Cameron Smith was on fire yesterday with his putter as he shot an 8 under par, 64 at the defenseless St. Andrews in overtaking Rory McIlory to win the 150th Open Championship. It was a clinic in putting. He finished with 29 putts, and sank putt after putt when he needed to. There was very little wind, so the players were pounding it down the fairway with the Open becoming a chipping and putting contest. St. Andrews had little to no resistance. American and rookie Cameron Young made it a little interesting at 18 when he sank his eagle putt to pull even with Smith, but the Mullet sank his 3 footer for birdie and Rory was Rory, another gag job by a guy who has won 4 majors, but hasn’t won one since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville. Rory disappointed his Great Britain supporters yesterday. He can win a regular event, but will he ever win another major? He’s still young at 33, but he keeps letting majors just slip through his fingertips. He finished second at the Masters to Scottie Scheffler playing an outstanding final round on Sunday, and had top 10’s at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, so he keeps knocking on the door. Can he get over the hump and capture his first Masters, or more majors for that matter? He could, but he hasn’t in a while. Smith had the round of the year in the majors, and he was not going to be denied. Rory shot a round of 70, 2 under par, and had a 4 shot lead entering the day, he was tied with Viktor Hovland. One would think that that would be enough, but Smith was just too good with his putter, and McIlroy was not. Smith had nine less putts for the tournament. Rory has plenty of more chances, but it’s fair to ask if he’s a gagger. He either gets too far behind early in the majors or can’t keep it up on Sundays. Maybe he’s just not mentally focused enough to overcome pressure, and he seems to be OK with that. So, McIlory’s majorless saga continues.

Day 1 SEC Media Days

Commissioner Greg Sankey led it off and talked about the important issues in college football, the NIL’s, the transfer portal, the Playoff and expansion. I’ll go in reverse. Sankey likes the fact that the conference added Texas and Oklahoma and says it was a superior addition to what the Big Ten did adding USC and UCLA, I would agree with that. USC may be strong soon under Lincoln Riley and there’s no guarantee that Sark or Brett Venables will excel at Texas and Oklahoma respectively, but adding two key teams nationally that have won championships and adding another Texas school to the SEC footprint and a major player in college football forever it seems like in Oklahoma is far superior than adding teams that are not so swift, at least UCLA. USC can be elite if Riley can keep recruiting like he did at Oklahoma and he could have a very good team with key transfers in this season. But you gotta like the rivalries that Texas and OU create with Texas-Texas A&M, Texas-LSU, Oklahoma-A&M, Arkansas-Texas, Oklahoma-Arkansas and Alabama or Georgia against either one of those schools. They’ll be coming to the SEC in 2025, July of that year and start playing that season, though it could be sooner if they can figure out a way to exit the Big 12. I do like the Big 12 and want them to remain viable. I like the PAC-12 and would like the same for them. Just a complex deal right now with expansion, a lot of moving parts. People have talked about Clemson and Florida State joining the SEC eventually and Sankey was noncommittal on that, but didn’t rule it out. So, a lot of energy with that issue.

As for the playoff, it’s at 4 teams until the contract finishes up in 2025. Sankey was the leader in proposing a 12 team playoff with 6 automatic qualifiers and 6 at large teams. The issues with that for me are how do you handle the academics, like when will the players take exams. Also, the injury factor. Teams playing 3 or even 4 games may be too banged up for the National Championship Game if they were to get that far. So, it’s complicated too. The 4 team playoff has worked out. Maybe 8 teams, maybe 12 teams, but there needs to be more thought put into the academic and physical factors of those expanded playoffs.

The transfer portal and the NIL’s need to be regulated at some point. I don’t see how you can regulate the transfer portal. It’s just the landscape now. I did like the sit out a year rule, that would make players pause a little more. With the NIL’s, Lane Kiffin called it, “legalizing cheating,” and it does seem to be that way. Sankey has approached the U.S. Congress about it, and they haven’t done anything, as expected from that group. There needs to be some sort of regulation in NIL’s. I don’t have the answers right now, so I’ll need to think about it some more and check back with you on that. A uniform NIL rule where each player gets the same amount is an idea, but I don’t agree with that. Some players are more important than others. A salary cap for teams like they do in baseball is a pretty good idea. The players can benefit, but there can be some regulating and not a free for all, which has the boosters determining how good a team will be. It needs to be addressed because it is a problem. The good thing about it is it may keep players from leaving earlier when they are not ready to play in the NFL, and coming back and bettering their skills and improving the quality of college football.

I’m going to dig into the teams more in the upcoming weeks, but from what I got from Brian Kelly of LSU, Lane of Ole Miss and Eliah Drinkwitz of Missouri, is there needs to be a stellar starting quarterback and better defensive play for their respective teams to excel. LSU has 4 guys competing. Myles Brennan missed 6 games in 2020 and all of the games last season, but has thrown for 14 TDs and only 3 ints. Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels is loaded with talent, can run it well and throw it pretty well, but can be inconsistent. Garrett Nussmeier played a lot last season for the Bengal Tigers and has good talent. The 4th quarterback is freshman Walker Howard. Kelly and his staff are undecided. Brennan may sling it the best, but Daniels brings the entire package, and Nussmeir can throw it well and looks to be a real leader. The freshman will have to wait most likely. Kelly’s defense looks pretty formidable with edge rusher BJ Ojulari leading the way. He had 7 sacks last season, and Maason (that’s the way its’ spelled) Smith is a 6’5”,325 stellar defensive tackle. Kelly likes his secondary, and linebackers. His offensive line needs to develop. Wide receiver Kayshon Boutte could be a potential All American and looks to be a high draft pick when he comes out, a top 10 guy, maybe even a top 5. He’s a game changer. Jack Bech is another stellar receiver who can line up at tight end or out wide. John Emery Jr. has shown signs of his 5 star ability at running back, but wants to put it all together in his senior season. There is good depth there. I’ll have more on the Bengal Tigers coming up in another column on them in the upcoming weeks.

Greg McIlory said Ole Miss could go either 4-8 or 10-2. Greg considers them a mystery. I would agree with that. Lane has added 14 guys in the transfer portal, and there is excellent talent. Zach Evans is a transfer running back from TCU and he’s a total stud. Sophomore Luke Altmyer and USC transfer Jaxson Dart are battling it out for the starting quarterback job. Dart put up very good numbers in 6 games at USC last season. He’s a talent. Altmyer is a little more unknown. One of them has to replace the great Matt Corral, who is now on the Carolina Panthers. Ole Miss has the tools to be another prolific offensive team, but can they answer the bell on defense. They have several transfers who are experienced. If the Rebels can hold their own on defense they can win a lot of games because the offense is always going to good under Lane. More on the Rebels coming up in the weeks ahead as well with a more thorough analysis of their squad.

Eliah Drinkwitz has recruited well to Missouri and added some nice pieces in the transfer portal. He’ll have 4 guys competing for the quarterback job with Jack Abraham a transfer from Southern Miss the most experienced. Brady Cook played some last year. It should come down to those two. It’s tough for Missouri, but I liked what Drinkwitz had to say about his team. They’ve got excellent team unity according to Drinkwitz and a lot more talent this season. Five star freshman receiver Luther Burden III is going to turn a lot of heads this season. Their defense must produce as well. More on the Tigers coming up as well.

The most interesting stat I saw today was the conference’s strength of schedule rankings. In the West, Auburn has the No.1 most difficult schedule in the country, Mississippi State is No.2, A&M is 6, Alabama is 7, LSU is 10, Arkansas is 12 and Ole Miss is 15.

In the East, Vanderbilt is 3, Tennessee is 5, South Carolina is 8, Florida is 14, Missouri is 22, Georgia is 23, and Kentucky is 31. Eight of the 10 toughest schedules in the country are in the SEC.

There is a lot to get excited about it with SEC Football in 2022. As I’ve said before. I don’t like SEC football, I love it.

Home Run Derby prediction, at 7 PM CT today on ESPN

Contenders

Pete Alonso, 23 homers, 2 time defending champion for the Mets.

Ronald Acuna Jr. 8 home runs this year, been hurt some of season. Hungry for this.

Albert Pujols, What? 5 homers this year, but 684 in his career in the regular season. Plays for Cardinals

Juan Soto, 17 homers this season, has had to survive and thrive on a really bad team. Another hungry player who wants to knock off Alonso. Washington Nationals.

Kyle Schwarber, 28 home runs, longest 468 feet. Has been a power hitter for a while now on Phillies.

Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners, 15 homers, an emerging superstar, but first Home Run Derby and All Star game.

Jose Ramirez, Clevelend Guardians, 17 home runs.

Corey Seager, Texas Rangers. Former Dodger with 21, could thrive at his old stomping grounds at Dodger Stadium where the All Star game is being played.

Winner

I’ll take the 28 year old from Charlotte, North Carolina to knock Alonso off his perch.

Corey Seager