LIV Golf in Chicago Leaderboard: Cameron Smith knocks out Dustin Johnson for first-time win on new tour
For Cameron Smith, it lacks the historic nature of his final round at this year’s Open Championship or his final 18-hole turn-out golf swing at the Tournament of Champions or the dramatic finale. at TPC Sawgrass when he won the Players championship in March. But Sunday’s results at LIV Golf Chicago when he shot 69 in the final round of his second LIV event to finish in position. The bottom 13 is exactly the same: he lifts a trophy.
No one can compare this trophy – the one he won against Dustin Johnson, who finished in bottom 10, and Peter Uihlein, who also finished at bottom 10 – with any of the three. his others this year, but the field that Smith conquered is solid and he has taken home more money ($4 million) than he has made at any given event. out of three other events where he was the champion.
Smith, who shot 64, 65 and 66 in the last three rounds of his other wins in 2022, posted just 1 under 16 holes after shooting 66 and 68 in his first two days at Rich Harvest Farms but close before it can get too dramatic with a birdie-birdie finish that leaves first place completely out of reach. Johnson, who shot 63 in round 1 and curiously watched it with a 73-70 finish, couldn’t chase him on Sunday after ceding an early league lead to him in the second round on Wednesday. Seven (they swapped 1-2 positions at the top of the leaderboard). It is indeed Uihlein who has gone all out, scoring 66-69 in the last two days and securing his best finish (T2) in the LIV Golf League.
Smith has proven himself to be an elite closer to the big time events, but he can also be a threat to try and catch as few of the big numbers he earns are based on the game. play his elite short. He made just four bogeys on a tough golf course in his final two days at Rich Harvest Farms and went to a victory that left him far and far behind the top players in the field.
“I think I have to prove to myself and a few others that I’m still a great player,” Smith said after his win. “I’m still here to win golf tournaments. I’m proud of how I played there today. I didn’t really have my best of the first eight or nine holes, but I did. get stuck and make a couple of shots coming in. It’s great.”
It’s true that Smith, who started on the first hole in the shotgun starting format, didn’t get his best early on. Two of his four bogeys for the weekend came on the first six holes on Sunday, but he hit the right ship through the last 12 holes and played them in a 4-under combo to get past Uihlein and DJ , who Smith noted provided a nice benchmark for playing great in LIV.
“He’s probably the guy in the group of players here that you look at and you think he’s going to be pretty close to the top of the leaderboard every week,” Smith said. “I hope he thinks the same of me and hopefully we can continue this.”
The duo finished in the top 5 at the LIV Boston event as well as the DJ winning the trophy in the playoffs, and Smith missed that playoff by a single hit.
It was indeed DJ’s team – the 4 Aces – that made it through to win the team with DJ finally making a birdie to mark the victory. His roster of Talor Gooch, Pat Perez and Patrick Reed claimed their 4th straight win in LIV Golf (all but one of the five finishers all hit 4 Aces) by a single stroke against Smash GC, which was won by Smash GC. made up of the Koepka brothers (Chase and Brooks), Jason Kokrak and Uihlein, who anchored them this week against the Aces.
Smith’s choice of words after the win was interesting. He said he felt the need to prove himself to himself “and a few others” after switching to LIV, even after winning his last major of the year at The Open in St. Andrews. No doubt Smith has heard from raucous fans that he’s sold out of tickets to LIV and that his game will be in shambles when he leaves the world’s most competitive league, and Apparently this week he wants to prove it wrong.
Only time will tell how that plays out. However, his third round at Rich Harvest Farms this week is a reminder of what has been very clear over the past nine months, which is that Smith is clearly one of the top three players in the world, as is he. He used to do it for the whole year of 2022. .
