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Cameron Smith delivers on his LIV Golf debut as he hunts leaders Wolff and Gooch

Matt Smith — Sat, 03 Sep 2022 08:17:53 +0000

By Matt Smith
The question of what Cameron Smith would bring to LIV Golf on his debut rang around The International outside Boston on Friday. And the Australian world No. 2 delivered like he was a seasoned vet on the tour, after leaving the PGA Tour last week.

WATCH the live action from LIV Golf here

The Open champ not only played with the conviction of a man used to team events, he also seemed to revel in the ‘Golf, But Louder’ environment, ramping up the Bostonian crowds amid raucous scenes.

Smith opened his LIV Golf campaign with a six-under 64 to sit one off leaders Matthew Wolff and Talor Gooch.

The mulleted Aussie roared out of the blocks after the shotgun start, racking up three birdies and an eagle on the opening eight holes in Massachusetts, before settling for his six-under total, and in a great position to follow Henrik Stenson last time out in Bedminster as a debutant winner on LIV.

Smith joined five other players making their bow in the series’ fourth event — including Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Anirban Lahiri, — and they also fitted right in, with the Chilean tying Smith for third, the Indian No. 1 T5 on four-under alongside the likes of Paul Casey and Louis Oosthuizen. American Varner, who admitted he received abuse after announcing his decision to move to LIV Golf, sits T10 with Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood on three-under.

Despite the inevitable criticisms, laid-back Smith said he didn’t feel any added expectations in the 54-hole, no-cut event. “I don’t think it was any added pressure,” he said “I just wanted to go out there and do my thing. At the end of the day, we’re all competitors and we’re trying to do what we can.”

Never one to be upstaged, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman opened affairs by parachuting on to the course amid fanfare.

“That was something that I haven’t experienced before on the first hole, but it was cool,” Smith said. “It was just a good way to start a tournament. [Today] kind of had a bit of everything; it was very up-and-down. It probably wasn’t one of my best driving performances.

“I feel like the crowd out there is almost on top of you, with the music. It feels like the course has a bit of a heartbeat. It was very different, I would say, but something that I really enjoyed, and I can’t wait for this to keep going onwards and upwards.”

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Teams announced for LIV Golf Invitational at The International outside Boston

Matt Smith — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 05:48:21 +0000

By Matt Smith
LIV Golf has unveiled the latest line-ups from the 48-player field competing in at The International, Bolton this week.

WATCH the LIV Golf action live here!

LIV Golf’s fourth event of the season, runs from September 2-4, where 12 teams will compete as individuals and teams for points and prize money.

All members of the four-player teams will compete in the three-day tournament. The player with the lowest 54-hole stroke-play total will be the individual winner. In the team competition, the best two stroke-play scores in the first two rounds will count for each team. For the third and final round, the best three scores will count. The lowest overall team score after 54 holes will be the team winner. Teams will compete for a $5 million purse, with $3 million to first place, $1.5 million to second and $500,000 to third. Each player will receive a 25per cent share of the earnings.

Team line-ups for LIV Golf Invitational Boston

Here is a rundown of each team:

4 ACES: Captain Dustin Johnson has assembled the team to beat. The all-American roster with Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez has won consecutive team titles, by seven strokes in Portland and eight in Bedminster, with a cumulative counting score of 48-under in those two victories. Johnson and Reed each finished in the top 5 individually in both events.
MAJESTICKS: The move to add Swedish star Henrik Stenson paid immediate dividends for captain Lee Westwood. Stenson won the individual title in his LIV Golf debut in Bedminster, and Majesticks posted its best result as a team, finishing second. Stenson, Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield each finished under par in Bedminster, the only team to achieve that feat in any of the first three events.
FIREBALLS: Captain Sergio Garcia’s team has finished in the top three in each of the last two events, but the Spanish-speaking foursome go into Boston with higher ambitions than another third-place result. Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz is a cumulative 19-under in his first two LIV Golf starts, and Garcia comes off his best performance. Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Spanish rookie Eugenio Chacarra complete a talented group.
HY FLYERS: Captain Phil Mickelson adds LIV Golf newcomer Cameron Tringale to the squad. Matthew Wolff and Bernd Wiesberger compete again for the Hy Flyers, with Wolff showing at Bedminster he’s capable of putting the team on his back. His runner-up finish to Stenson fuelled Hy Flyers to fourth place, their best team result. Adding the steady Tringale, a top-60 world player, will raise hopes of a podium result.
STINGER: After a win in London and a second-place finish in Portland, captain Louis Oosthuizen’s squad finished outside the podium for the first time in Bedminster. Now comes the South African team’s first line-up change, with Shaun Norris replacing Hennie du Plessis. Norris turned pro in 2002 — so did Oosthuizen and London winner Charl Schwartzel. Add Portland winner Branden Grace, who turned pro in 2007, and Stinger have a combined 75 years of professional experience in their line-up.
CRUSHERS: New LIV Golf member Anirban Lahiri fills the void left by Shaun Norris’ departure, and the two-time Olympian from India will provide another steady hand for captain Bryson DeChambeau’s team. Crushers added Paul Casey and Charles Howell III prior to Bedminster and finished sixth. If DeChambeau channels previous successes — one of his 10 professional wins came in Massachusetts in 2018 — expect Crushers to make some noise.
NIBLICKS GC: Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson debuts as LIV Golf’s first non-playing captain, overseeing the squad while he rehabs from knee surgery. Watson will have a close friend in his line-up with Harold Varner III making his LIV Golf debut. Varner joins holdovers Hudson Swafford, James Piot and Turk Pettit in the all-American line-up. Pettit comes off a top-10 finish in Bedminster.
SMASH: Another all-American line-up, this one with local ties. Massachusetts native Peter Uihlein joins captain Brooks Koepka’s team, replacing Englishman Richard Bland who moves to a new squad. Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak are the holdovers for Smash. The Koepka brothers showed improvement in Bedminster, with Brooks shooting a final-round 66 to give him some momentum heading into Boston.
CLEEKS: Captain Martin Kaymer gets an experience boost, as 49-year-old Richard Bland replaces 20-year-old Spanish amateur David Puig in the line-up. It’s the fourth different line-up for Kaymer’s team, although carryovers Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland and Laurie Canter of England will provide familiar faces for the all-European roster. Kaymer finished 12th in Bedminster, his best individual performance.
IRON HEADS: The line-up that finished fifth in Portland is reuniting in Boston, as Sihwan Kim returns to LIV Golf thanks to his status on the International Series Order of Merit. Captain Kevin Na’s team might be poised to make some noise, with Thai golfers Phachara Khongwatmai and Sadom Kaewkanjana each coming off top-10 finishes at the recent International Series Korea.
PUNCH: The all-Australian side get a significant boost in star power, with world No. 2 and reigning Open champion Cameron Smith taking over the captaincy and 13-time winner Marc Leishman also joining the team. Both are making their LIV Golf debuts this week, which should pay immediate dividends for Punch, who have finished 12th and 11th since the line-up went full-Aussie. Former captain Wade Ormsby and fast-playing Matt Jones complete the roster.
TORQUE: The new-look Torque is headed by captain Joaquin Niemann, the world No. 19, who’s making his LIV Golf debut. His team includes Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, who is playing on his fourth different team in as many events, Australia’s Jediah Morgan and Dubai-based Spaniard Adrian Otaegui, who played for the original Torque team in London prior to a roster shake-up.

In the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational London at Centurion Club, Stinger, with captain Louis Oosthuizen and fellow South Africans Charl Schwartzel, Hennie du Plessis and Branden Grace, took first place with a total score of 20-under par. The 4 Aces captain Dustin Johnson and the all-American line-up of Talor Gooch, Pat Perez and Patrick Reed followed suit with back-to-back team victories in Portland and Bedminster.

Led by the 1-2 punch of Johnson and Reed — who each finished inside the top 5 in the individual standings at LIV Golf’s second and third events — the American foursome will try to make it three straight team titles against a field that welcomes six notable names making their LIV Golf debuts. New players include world No. 2 and 2022 Open Champion Cameron Smith, world No. 19 and top Chilean golfer Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III (No. 46), Cameron Tringale (No. 55), Marc Leishman (No. 62) and India’s top-ranked pro Anirban Lahiri (No. 92). Amongst the newcomers, Smith (Punch) and Niemann (Torque) will serve as team captains in Boston along with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who will debut as a non-playing captain for Niblicks and will make on-air contributions to live event coverage.

“I can’t wait to tee it up every week with one of my best mates, Marc,” said Smith. “The team format I think is great. We are going to have heaps of fun out there, and yeah, I can’t wait for this next chapter.

“I think it’s really a shame that we are not getting World Ranking points out here. To have 48 of the best, you know, guys around the world playing, and not to get World Ranking points, I think is perhaps a little bit unfair.

Leishman added: “You know, it’s early days. Hopefully things change not too far down the track. As far as the majors and all that go, I think it could potentially hurt them having some guys potentially miss out because they are not offered World Ranking points here.

“You know as a golf fan, that’s hard for the top tournaments, but like I say, hopefully it sorts itself out.”

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Sergio Garcia accomplishes a personal best on the European Tour with his KLM Open win

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 02:23:13 +0000

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Sergio Garcia holds his daughter, Azalea, as he is interviewed on the 18th green after winning the 2019 KLM Open.

By Ryan Herrington
Good news has been hard to come by for Sergio Garcia in 2019. The 39-year-old Spaniard was disqualified from a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia in February after purposely damaging greens during a round. In July, there were more on-course tantrums caught on camera at the Open Championship and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. And after finishing 2018 at No. 23 on the Official World Golf Ranking, Garcia had fallen to No. 43 before this week’s KLM Open.

Yet on Sunday at The International in Amsterdam, Garcia finally heard the media speaking his name without taking it in vain. With a closing three-under-par 69, he won the title by one stroke over Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard.

The victory was the 16th on the European Tour for the former Masters champion, and the first since winning the 2018 Andalucia Masters. It marks the third straight year that Garcia has won an event on the European Tour, the first time in his career that he’s gone three straight seasons with a victory.

“We had a great week and great to win again,” Garcia said. “I played well all week under pressure. It wasn’t easy. There were a couple of tough moments today, but I hung on tough, that’s the most important thing.”

Specifically, Garcia birdied four of his first seven holes on Sunday, but bogeyed the other three to make the turn in one under par. On the back nine, Garcia made birdies on the 11th, 15th and 16th holes to take a three-shot lead over Hojgaard, only to bogey the 17th hole and bring the outcome back into doubt.

Hojgaard, an 18-year-old playing in just his seventh European Tour event, reached the par-5 18th in two. But his eagle putt that could have forced a playoff slid by the hole. His birdie left him with a 68.

Garcia proceeded to make a par on the 18th to clinch the win at 18-under 270, earning €333,330. The most satisfying part of the win? That it came with family members watching from behind the 18th green.

Said Garcia: “It was honestly amazing to have my brother [Victor], Angela my wife, and little Azalea [Garcia’s daughter] here. It’s very special.”

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Ernie Els tabs a pair of Masters champions as assistants for 2019 Presidents Cup

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 04:55:15 +0000

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

By Joel Beall
The International staff for the 2019 Presidents Cup isn’t lacking when it comes to major-championship acumen.

Captain Ernie Els, he of two U.S. and two British Opens victories, tabbed a pair of former green jacket winners in Mike Weir and Trevor Immelman to serve as assistants for the biennial matches in Melbourne. The vice captains are rounded out by Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champ, and eight-time tour winner K.J Choi.

“Choosing my assistant captains, I gave it quite a bit of thought,” Els said on Tuesday at a press conference in Australia. “I’ve seen what other captains have done in the past. In this instance, I really wanted to try and start a new thinking process around the pairing system. I’m using a lot of data, a lot of science into what we’re going to be doing in December in Australia, and I wanted to get guys who have played a lot of Presidents Cups like myself.”

Weir made five Presidents Cup appearances for the International squad, posting a successful 13-9-2 record in his career. He was also part of the 2017 club as an assistant to Nick Price.

“The Presidents Cup has been a big part of my career. I grew up playing a lot of team sports and when I made my first Presidents Cup team in 2000 it was really one of the highlights,” Weir said. “So it’s been special to still be part of the team as an assistant to Nick and now Ernie. We have a long history. We’re basically the same age, we’ve played a lot of golf together so it’s going to be really fun to try to get the Internationals over the line this time.”

Immelman played in the 2005 and 2007 matches, while Choi has been a part of three teams. “I’m personally very happy and honoured,” Choi said. “You need amazing teamwork to win the Presidents Cup. It’s our role as captain’s assistants to bring together players of different nationalities and have them blend well together. It’s our role to have them open up to us and help relieve some of the pressure they might feel.”

Els, who has an International-best 21 points in the Presidents Cup, will be looking to lead his side to its first victory since 1998.

In February U.S. captain Tiger Woods announced three vice-captains for Team America: Fred Couples, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker. Woods has the option of adding another assistant to his roster, although he’ll likely wait until the competition is closer to fill that slot. Tiger has made eight Presidents Cup appearances in his career, second only behind Phil Mickelson.

The 2019 Presidents Cup begins Dec. 12 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the site of the only International win in the event’s 25-year history.

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