Open champion Cameron Smith has become LIV Golf’s highest-ranked recruit, after the 29-year Australian, winner of the Claret Jug at St Andrews last month, was officially confirmed as having joined the Saudi-backed series following weeks of speculation.
Smith will be among six players to make their debut in the series at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston, which is being held at The International in Massachusetts, USA from September 2-4. Smith, who is currently ranked world no.2, while be joined by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, American’s Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale, Austrialian Marc Leishman and India’s top-ranked professional, Anirban Lahiri. They will complete the line up of 48 players competing in Massachusetts.
Bubba Watson, who signed for LIV Golf last month, will be a non-playing captain and will be part of the commentary team to live event coverage.
In addition to his victory at the 150th Open Championship, Smith has seven other tour wins to his name, including the PGA Tour’s Players Championship earlier this year. Niemann is the only other world top-25 player among the new recruits to LIV Golf, with the 23–year-old Chilean currently ranked 19th in the world with two professional wins, 26 top-10 finishes. He represented the International Team in the 2019 Presidents Cup and Chile at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Speaking about his latest signings, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said: “LIV Golf is showing the world that our truly global league is attracting the world’s best players and will grow the game into the future for the next generation. The best and the brightest continue to embrace the excitement and energy of LIV Golf and what we’re building – a tangible league for team golf that will connect with new audiences all over the globe. We can’t wait to tee off this week at The International and deliver another memorable event experience for fans.”
| LIV GOLF INVITATIONAL BOSTON | |||
| MEX | Abraham Ancer | AUS | Jediah Morgan |
| ENG | Richard Bland | USA | Kevin Na |
| ENG | Laurie Canter | CHL | Joaquin Niemann |
| ENG | Paul Casey | RSA | Shaun Norris |
| ESP | Eugenio Chacarra | RSA | Louis Oosthuizen |
| USA | Bryson DeChambeau | AUS | Wade Ormsby |
| ESP | Sergio Garcia | MEX | Carlos Ortiz |
| USA | Talor Gooch | ESP | Adrian Otaegui |
| RSA | Branden Grace | USA | Pat Perez |
| ENG | Sam Horsfield | USA | Turk Pettit |
| USA | Charles Howell III | USA | James Piot |
| USA | Dustin Johnson | ENG | Ian Poulter |
| AUS | Matt Jones | USA | Patrick Reed |
| THA | Sadom Kaewkanjana | RSA | Charl Schwartzel |
| GER | Martin Kaymer | AUS | Cameron Smith |
| THA | Phachara Khongwatmai | SWE | Henrik Stenson |
| USA | Sihwan Kim | USA | Hudson Swafford |
| USA | Brooks Koepka | USA | Cameron Tringale |
| USA | Chase Koepka | USA | Peter Uihlein |
| USA | Jason Kokrak | USA | Harold Varner III |
| IND | Anirban Lahiri | ZIM | Scott Vincent |
| AUS | Marc Leishman | ENG | Lee Westwood |
| NIR | Graeme McDowell | AUT | Bernd Wiesberger |
| USA | Phil Mickelson | USA | Matthew Wolff |