Cameron Smith fired a bogey-free 63 on Friday to finish 8-under-par and take a one shot lead after the first round of the LIV Golf event at the Centurion Club in London.
This week marks LIV Golf’s return to where it debuted last June, with Charles Schwartzl taking the title.
Smith finished with an eight birdie while fellow Ripper GC and fellow Australian Mark Leishman also sank an eight birdie but bogeyed the third hole and putt one putt. Smith Bird pared three straight holes twice: 9-11 and 13-15.
“It was really good,” Smith said of his tour. “It wasn’t a lot of bad stuff, to be honest. I might have gotten a little scratchy there during the hard end of that front nine, but I don’t really put that down to really bad twists, kind of mental errors. But it left them in pretty good places.” Anyway. All in all, yeah, really strong.”
Lishman was also pleased with his performance after four early birdies in a row.
He said “Yes, happy about this day”. “I didn’t do much wrong. I’d say they’re pretty tough 1-under around and I played them well with one bogey and two birdies. Yeah, happy to get out there with 7-under and a good start to the championship.”
Belgium’s Thomas Peters of RangeGoats GC was third, 3 shots off the lead after a bogey on the 6th, 8th and 17th holes.
Peters’ teammate Talor Gooch, who won last week at Andalusia, sits in 4th, 4 shots back, after posting bogeys on the 4th, 12th, and 17th holes.
This golf course is not easy [Smith] “I made it look like there were some sneaky pinballs out there and some uncomfortable tee balls,” Gotch said.
Cameron Triangle and England’s Laurie Kanter are tied for Gooch at 4-under, while Mexico’s Abraham Unser, England’s Richard Bland, South Africa’s Brandon Grace and India’s Anirban Lahiri are tied for third.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who has had three bogeys and five birdies, is among the seven players at 2 along with James Biot and Jason Kokrak, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, Chile’s Joaquin Nyman and England’s Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
On the team side, the Reaper – Captains Smith, Lishman and Matt Jones – finished 13th underground and three shots ahead of Ring Goats, which includes Peters, Gooch and captain Bubba Watson. Majesticks GC (co-captains Poulter and Stenson, along with Kanter) are fifth in the lead.