Cam Smith, Harold Varner, Joaquin Niemann Among 6 New Players to Make LIV Golf Debut This Week

Smith, the British Open champion, is No. 2 in the world and the highest-ranked player to compete in a LIV Golf event.

As expected, reigning Open champion Cam Smith will make his LIV Golf debut this week at the 54-hole event that begins Friday near Boston.

Smith, who also won the Players Championship this year, is ranked second in the world and will become the highest-ranked player to compete in a LIV Golf Invitational Series event.

As reported by Sports Illustrated on Saturday, Smith will be joined by five other new players, according to a LIV Golf announcement on Tuesday.

Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, ranked 19th in the world, Harold Varner III (No. 46), Cameron Tringale (No. 55), Marc Leishman (No. 62) and India’s top-ranked pro Anirban Lahiri (No. 92) are joining this week's 48-player field.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson will make his LIV debut as a non-playing captain as he continues to recover from injury.

Smith has been the subject of considerable conjecture about LIV Golf going back to his Open victory at St. Andrews, where he would not deny speculation he was joining the controversial circuit.

He joins other major champions to move to LIV Golf including Watson, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Henrik Stenson.

Niemann, 23, won the Genesis Invitational earlier this year and was said to be  torn by the decision, having not made up his mind over the weekend at the Tour Championship.