Open champion Cameron Smith wins LIV Golf Chicago title on second start

Reigning Open champion Cameron Smith won his first LIV Golf title on Sunday, holding off Dustin Johnson and Peter Uihlein down the stretch to win the Chicago Invitational.

The 29-year-old Australian fired a three-under par 69 to finish on 13-under 203 in the 54-hole shotgun start event at Rich Harvest Farms.

World No 3 Smith finished with back-to-back birdies, the last from 20 feet, to defeat two-time major winner Johnson and Uihlein by three strokes.

Nine weeks after capturing the Claret Jug at St Andrews, Smith said he needed a victory to send a message to critics of his decision to jump from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed upstart series.

"I think I had to prove to myself and some other people that I'm a great player, that I'm out here to win golf tournaments," Smith said.

LIV Golf's record prize money has helped lure several big-name PGA Tour defections, prompting the PGA to issue indefinite bans on former members and spark an antitrust lawsuit in the United States set for trial in 2024.

Smith's departure was a big blow for the PGA Tour, where he had won the Tournament of Champions in January, The Players Championship in March, and his first major title in July at St. Andrews.

Smith added a $4 million LIV Golf top prize from a $25m purse to a 2022 riches haul that includes $1.47m for the Tournament of Champions win, $3.6m at the Players and $2.5m at the Open.

Smith took a three-stroke lead after Johnson opened with a bogey at the first, but he missed a six-foot par putt to bogey the fourth and a poor blast out of a bunker at the sixth led to another bogey.

Dustin Johnson, centre, led the 4 Aces GC to another team victory at LIV Golf Invitational-Chicago. AP

Both birdied the par-5 seventh but Smith rolled in a