Cameron Smith fires warning to field ahead of Open Championship in Liverpool

HOYLAKE: Ahead of defending his Open Championship crown, LIV Golf superstar Cameron Smith has fired a warning to the quality field assembled at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake.

The world No. 7 Australian, who became the highest-ranked player in the world to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf last year (he was No. 2 then), said he felt he was playing even better golf now than he was a year ago.

Smith won the 150th Open Championship last year at St Andrews, putting together a remarkable Sunday charge for his first career major title. The 29-year-old had started the day four shots behind third-round leader Rory McIlroy and beat him by two shots after a stunning round of 64. American Cam Young was solo second, one behind Smith.

“As a golfer, I think I’m actually better now than I was last year,” said Smith, who won the LIV Golf tournament at Centurion Club two weeks ago and is looking for a UK double, like McIlroy, who won the Scottish Open last week.

“I think the stuff that I had to clean up is progressing. It’s still a little bit of a work in progress. My 5-iron and up has always been a bit of a struggle for me, and that’s an area of the game that we’ve worked probably harder on than we have in the past. I feel like it’s right there. It just has to come together.

“I think the first round I had at Centurion a couple of weeks ago was the first time where I felt like it had all come together. And then, the driver wasn’t my best friend on the weekend there, but I managed to kind of scramble out a good week. It feels really close.”

Smith said there was no extra motivation this week just because he wants to prove a point for LIV Golf.

“I think LIV aside, I’m determined to try my best every week and just try and