Cam Smith Wins LIV Golf London Event, Sets Sights on Defending British Open Title
HERTFORDSHIRE, England – If you can be elated and deflated at the same time, Cam Smith felt those rare conflicting emotions early Sunday evening at the Centurion Club.
Smith needed two putts on the final green to lock up his first LIV Golf League title of the year but the missed six-footer meant a second-place finish for his Ripper GC in the team competition, when a conversion would have resulted in a sudden-death playoff.
His consolation is a $4 million first-place check that he can spread around to his teammates after a 3-under-par 68 gave him a victory over Patrick Reed, whose hard-charging 64 was one shot too many.
Smith referred to it as “mixed emotions’’ having won the individual title but falling short in the team competition. It was the reverse for Reed, whose 4Aces team won the team competition as he fell one-shot short of getting into a playoff for the individual title.
Both players can take the good vibes into the British Open, which begins on July 20 at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England.
“I think it’s more of a confidence thing,’’ said Smith, who won for the second time since joining LIV Golf last September. He lost in a playoff to Dustin Johnson in May at the LIV Golf Tulsa event. “Just winning again I think is nice.
“It really hasn’t been that long. In Australia at the end of the year was my last win, but it feels like forever, and especially he way I’ve been playing the last couple of months. I’ve been knocking on the door. It’s nice to get one out of the way, and hopefully it opens the floodgates a little bit.’’
Smith admitted that he got started on this year a little late after spending too much offseason time enjoying his five-victory 2022 year that saw him win the Open at St. Andrews with a final-round 64.
He added the LIV Chicago event and then the Australian Masters and then struggled to find his form earlier this year. But in addition to his playoff loss in Tulsa, he tied for ninth at the PGA Championship and finished fourth at the U.S. Open.
Smith opened the tournament with an 8-under-par 63, added a 67 on Saturday in which he lamented that “I’d like to hit the ball on the clubface for once,’’ and then stayed in front despite a few shaky tee shots again on Sunday.
“I feel like I've done so much work on my driver this year, and it's really been feeling good,’’ he said of what he’ll need to address heading into the Open. “It wasn't its best weekend this weekend. I feel like I have to do some work on that. Even though it's a links course, generally you have to hit a lot of different shots off tees. If there's one thing, I think it would just be tidy up that driver, and I'll be set.’’
Reed, Pat Perez, Dustin Johnson and Peter Uihlein were part of the 4Aces team that finished at 34 under par by taking the three best individual scores each day. Smith’s team that also had Matt Jones, Marc Leishman and Jediah Morgan was a shot back, with Stinger GC taking third with Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel and Dean Burmester. The top three teams cash in on the $5 million team purse.
“I was able to catch fire there on the back nine and make a lot of birdies there,’’ said Reed, who shot 30 for the final nine holes. “It's just one of those things; once you see your guys making birdies, it pushes you a little harder to go out and make birdies, as well, and try to contribute. To be able to do that and to see how these guys played from really start to finish today was key.’’
Both Smith and Reed said they will spend some time in London this week before heading to Hoylake – about a four-hour drive away – to begin preparing for The Open. Reed missed the cut there in 2014; Smith has never seen the venue.
“I think it's just nice to be playing good golf,’’ Smith said. “There's nothing worse going into a big golf tournament and you're playing crappy golf.
“Like I've mentioned, there's probably a few things to clean up if I want to contend in a couple of weeks' time, but yeah, it's still a big event. It's still got all the biggest names there. It's the Open Championship, so you want to do your best. There's always that pressure. Just more of a confidence booster, I think, this weekend.’’