, which was still a good platform to launch his assault on the $900,000 first prize in the event that's had a host of the world's best golfers flocking to Saudi Arabia with the lure of huge appearance fees.
Yet the 28-year-old Queenslander, who's lying joint-13th after a day of low scoring, fancied it could have been even better.
"I hit the ball really good all day, felt I putted really good too but I just struggled holing the putts," he reflected following his afternoon round.
"I felt I was hitting good putts but they just weren't going in on the back nine there - it was quite frustrating.
"But, hopefully, some fresher greens in the morning and I might see some more putts go in."
Smith, who set the all-time low scoring record for the PGA Tour with his season-opening triumph in Hawaii, reckoned it was a "challenging" course.
Yet Manassero, the one-time wonder boy of European golf, made it look like mere child's play in his brilliant round.
The Italian, once the youngest winner in European Tour history whose career fell on hard times, rolled back the years to hold a two-shot lead over a five-strong group, including two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
Defending champ Dustin Johnson, seeking a third win in the $US 5 million event, was among an eight-strong group on five under, with Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed and Henrik Stenson all joining Smith on four under.
Smith's Australian compatriot Lucas Herbert also joined the group on four under but Marc Leishman had a day to forget with his four-over 74, which featured four bogeys and a double bogey at the penultimate hole.
Smith says he hasn't been approached to join the breakaway Super Golf League but American superstar Bryson DeChambeau, who's reportedly been offered a nine-figure sum to join, hardly looked worth that sort of investment as a triple-bogey seven scarred his three-over-par 73.
Manassero was just 17 years and 188 days old when he won the Castello Masters in 2010 and went on to win four titles by the age of 20, most notably the 2013 PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The one-time world number 25 then slumped to 1,805th before the slow fight back to form saw him win on the second-tier Alps Tour in his native Italy in September 2020. He's currently 395th in the world rankings.
"I'm excited," the 28-year-old said. "I'm curious to see what 2022 has for me.
"I worked really well and I'm happy with the work I've done. There's going to be some lows, there's going to be some ups - but I'm ready for it and we'll see what happens."
