Tag: Cameron Smith

A week before Masters, Cameron Smith withdraws from LIV Golf Miami

Hopefully Smith gets feeling better before next week.

Cameron Smith is going to head into the first major championship of the year a bit rusty.

The Australian, who captured the 2022 Open Championship, withdrew from LIV Golf’s event in Miami, Florida, at Trump National Doral, due to illness. Smith shot 3-over 75 in the opening round and had four birdies, five bogeys and a double. The specific illness was not mentioned.

Ben Campbell will replace Smith in the Ripper GC lineup for the rest of the team competition.

Smith placed third in LIV’s latest event in Hong Kong last month and has two top-10 finishes in his first four events of 2024.

He has a history of playing well at Augusta National. He has four top-10 finishes in the past six years. The 88th Masters Tournament starts Thursday.

LIV Miami: Photos

LIV Golf’s Cameron Smith has chopped off his signature mullet

The party in the back is no longer.

Cameron Smith has a big couple of weeks of golf ahead, and the Aussie will be a bit more aerodynamic when he walks the fairways at LIV Golf Miami and the Masters.

The 30-year-old captain of Ripper GC in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League is known for his 2022 Open Championship victory at St. Andrews, and of course for his signature mullet hairstyle. Let me rephrase that: his former signature hairstyle.

Smith has chopped off his business in the front, party in the back style for a more reserved, spiked look ahead of his return to the golf course this week. The reason? Boredom.

Smith is currently eighth in the season-long LIV standings with finishes of T8-T15-T41-T2 so far. Following this week’s 2024 LIV Golf Miami event at Trump National Doral, Smith will return to Augusta National, where he finished T-34 last season after finishes of T2-T10-T3 in the three years prior.

It’s a real shame, as the mullet and green jacket combination in Butler Cabin would’ve been quite the sight to see.

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2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong prize money payouts for each player and team

It pays to play well in the Saudi-backed league.

It pays to play well in the LIV Golf League, just ask Abraham Ancer.

The 33-year-old won for the first time on the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit after a three-way playoff on Sunday to claim 2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong at Hong Kong Golf Club’s Fanling Course.

For his efforts, Ancer will take home the top prize of $4 million. Paul Casey and Cameron Smith each earned $1.875 million for their runner-up finishes. Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz round out the top five at T-4 and banked $900,000.

Check out how much money each player and team earned at 2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong.

MORE: Best shots from LIV Golf Hong Kong

Individual prize money

Position Player Score Earnings
1  Abraham Ancer -13 $4,000,000
2  Paul Casey -13 $1,875,000
2  Cameron Smith -13 $1,875,000
T4  Joaquin Niemann -12 $900,000
T4  Carlos Ortiz -12 $900,000
T6  Kevin Na -11 $650,000
T6  Bryson DeChambeau -11 $650,000
T8  Richard Bland -10 $396,071
T8  Graeme McDowell -10 $396,071
T8  Charles Howell III -10 $396,071
T8  Ian Poulter -10 $396,071
T8  Dean Burmester -10 $396,071
T8  Jon Rahm -10 $396,071
T8  Henrik Stenson -10 $396,071
T15  Lucas Herbert -9 $278,750
T15  Adrian Meronk -9 $278,750
T15  Harold Varner III -9 $278,750
T15  Eugenio Chacarra -9 $278,750
T19  Sam Horsfield -8 $245,000
T19  Louis Oosthuizen -8 $245,000
T21  Dustin Johnson -7 $204,286
T21  Talor Gooch -7 $204,286
T21  Martin Kaymer -7 $204,286
T21  Scott Vincent -7 $204,286
T21  Tyrrell Hatton -7 $204,286
T21  Sebastián Muñoz -7 $204,286
T21  Matt Jones -7 $204,286
28  Brooks Koepka -6 $180,000
T29  Peter Uihlein -5 $165,000
T29  Marc Leishman -5 $165,000
T29  Patrick Reed -5 $165,000
T29  Andy Ogletree -5 $165,000
T29  Bubba Watson -5 $165,000
T34  Brendan Steele -4 $146,250
T34  David Puig -4 $146,250
T34  Cameron Tringale -4 $146,250
T34  Anirban Lahiri -4 $146,250
T38  Caleb Surratt -3 $137,500
T38  Sergio Garcia -3 $137,500
T38  Pat Perez -3 $137,500
T41  Charl Schwartzel -2 $129,375
T41  Danny Lee -2 $129,375
T41  Jinichiro Kozuma -2 $129,375
T41  Kalle Samooja -2 $129,375
T45  Lee Westwood -1 $124,167
T45  Matthew Wolff -1 $124,167
T45  Branden Grace -1 $124,167
T48  Mito Pereira E $90,000
T48  Thomas Pieters E $90,000
50  Anthony Kim 3 $60,000
51  Jason Kokrak 6 $60,000
T52  Hudson Swafford 8 $50,000
T52  Phil Mickelson 8 $50,000
54  Kieran Vincent 9 $50,000

Team prize money

Position Team Score Earnings
1 Crushers GC -35 $3,000,000
2 Torque GC -33 $1,500,000
3 Ripper GC -23 $500,000

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Abraham Ancer wins three-way playoff at 2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong; Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers claim another team title

Anthony Kim shot one of the low scores of the day on Sunday for his first round under par with LIV.

Abraham Ancer loves a playoff.

His lone win on the PGA Tour went to extra holes and the same can be said of his first LIV Golf victory. Ancer defeated Cameron Smith and Paul Casey with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win 2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong on Sunday.

After rounds of 7-under 63 and 8-under 62 on Friday and Saturday at Hong Kong Golf Club’s Fanling Course in Sheung Shui, Ancer struggled on Sunday to a 2-over 72, which opened the door for Casey (64) and Smith (66) to tie him atop the leaderboard at 13 under. Joaquin Niemann shot the low-round of the day, a 7-under 63 to finish T-4 alongside Carlos Ortiz (66), one shot outside of the playoff.

“Man, I made that so hard on myself. The ball-striking wasn’t there, but mentally I was really strong, so I felt really good. I felt like I was not going to give up. That round could have gone south really quickly,” Ancer explained. “Hit some good bunker shots, some good putts that I needed to and just kept myself in it and hit the right shot at the right time there in the playoff.”

MORE: Best shots from LIV Golf Hong Kong

On the team side, Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC won for the second consecutive week after another strong Sunday to finish at 35 under, two shots clear of Niemann’s Torque GC. Smith and his Ripper GC earned their first top-three finish of the season at 32 under.

“I love these guys. They fight for every shot, and I can tell you when four scores are counting, we’re a pretty deadly team,” said DeChambeau. Before this season LIV switched its format to make all four player scores count to the team score in the final round. The worst score is dropped in the first two rounds.

“We know with four scores counting, we’re going to be in it no matter what the last day,” he added. “We put the pedal to the metal today and showcased who we are.”

Last year’s team champions, the Crushers have finished 2-4-1-1 in LIV’s four events so far this season. After winning the season opener, Jon Rahm’s new squad, Legion XIII, finsihed T-5 and fifth the last two events before coming in dead last this week in Hong Kong.

Anthony Kim has struggled in his return to pro golf with LIV, but after shooting over par in his first five rounds, the 38-year-old finally found the red numbers with a 5-under 65 on Sunday. Kim made seven birdies and two bogeys and finished 50th in his second event.

LIV is off for the rest of the month and returns to Trump National Doral, April 5-7, for 2024 LIV Golf Miami.

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These are the six golfers who have won the Hawaii Double (Sentry, Sony) on PGA Tour

Chris Kirk now has a chance to join the short list.

The PGA Tour’s 2024 season is off and running.

The first event of the new year is in the books with Chris Kirk winning The Sentry on the Plantation course at Kapalua in Maui. He bested a field of 59 golfers who vied for a $20 million prize in the first signature event of the new year.

With that victory, Kirk now has a chance to join a short list of golfers who have put the career Hawaii double dip on their resumes.

Here’s a closer look at the six golfers who have won both The Sentry and the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Ring in the New Year: LIV Golf’s Cameron Smith marries girlfriend Shanel Naoum

Smith and Naoum have been pictured together dating to his 2022 Players Championship victory.

Cameron Smith took the phrase “ring in the New Year” quite literally.

The 30-year-old Smith married his girlfriend, Shanel Naoum, on Dec. 30, 2023, in Brisbane, Australia, at the Cathedral of St. Stephen. Pictures began to leak online over the holiday weekend that featured Smith and his signature mullet, of course.

Naoum is a chiropractor in Florida where the two live and has been spotted with Smith at tournaments dating to his 2022 Players Championship victory at TPC Sawgrass near their home in Jacksonville.

Smith had a breakout season in 2022 that featured a trio of wins at the Sentry, Players Championship and Open Championship – his first major victory – before he took his talents to LIV Golf for the end of the 2022 season. Over 19 starts on the Saudi-backed circuit, Smith has three wins and eight top-five finishes.

Cameron Smith gets choked up after missing cut at Australian PGA Championship by nine strokes

Smith won this event in 2017, 2018 and 2022 and called his performance “unacceptable.”

Cameron Smith knew a good showing at this week’s Australian PGA Championship was imperative if he wanted to earn his way into next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Since Smith plays on the LIV Golf circuit, meaning he can’t maintain what was once a lofty spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, he needed to play well this week in Brisbane and then again next week at the Australian Open in Sydney.

The reigning champion failed miserably on the first test, missing the cut for the PGA by nine strokes on Friday by shooting a 7-over-par 78.

Smith, who was once No. 2 in the OWGR but has slipped to No. 18, was paired with Min Woo Lee, who ended the day with six birdies on his card and the top spot on the leaderboard.

For Smith, the poor showing left him emotional to the point where he was nearly moved to tears.

“Yeah, no words. Shit. I’ve performed under pressure before and it’s not acceptable, a bit upsetting actually,” he said. “I know what I’m doing, it’s just going out there and committing to something is another thing.”

Smith, who tied for 10th at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, also won this event in 2017 and 2018. He called his performance “unacceptable.”

“Australia’s been so good to me even when I have been tired so there’s no reason to really perform that way. I’ve performed under pressure before, it’s just unacceptable,” he said. “I just got on the wrong side a bunch of times and was trying to do a bit too much I think, it’s very frustrating.”

While Smith was struggling to score, Adam Scott was buzzing along, firing a 65 to tie for the day’s best round. Scott sits at 11 under at the tournament’s midpoint and just a stroke behind Lee.

“It’s always nice to have a bogey-free round, I probably haven’t had many of them this year,” Scott said. “I feel like my swing from the tee to the green is feeling better than it has for a while and that’s a nice thing for me.”

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Storylines, what to watch for at the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami

Everything you need to know for the weekend in Miami.

DORAL, Fla. — Who’s ready for a little match play?

The LIV Golf Team Championship is back at Trump National Doral this week, where the league’s 12 teams will contend for a $50 million purse that will see a whopping $14 million go to the winner just a week after Talor Gooch claimed the $18 million individual championship. Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC are back to defend their title – this year with Peter Uihlein instead of Gooch – and are one of four teams to earn a bye for Friday’s quarterfinal round of matches.

The format is unlike any other in golf (par for the course for LIV) and features a mix of both match and stroke play. Friday’s quarterfinal and Saturday’s semifinal matches will include three matches in each round, two singles and a foursomes (alternate shot). No ties. The first team to two points wins and advances. (You can read more about the format here).

Come Sunday, all 12 teams will compete in stroke play, where all four scores will count (in regular season events, the worst score is dropped from the team total), but only the top four teams can win the top prize. The teams to lose on Saturday will compete for places 5-8, with Friday’s losers going for places 9-12.

Here’s everything you need to know and storylines to watch for this week near Miami.

Photos: 2023 LIV Golf Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms

The Saudi-backed circuit returns after over a month off.

The LIV Golf League returns this week to Chicago for its 12th event of the season. The Saudi-backed circuit has been off for a bit, with its last event coming over a month ago at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey — Cameron Smith claimed the individual title by seven shots while his team, Ripper GC, won the team competition.

With just the Chicago and Jeddah stops before the Team Championship in Miami, 4Aces GC leads the team point standings with Torque GC in second and Stinger GC in third. On the individual side, Smith leads the way followed by Talor Gooch and Patrick Reed.

Here are some of the best images from the week in Chicago.

Aussie Sweep: Cameron Smith, Ripper GC claim wins at LIV Golf Bedminster

The win is Smith’s second of the season and third of his LIV Golf career.

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The Aussies took over New Jersey this week as Cameron Smith and his Ripper GC swept LIV Golf Bedminster.

The 29-year-old won Sunday for the third time since joining the upstart circuit after claiming the event at Trump National Bedminster at 12 under, seven shots clear of runner-up Anirban Lahiri. Abraham Ancer, Patrick Reed and Dean Burmester finished T-3 at 4 under. Smith has five top-five finishes in 11 starts this LIV season and hasn’t finished worse than T-26 in the 48-player field events.

Smith led his all-Australian Ripper GC to its first team victory of the season at 20 under, a whopping 11 shots clear of runners-up Crushers GC and Stinger GC at 9 under. Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC finished fourth at 8 under.

Next up for the shotgun-start circuit is LIV Golf Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois, Sept. 22-24, followed by LIV Golf Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Oct. 13-15, and the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral near Miami, Oct. 20-22.

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