Shooting an 8-under 64 in the final round of the British Open on Sunday, Cameron Smith defeated Rory McIlroy to win his first major championship. Meanwhile, Tony Finau shot a 6-under 66 to move up the leaderboard.

Smith managed to overcome a four-shot deficit and post a 20-under total. He made the highlight by scoring five straight birdies to start the back nine.

Smith won by one shot over Cameron Young, who scored a 15-foot eagle putt. Meanwhile, McIlroy finished third after missing a birdie.

“To win an Open Championship in itself is going to be a golfer’s highlight but to do it around St. Andrews is unbelievable,” Smith said.

Smith led at the front of the 18th green with his tee shot, saving par on the 17th hole with a 10-foot putt. Smith’s pace up the slope and toward the cup allowed him to score a birdie to finish at 20-under 268. He matched the major championship record to par, which was last achieved by Dustin Johnson in the 2020 Master in November.

“All the names on there, every player that’s been at the top of their game has won this championship,” Smith said. “It’s pretty cool to be on there. It really hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t think it will for a few weeks. Yeah, it’s just unreal.”

Smith is the first Australian to ever win at St. Andrews since Kel Nagle in 1960 when he surpassed Arnold Palmer. McIlroy praised his performance after the winner defeated him.

“The putter went cold on me,” McIlroy said. “When both Camerons — especially Smith — went on that run on the back nine, I had to dig deep to make birdies. And I just couldn’t.

“I got beaten by the better player this week. To go out and shoot 64 to win the Open Championship at St. Andrews is a hell of a showing. Hats off to Cam.”

All class from @McIlroyRory after a disappointing finish @TheOpen. pic.twitter.com/BtV3obKE1E

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 17, 2022

Finau moves up 11 spots

Finau scored eight birdies and two bogeys on Sunday, his first British Open participation at St. Andrews. He birdied both par-5s to start after making five pars and bogeys in the first three rounds. His only two bogeys happened after he shot into the bunker on the par-4 third hole and the par-4 on the 17th. Meanwhile, his longest birdie putt was a 12-footer on the 12th hole.

That was Finau’s best finish at a major in 2022 after finishing 35th place at the Masters and 30th at the PGA Championship. Finau missed the cut at the US Open in Massachusetts last month.

While he was never a contender to win the golf tournament, Finau managed to fire a 6-under-par 66 to move up the leaderboard in the final round of the last major golf championship of the season. Finau finished at 8-under for British Open and was in the top 20 when he completed his round.

Finau scored one eagle, 12 birdies, 30 pars, ten bogeys, and one double bogey. With this performance, he rose up 11 spots on the leaderboard, tying for 55th. The 32-year-old is tied with Justin De Los Santos, Jason Scrivener, Paul Casey, Marcus Armitage, Jason Kokrak, Justin Thomas, Kurt Kitayama, and Yuto Katsuragawa.

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