24 Apr 2024 | Professional golf |

Aussies on Tour: Adelaide win would be epic, says Smith

by Golf Australia

Cam Smith at LIV Miami

A win on home soil would be “epic”, according to Cam Smith who leads Ripper GC into the second LIV Adelaide tournament this week.

The team of four Australians – Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones - hasn’t recorded a win this season in either the individual or teams competition, with the 2022 Open champion coming the closest to breaking through, losing in a playoff in Hong Kong two events ago.

In Adelaide last year, Smith was the best placed Australian in a share of third, four shots behind American Talor Gooch, while 4Aces GC won the teams title, with Ripper GC surprisingly 16 shots back.

“We've been talking about it all year,” Smith said today of winning in Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.

“It would be cool to get our first win here, I think. It would be pretty epic. But it's definitely been on our mind.

“We probably haven't ham and egged it the best (in the teams event) this year. We've had a few good finishes individually but haven't quite got it across for the team.

“Hopefully this is the week where it all comes together.

“We learned a lot from last year, I think, and the preparation has definitely been better already.”

Play at The Grange starts on Friday at 11.45am (AEST) with Smith in a feature pairing alongside Spain's Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

Another 32 players are spread between the US, South America, South Africa, Asia and the Middle East in another massive week for Australia’s best golfers.

Hannah Green defends her JM Eagle Championship on the LPGA Tour in Los Angeles, the field boasting all nine Aussies who played last week’s Chevron Championship.

Japan Golf Tour regulars Brad Kennedy and Anthony Quayle join West Australians Jason Scrivener and Haydn Barron at the DP World Tour’s ISPS HANDA Championship where Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori has been drawn to play with fellow Kiwi Daniel Hillier for the opening two rounds.

Queenslander Scott Hend narrowly missed out on adding to the eight-strong Aussie contingent for the PGA TOUR Champions Mitsubishi Electric Classic, he and Greg Chalmers both falling just short at the pre qualifier.

Tom Power Horan, Connor McKinney and Hayden Hopewell are playing the Challenge Tour’s UAE Challenge in Abu Dhabi, Sydney’s Jason Hong is in Lima for the PGA TOUR Americas Diners Club Peru Open and Harrison Endycott has paired up with Erik Barnes for the Zurich Classic, the PGA TOUR two-man teams event.

Ahead of her title defence, Hannah Green is ready to look past the disappointment of a missed cut at a major, and she has history on her side.

The 27-year-old missed the cut at last week’s Chevron Championship in Texas, pointing to her disastrous start on Thursday for putting her back against the wall.

Yet if she was concerned that it will hamper her return to Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, Green needs only look back 12 months to find a formula that proved fruitful.

“Last year I also missed the cut at Chevron and came into the week and obviously won,” Green recalled.

“I am pretty good at taking results from the previous week and putting them aside, but it’s maybe a little bit more pressure now that I’ve actually won here.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. It helps that I like the golf course. I wish that I could say that about every course we played and had the same feeling.”

Round 1 tee times AEST

LIV Golf

LIV Golf Adelaide

The Grange Golf Club, Adelaide, South Australia

Shotgun start at 11.45am

Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones, Danny Lee (NZ)

Defending champion: Talor Gooch

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: $US20 million

TV times: Live 11:30am-4:30pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Channel 7 and 7 Plus.

PGA TOUR

Zurich Classic of New Orleans

TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana

10:13pm* Garrick Higgo/Ryan Fox (NZ)

11:44pm* Erik Barnes/Harrison Endycott

Defending champions: Davis Riley, Nick Hardy

Past Aussie winners: Cameron Smith/Jonas Blixt (2017), Cameron Smith/Marc Leishman (2021)

Prize money: $US8.9 million

TV times: Live 10pm-8:30am Thursday; Live 11:15pm-8:30am Friday; Live 11pm-8am Saturday; Live 1am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LPGA Tour

JM Eagle LA Championship

Wilshire Country Club, Los Angeles, California

12:48am Stephanie Kyriacou 12:59am Grace Kim 1:10am* Minjee Lee 1:21am* Hannah Green 1:43am* Robyn Choi 1:54am Karis Davidson 5:48am Sarah Kemp 6:21am* Hira Naveed 6:32am* Gabriela Ruffels

Defending champion: Hannah Green

Past Aussie winners: Minjee Lee (2019), Hannah Green (2023)

Prize money: $US3.75 million

TV times: Live 8:30am-11:30am Friday, Saturday; Live 8am-11am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour

ISPS HANDA Championship

Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Cse), Gotemba, Japan

7:10am Jason Scrivener

12:30pm Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Daniel Hiller (NZ)

1:10pm* Anthony Quayle

2:20pm* Brad Kennedy, Haydn Barron

Defending champion: Lucas Herbert

Past Aussie winners: Lucas Herbert (2023)

Prize money: €2 million

TV times: Live 1pm-6pm Thursday, Friday; Live 1pm-5:30pm Saturday; Live 12:30pm-5:30pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503.

Korn Ferry Tour

Veritex Bank Championship

Texas Rangers Golf Club, Arlington, Texas

10:36pm Steven Bowditch

10:59pm Dimi Papadatos

3:36am* Rhein Gibson

4:34am* Brett Drewitt

Defending champion: Spencer Levin

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: $US1 million

Ladies European Tour

Investec South African Women’s Open

Erinvale Country and Golf Estate, Cape Town, South Africa

6:35pm* Momoka Kobori (NZ)

Defending champion: Ashleigh Buhai

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: €320,000

TV times: Live 9pm-1am Thursday, Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 9pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

PGA TOUR Champions

Mitsubishi Electric Classic

TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia

Australasians in the field: Steven Alker (NZ), Steve Allan, Stuart Appleby, David Bransdon, Richard Green, Mark Hensby, David McKenzie, John Senden, Michael Wright

Defending champion: Stephen Ames

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: $US2 million

TV times: Live 2am-5am Saturday; Live 6am-8am Sunday; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.

Challenge Tour

UAE Challenge

Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE

12:40pm Tom Power Horan

5:40pm* Connor McKinney

6:30pm Hayden Hopewell

Defending champion: Maximilian Rottluff

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: €300,000

Epson Tour

IOA Championship

Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon, Beaumont, California

Australasians in the field: Amelia Garvey (NZ), Cassie Porter, Su Oh, Fiona Xu (NZ)

Defending champion: Miranda Wang

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: $US200,000

PGA TOUR Americas

Diners Club Peru Open

Los Inkas Golf Club, Lima, Peru

10:25pm Charlie Hillier (NZ)

2:55am* Jason Hong

3:25am Harry Hillier (NZ)

Defending champion: Marcos Montenegro

Past Aussie winners: Nil

Prize money: $US225,000

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