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Open Championship winner Cameron Smith is expected to be among the next wave of PGA Tour players who defect to LIV Golf, sources confirmed to ESPN on Saturday.

Smith, the second-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, will be the highest-ranked player to leave for LIV Golf, which is being fronted by fellow Australian Greg Norman and financed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

Australia's Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III, Chile's Joaquin Niemann, India's Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale are also expected to join the LIV Golf circuit. Those players and Smith are expected to compete in LIV Golf's next event, scheduled at the International in Boston on Sept. 2-4.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...-liv-golf-tour