Golf-British Open champion Smith among latest players to join LIV Golf

2-4 event being held at The International Golf Club outside Boston. LIV Golf, whose eight events this year have a total payout of $255 million, also said Australian Marc Leishman, Chile's Joaquin Niemann, India's Anirban Lahiri and Americans Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale agreed to join the series.

World number two Cameron Smith, who won his first major at last month's British Open, headlined the latest group of players who have agreed to join LIV Golf, the lucrative Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway series said on Tuesday.

Smith, who this year won two of the biggest events on the PGA Tour schedule having triumphed at the British Open and the Players Championship, represents the highest-ranked player to join LIV Golf to date. The 29-year-old Australian, who has been linked to LIV Golf for weeks and refused to deny the reports, will make his debut on the controversial series at the Sept. 2-4 event being held at The International Golf Club outside Boston.

LIV Golf, whose eight events this year have a total payout of $255 million, also said Australian Marc Leishman, Chile's Joaquin Niemann, India's Anirban Lahiri and Americans Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale agreed to join the series. Leishman is a veteran player who has earned six PGA Tour wins during his career, while 23-year-old Niemann collected his second victory on the U.S.-based circuit in February. Lahiri, Varner and Tringale have not won on the PGA Tour.