The winning Italian team – photo Steve Gibbons USGA

Australia have finished in 15th place at the World Amateur Teams event in Paris, their three man team of Connor McKinney,  Harrison Crowe and Hayden Hopewell failing to flatter.

The team’s 13 under par total was a massive 18 shots behind the winners, Italy who finished one shot ahead of the Sweden to take the Eisenhower Trophy.

Italy who have played in the 31 championships since 1958, won for the first time beating their previous best of 4th

McKinney finished in a share of 19^th in the individual competition, nine shots behind the winner, Toblas Jonsson of Sweden, while was Crowe 31^st and Hopewell 76^th.

New Zealand tied for 34^th of the 71 teams, Kazuma Kobori the best of them when he tied with Hopewell for 76^th.

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Smith in action today – photo Patrick Smith LIV Golf

Despite a double bogey in the middle of his back nine, Cameron Smith has made an impressive start to his debut at the LIV Invitational Boston, the Queenslander bouncing back with a birdie, then an eagle at the last to open with a round of 64 to be just one of the pace, set by Talor Gooch and Matthew Wolff.

Smith signed on with LIV Golf this week following the completion of the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship in Atlanta last week and three birdies and an eagle in his opening with eight holes suggested he wasn’t going to be affected by all of the hype surrounding his switch.

He would bogey the 9^th but the spoiler came at the 14^th when he pulled his tee shot left and was forced to pitch out. He then missed the green and from an awkward position, his pitch from left and long of the green finished 25 feet beyond the hole and the resultant double had him back in the pack.

The came the birdies at the 15^th and the eagle at the last to produce an impressive debut.

Smith is tied for 3rd with Joaquin Niemann and two shots clear of those in 5^th place.

“I think the golf course is really quite nice,” responded Smith when asked the question. “I think over the next couple days as it firms up a little bit, it’ll play probably a little bit harder. I think the fairways are generous, but off the fairways they’re quite penal.

It’s a really good test. You have to keep the ball in play, and the greens have a lot of pitch to them, too, so you have to be pretty smart into the greens.

“That round kind of had a bit of everything, very up-and-down. I told Dom after the round, probably wasn’t one of my best driving performances there. I was a bit disappointed with how I drove the ball, especially around here. I think I maybe got away with a few that I shouldn’t have. So something to work on tomorrow.

“You know, putter feels good. Like Wolffy said before, the course is in unreal shape, and you get putts going on the right line, they’re going in.”

“I feel like the crowd out there is almost on top of you with the music,” added Smith when asked about the vibe of his first day. “It feels like the course has a bit of a heartbeat. Yeah, it was very different I would say, but something that I really enjoyed, and I can’t wait for this to keep going onwards and upwards.”

Matt Jones began with a round of 69 to be tied for 23rd, Marc Leishman, also on debut in the LIV Series, opened with a round of even par 70 to be tied for 31st, while Wade Ormsby is back in 44th place in the 48 player field after a round of 73.

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