Smith taking Rippers along in bid for LIV Golf London ‘double’

Cameron Smith’s drive towards gearing up for the Open Championship continued to pick up pace and the Australian now sits three shots clear of the field after 36 holes at LIV Golf London at the Centurion Club on Saturday.

Smith, defending champion at the Open, leads fellow-Australian Marc Leishman, Belgian Thomas Pieters and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa by three shots. On Saturday though, Oosthuizen was the one to watch out for with a bogey-free 63, the 8 under card matching Smith’s effort of day one.

Oosthuizen, who has a career-low round of 57 on his home course at Mossel Bay in South Africa, later said he could have gone even lower.

“I felt like I was hitting it good enough to genuinely have a birdie on every hole to have a chance. Probably could have gotten a few more shots out of it, but I played solid golf. I can’t complain.”

In the group competition, Smith’s all-Australian Ripper GC who are one of four teams this LIV Golf League season yet to even reach the podium, held a one-shot lead, giving them a chance to pick up their first-ever trophy though leads in this format can melt away in the blink of an eye.

The Rippers enter the final round in St Albans leading defending London champions Stinger GC by one while Smith sits on a healthier advantage on the individual side. The mullet-haired Aussie won last season in Chicago and is keen to sweep both titles on Sunday.

“In our group chat, we’ve said multiple times that we need to get up there and spray champagne over each other,” Smith said after his 4-under 67 moved him to 12 under. “I think that would be a pretty fun experience. Still work to be done on the individual side, but it would be nice to see us at the top of the leaderboard on the team side, as well.”

Smith and Leishman have handled the bulk of the contributions through the first two days, with Leishman among the group of pursuers tied for second at 9 under after shooting 69 on Saturday. Matt Jones contributed a 67 to match Smith’s round, and Jediah Morgan shot a 69 to match Leishman’s counting score.

“If we can look after the individual, play as well as we can, all shoot good scores, the team stuff will take care of itself,” Leishman said, who will play alongside Smith in the same group for the second consecutive round. “Hopefully I can make a bit of a run at Cam tomorrow and make things interesting.”

Leishman will have company in trying to chase down Smith, who will defend his Open Championship title in two weeks at Royal Liverpool.

The Stingers started Saturday eight shots off the lead but quickly moved up the leaderboard with Oosthuizen and defending London individual champion Charl Schwartzel off to hot starts. The former was 7 under through his first 10 holes while Schwartzel was 7 under through his first 11.

Dean Burmester was also 5 under through his first 14. When Oosthuizen eagled the par-5 13th, the Stingers had overtaken the Rippers for the lead. “I went through a stretch there where I made a few birdies and an eagle, and then Dean and Charl probably had to go through the same,” Oosthuizen said.

“It’s unbelievable how the leaderboards can change out here with three scores to count.”

The leaderboard turned again as the Stingers finished on tougher holes while Smith and Leishman had more scoring opportunities. Smith’s birdie on the par-5 18th to finish his round not only added to his individual lead but gave the Rippers the 36-hole team lead.

Anirban Lahiri continued to hold steady in mid-pack, swapping a double bogey for eagle on Saturday along with four birdies and two bogeys. It put him in a share of 13th place and his team, the Crushers, in tied fifth, up one place from Friday.

Day 2 team scores

1. Ripper GC (-23): Cameron Smith 67, Matt Jones 67, Marc Leishman 69

2. Stinger GC (-22): Louis Oosthuizen 63, Charl Schwartzel 66, Dean Burmester 67

T3. 4Aces GC (-19): Patrick Reed 64, Dustin Johnson 65, Peter Uihlein 68

T3. RangeGoats GC (-19): Harold Varner III 66, Thomas Pieters 67, Bubba Watson 71

T5. Majesticks GC (-16): Henrik Stenson 66, Laurie Canter 69, Lee Westwood 70

T5. Crushers GC (-16): Paul Casey 65, Bryson DeChambeau 67, Anirban Lahiri 69

7. Smash GC (-14): Chase Koepka 66, Brooks Koepka 66, Jason Kokrak 69

8. HyFlyers GC (-13): Brendan Steele 67, Cameron Tringale 69, James Piot 70

9. Cleeks GC (-12): Graeme McDowell 65, Martin Kaymer 68, Richard Bland 70

10. Fireballs GC (-11): Abraham Ancer 68, Eugenio Chacarra 69, Carlos Ortiz 69

11. Iron Heads GC (-9): Kevin Na 64, Danny Lee 67, Scott Vincent 67

12. Torque GC (-7): David Puig 68, Joaquin Niemann 69, Sebastian Munoz 69