The only problem was someone forgot to give Talor Gooch the message. The American went out alongside his “Range Goats” teammates Harold Varner III and Thomas Pieters and authored a bogey-free round of 10-under-par 62.

The next best were English veteran Richard Bland and South African Dean Burmester who signed for matching six-under rounds to sit in front of five players at five-under. Smith a further a two shots adrift as he leads the Australian team “Ripper GC” charge.

“I mean, I had 10 birdies and eight pars. It's the days that you work hard for, it's the days that you try and get more and more of those type of rounds,” Gooch said.

“It was actually pretty casual. I don't think I made a putt really outside 10 feet. It wasn't like chip-ins; it was one of those rounds where I was hitting it close and making a lot of putts, so it was fun.”

The “fun” started for Gooch on his second hole of the day, the par-5 13th where he recorded his first birdie after starting on the “party hole” par-3 12th that had yet to reach its full levels of raucousness. That came when Smith and playing partners Ian Poulter and Brooks Koepka reached “the watering hole” and Australian DJ Fisher raced out to do a “shoey” next to Smith.

Smith had an up and down on day one of LIV Golf Adelaide. PHOTO: Sarah Reed/Getty Images.

Gooch was clearly undeterred by not getting the full experience of the hole, with crowds lining the fairways all day, and the composite course of nine holes from the East and West courses seemingly a walk in the park for the 31-year-old. Even if he admitted to being a little surprised by the result.

“If anyone says they're not surprised at 10-under, they're lying to themselves. 10-under is never an expectation of what you think is going to happen,” Gooch said.

“The greens are so good. I knew if I could give myself some putts that we were probably going to make a few putts out there.

“The way that the course was playing today with the wind down, there was going to be some opportunities.

“Again, you never expect to shoot 10-under, but everything kind of went as planned today.”

Whether the course continues to be slightly defenceless against the field of 48 players, including multiple major winners, remains to be seen.

However, the strong crowds on site and boisterous support for Smith and his fellow Aussies is certain to be a constant all weekend.

“I mean, I had 10 birdies and eight pars. It's the days that you work hard for, it's the days that you try and get more and more of those type of rounds." - Talor Gooch.

“I think it'll be much of the same from the crowd again tomorrow. Yeah, like I said, it's really enjoyable, but at the same time it's quite tiring, so you've just got to really focus on what you're trying to do. Golf is the main priority out here,” Smith said.

“As soon as I'm over the ball, I've got the glove on, I'm really trying to do my own stuff. It's easy to get absorbed in that stuff, but I think I did a pretty good job of really knuckling down and trying to hit the right shot.

“I think from a playing standpoint, I think had two or three lip-outs there on the back nine, so it could have easily been another two or three shots. I still feel like I'm really in the tournament.”

In terms of being “in the tournament”, Smith’s team is far from that at this stage.

His “Ripper GC” foursome, including Marc Leishman, Jed Morgan and Matt Jones, sits in a share of last place following round one. The Australians at a combined four-under (with three of four scores counting), the “Cleeks GC” team of bland sharing top billing with Burmester’s “Stinger GC” at 14-under-par.

“We (Cleeks GC) were kind of getting a little frustrated the first couple events. We finished fifth or sixth in Orlando,” Graeme McDowell said. “This guy (Bland) has been playing great. I feel like I'm trending in the right direction.

“Bernd (Wiesberger) is a great player. We'll get Martin (Kaymer) back this week, which obviously he didn't play the way he wants to, but I think just having the band back together again, getting that little bit of consistency, getting that nice kind of – we feel like we can compete on weeks like this, and Martin will be fired up tomorrow and hopefully we can all continue to play well.”