The benchmark. Sick. Ridiculous. A blast.

Golfers are hailing the debut of LIV Golf in Australia as a watershed moment for the breakaway tour.

"It's a massive boost, it gives the tour a lot of confidence and a little momentum as well," Australian Cam Smith said.

"This is the benchmark for ... world LIV Golf. This is probably the best atmosphere, infrastructure, crowds that we've had."

A sell-out 35,000-strong crowd flocked to the sandbelt Grange course in Adelaide's west for Friday's opening round.

Beers flowed, music pumped and players were awed by the joyous reception.

"Probably as energetic a crowd I have ever played in front of," Australia's Marc Leishman said.

"That rivals being in contention in a major for sure ... it was ridiculous actually."

Fellow Australian Jed Morgan said it was "sick".

"There's no other word for it," he said.

American Talor Gooch, the clubhouse leader at 10 under, said the first LIV round in Australia was "highly anticipated".

"And it has lived up to the expectations," he said.

"The course is phenomenal and it's just a fun, fun type of golf. It was a blast."

Grange's 12th hole, a 150 metre par-3, has entered golfing folklore after just one day.

The 12th has been dubbed 'the watering hole'.

There's no water there, the moniker comes from the amount of alcohol consumed in grandstands lining the hole, based on a similar alcohol-soaked hole at the Phoenix Open on the US PGA Tour.

All golfers tee off with their chosen song blasting over loudspeakers.

A bunch of barrel-chested fans raised their shirts at Smith's appearance - their stomachs had one letter each, in total spelling 'Cameron'.

"Like Happy in Happy Gilmore. That was pretty funny," Smith said.

"(DJ) Fisher came out and did a shoey, everyone was going nuts.

"I probably hit the worst shot of the day there but everyone still clapped."

Leishman said without the crowds, the 12th was a "benign hole".

"You would probably just hit an eight iron to 20 feet and walk off with an easy three," he said.

"But that (atmosphere) made a fairly simple shot very difficult - and it was fun.

"Just to see the crowd, everyone was happy, there was no one that wasn't happy out there today and that was really cool to see."