Talor Gooch avoided an almighty collapse, the 4Aces continued their team dominance and Chase Koepka stepped out of his brother’s shadow with a hole-in-one during a pulsating finish to LIV Golf Adelaide.
“Golf, But Louder” is the catchphrase. And fans at LIV Golf Adelaide pumped up the volume as American Talor Gooch turned on the afterburners with another scintillating round of 62 to establish a commanding 10-stroke lead at The Grange Golf Club.
Up until LIV Golf’s Adelaide event being held in Australia this week, the vast majority of chugging Cam Smith had done was out of the claret jug he won at last year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews.
Down Under, however, things are done differently.
LIV Golf’s catchphrase is ‘Golf But Louder’ but not even LIV Golf Adelaide officials couldn’t have predicted the reception given to Ripper GC captain Cam Smith on the 12th tee during Friday’s opening round.
In its debut season last year, LIV Golf managed to sign a list of PGA Tour stars from Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and reigning British Open champion, Australia’s Cameron Smith. The rival league was always going to turn its attention to the biggest stars in women’s golf. Could that be happening sooner rather than later?
Greg Norman has doubled-down on his commitment to LIV Golf on the eve of its Australian debut, telling a packed media conference “we are not going anywhere. LIV is here for a long, long period of time”.
Feeding off home crowd support, local course knowledge and familiar turf conditions are reasons to believe the Cameron Smith-led Ripper GC can break through for a first team victory when LIV Golf makes it Australian debut in Adelaide on Friday.
Australian Golf Digest
