With his Open Championship defence looming in two weeks, Cameron Smith seems to be peaking at the right time.
Friday’s opening round at LIV Golf London is the latest piece of evidence.
The Australian shot a bogey-free eight-under 63 to grab a one-stroke lead over countryman Marc Leishman as LIV Golf made its return to Centurion Club, the host course for last year’s inaugural tournament.
Belgian Thomas Pieters is in solo third, three strokes back, while red-hot American Talor Gooch is in a three-way tie for fourth with American Cameron Tringale and Englishman Laurie Canter.
South African Branden Grace shares seventh position after a three-under 68 that included an eagle, four birdies and three bogies.
Countrymen Dean Burmester and Louis Oosthuizen both carded 70s, while Charl Schwartzel settled for 71.
Thanks to Smith and Leishman, the all-Australian Rippers took the team lead at 13 under, with the RangeGoats at 10 under. The home favorite Majesticks are in solo third at eight under under.
Neither Aussie at the top of the leaderboard competed at Centurion Club last year, but they both looked comfortable on a sun-drenched day outside London.
“Wasn’t much bad stuff in there, to be honest,” said Smith, who posted Friday’s only bogey-free round. “I feel like I’ve been on this kind of trend for a few months now.”
Smith has finished 12th or better in his last seven starts, including top 10s in the PGA Championship and US Open. Although he’s yet to win in 2023, Smith is building plenty of momentum going into Royal Liverpool.
“Any tournament that Cam enters, he’s certainly a strong contender,” Leishman said. “I think playing this week is going to help him. The wind is very different in England and Scotland. It’s a lot heavier. Getting used to that is pretty important.”
Smith navigated the first six holes, the most difficult stretch at Centurion, in one under. Starting with the 9th hole, he birdied seven of the next nine holes before settling for par on the par-five 18th. He said the big difference on Friday was getting more in sync with caddie Sam Pinfold.
“Sam and I worked really nice today, which is probably the first time in a long time where we really stuck it out and actually talked through some shots,” Smith said. “It’s probably something that had kind of been a missing piece to the puzzle. It was nice to figure that stuff out before another big tournament coming up.”
Leishman has struggled to find consistency this season but started hot on Friday. After a par on his opening hole, the 12th, he birdied six of the next seven holes before reaching the toughest part of the course.
“Happy to finally get a score on the board,” Leishman said. “It’s been a while.”
The two will play in the leaders group on Saturday with Pieters. But the group ahead of them will include the hottest LIV golfer in Gooch, who won his third tournament of the season last week in Andalucía and opened Friday with four birdies in his first five holes en route to his 11th round of the season at his target score of 67 or better.
“It was a good day,” said Gooch, who has won the last three LIV Golf tournaments held outside the US. “This golf course is not as easy as what Cam just made it look.”
