Smith remains coy on joining LIV
SYDNEY: Cameron Smith is refusing to validate reports he is joining LIV Golf on an eyewatering deal, declaring his focus solely on winning the seasonlong FedExCup crown.
London’s Daily Telegraph claims Australia’s world No 2 and newlycrowned British Open champion will join Greg Norman’s Saudibacked rebel tour for a $US100 million ($NZ158 million) signon fee.
The report follows fellow Australian Cameron Percy’s assertion that Smith is ‘‘gone’’ to LIV Golf.
Percy says 28yearold Smith and countryman and Tokyo Olympics teammate Marc Leishman have already signed deals and will switch after the PGA playoffs.
‘‘Unfortunate, yeah, they’re gone,’’ Percy told RSN radio in Melbourne.
Smith’s first event could be the LIV’s International in Boston from September 2.
But the Queenslander was in no mood to add to the speculation ahead of the first FedEx
Cup playoff event, the St Jude Championship outside Memphis starting tomorrow.
‘‘You know, my goal here is to win the FedExCup Playoffs,’’ Smith said.
‘‘That’s all I’m here for. If there’s something I need to say regarding the PGA Tour or LIV, it’ll come from Cameron Smith, not Cameron Percy.
‘‘I’m a man of my word and whenever you guys need to know anything, it’ll be said by me.’’
When pressed on whether or not he would join the breakaway league, Smith said: ‘‘No comment’’.
Smith also bristled when asked about LIV Golf in the immediate aftermath to his monumental British Open triumph at St Andrews last month.
‘‘I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that. I think that’s pretty not that good,’’ Smith said.
‘‘My team around me worries about all that stuff. I’m here to win golf tournaments.’’
The preliminary schedule for
the inaugural 2023 LIV Golf tour features a tournament in Australia.
Smith was urged last month by compatriot and fellow British Open champion Ian BakerFinch to reject the LIV tour offer.
Norman, a childhood idol of Smith’s and Australia’s most recent British Open champion in 1993, is the CEO and face of LIV Golf.
Norman has said Tiger Woods
turned down an offer of around $US1 billion to play in the breakaway tour.
Percy said a conversation with Adam Scott, who is on the record saying he would consider a move to LIV Golf, helped open the eyes of his fellow countrymen to the new tour.
‘‘[Scott] said he met with these guys (LIV reps) in 2017 — they were ready [to] do all this. So, the tour has known for a long time that this stuff is in the works,’’ Percy said.
Smith enters the St Jude Championship, which he lost in a playoff last year to Tony Finau, sitting second in the FedExCup standings behind world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.
The FedExCup champion will pocket $US18 million.
The top 70 in the FedExCup standings after this weekend will progress to the second event of the threeleg playoffs.