PGA of Australia chair Rodger Davis has addressed the controversial decisions of Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman to join Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.
Australia’s world No.2 Smith says his decision to join the breakaway league, a move made official on Tuesday night after weeks of speculation, was motivated by the desire to spend several months each year in his native Australia.
The newly crowned Open champion was the biggest of the six signings LIV Golf officials announced ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Invitational event outside of Boston. The others include fellow Aussie Leishman, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, India’s Anirban Lahiri and Americans Cameron Tringale and Harold Varner III.
The loss of Smith is the biggest blow to the PGA Tour – which recently extended its strategic alliance with the PGA of Tour of Australasia – given the 29-year-old is playing the best golf of his life. His three victories this year also included the Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament, and the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Davis acknowledged the decision of the star Aussie duo but insisted nothing will change ahead of what is anticipated to be a big summer of golf Down Under, highlighted by the LIV Golf pair’s commitment to play both the ISPS Handa Australian Open and Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.
“We acknowledge the announcement overnight that Cam Smith and Marc Leishman are joining the LIV Golf League,” says Davis.
“Currently, world golf is in somewhat of a state of flux and the PGA of Australia is doing all it can to navigate through this disruptive period, whilst squarely maintaining our focus on our core constituents.
“The PGA of Australia is a member-based organisation and we exist to support golf and all of the membership base. As such, we’re focussed on providing career opportunities for our vocational members and pathways and playing opportunities for all of our tour members domestically and then onto some of the world’s biggest tours.
“As a collective Australian golf ecosystem, we will keep investing in supporting our young Aussie women and men touring pros as they work their way through their golfing journeys. We maintain strong alliances with both the DP World Tour (DPWT) and the PGA TOUR – which includes DPWT co-sanctioning of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and the ISPS Handa Australian Open – and we’ll continue to work with them, particularly on initiatives that grow professional golf in Australia.
“These two major Australian events headline the upcoming summer of golf, one of the biggest for years, and there’s no doubt our fans are looking forward to our growing line-up of homegrown stars like Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Hannah Green, Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee.”
Smith moved to the US in 2015 while securing Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour. That was the second year of the tour’s wraparound schedule and since then Smith has only been able to travel home for a couple of weeks at the end of each year to play the Australian Open and PGA Championship, the latter of which he has won twice.
“I’ve lived over here seven years now, and I love living in the US, but just little things like missing friends’ weddings, birthday parties and seeing your mates having a great time at rugby league games has been tough,” he said.
There is also a likelihood Australia will be given at least one LIV Golf event in 2023. Australian Golf Digest reported in June that a LIV event in Sydney is slated for late April. “I’m sure with Leish and I playing it’ll be appealing for LIV [to take an event there],” Smith said.
Smith and the new signings will make their debut for LIV Golf, which is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, this week at The International in Bolton, the 54-hole event being played September 2-4. It is understood Smith and Leishman will slot into an all-Australian team alongside LIV players Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby.
“For me personally, I love teams golf, and it’s something I wish I could have more often,” Smith said. “I love the four-person teams aspect [of LIV]. Even when you’re out of the tournament, there’s something else to play for.”
