The Open: Smith says he won’t make cut even if he wins the Open

HERE TO STAY: Australia's Cameron Smith during practice day three of The Open at the Old Course, St Andrews.

Australia's Cameron Smith claims not even winning the Open at St Andrew's this week would tempt him to cut off his now trademark 'mullet'.

The world number six grew his distinctive hairstyle for a joke ahead of last year's Olympics but with the intention of having it cut short should he land one of the game's top prizes.

Yet, after enjoying the attention it has brought him - and securing some eye-catching results while sporting the look - the mullet could be set to stay.

"I've always said that if I won a tournament or did something good, I would cut it off," said Smith, whose fine start to 2022 included winning the Players Championship and finishing tied third at the Masters.

"But I've done that a couple times this year and it's still on there, so I'd like to say I would cut it off but it's probably not going to happen.

"I feel like it's almost a part of me now. People recognise the hair and it makes a few people laugh. It's good."

Smith has emerged as one of the leading figures in world golf but, in sporting terms, he still considers himself the second-most famous Cameron Smith in Australia after his now-retired rugby league namesake.

"I grew up idolising Cam Smith so it's hard to say I would consider myself more famous," said the 28-year-old Queenslander.

"He's a legend of the game. I've looked up to him since I was 10 or 11 years old."

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It’s 17 months since he passed away but there will always be the faint echo of Peter Alliss’s voice when we sit down to watch the Open Championship at St Andrew’s this week.

On Wednesday, the good and the great of the game gathered at the city’s university - where Peter once received an honorary doctorate – to toast his memory.

His wife Jackie Alliss spoke to The Telegraph this week ahead of a serialisation of his book in the newspaper and admitted: “It keeps hitting you at the most unexpected times, like standing in the aisle at Sainsbury’s. Suddenly, I have to walk out. I’m only just getting to the point where I can go to places where I would have gone with him, because it doesn’t feel right to be without him. Golf was his world, and I was one step behind, in a way. It’s hard, coming to terms with life now. But you don’t have a choice.” 

Alliss once described his better half as “that beautiful woman who lives with me – a Rottweiler with lip gloss”, and Jackie says now: “I used to call myself that but when he said it, the weight of the press came down on him. I had women’s magazines ringing me up: ‘Mrs. Alliss, you must be furious, would you like to write an article?’ I just said: ‘Go away. That’s my husband.’” 

She told The Telegraph: “There wasn’t a day when he didn’t make me laugh. He didn’t like rows, he wouldn’t fall out if I was cross about things. It wasn’t worth it for him. Not many things irritated him if I’m honest. Although he hated bad manners.” 

She added, poignantly: “After Peter died, the parrot lost all its feathers. It was literally almost bald. I rang the vet and demanded, ‘What’s happening to my parrot?’ She asked whether Peter spoke much to it. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘Well, it’s fretting,’ she explained. ‘It’s grieving because Peter’s not there.’”

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Open qualifier Alex Wrigley admits his game has always been in the shadow of his wife, Ladies European Tour player Johanna Gustavsson, but now he will get his chance to shine at St Andrews.

After coming through a play-off at nearby Fairmont St Andrews to book his place at the 150th Championship the 32-year-old will have Gustavsson caddying for him this week.

The Swede, who will play in the AIG Women's Open at Muirfield next month, has cancelled plans to play in a LET event in Holland to be on the bag for her husband's debut in the event.

"She has carried before and is obviously a good player in her own right," Wrigley, who married Gustavsson in May, explained. "It's not that competitive at the moment as she is head and shoulders above me with her rankings and achievements but I'm definitely keen to catch up and I hope this week will count as me catching up.

"I just wanted someone to share the experience with and I couldn't think of anyone better of sharing it with than my wife."

In 2011 at regional qualifying at Goswick in Northumberland, he finished his round one shot inside the mark only to discover he had 15 clubs in his bag.

"I'd been doing some messing around at the golf club with an old wedge and just slotted it into the bag and it was kind of hiding under another club," he added. "I was given a four-shot penalty and at the time I was in by one shot but I felt a little bit better at the end of the day because I would have eventually missed out - but I now always count my clubs on the first tee."