[Photo: LIV Golf]
Cam Smith says a nine-hole match against American social media star “Fat Perez” before LIV Golf Miami and the brutal Blue Monster course at Doral offer the ideal balance of light-hearted and serious one week out from the Masters.
Smith played took part in “The Duels: Miami,” a nine-hole scramble event featuring six LIV pros paired with as many golf content creators, which will be streamed on influencer Grant Horvat’s YouTube channel on April 5 (April 6 in Australia).
Smith was partnered with the wildly popular social media personality Perez, who is a part of the Bob Does Sports podcast. Perez is an accomplished amateur golfer.
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He’s also a hilarious character who joked about sharing a mullet hairstyle with 2022 Open champion Smith and teaming up with him for the exhibition match.
“It’s like looking in a mirror, slimming mirror for me, probably, the other direction for him,” Perez said before the nine-hole match on Wednesday at Trump Doral resort. “I’m looking forward to it, hiding behind some great golf. Hopefully get some approach shots close for him.”
Smith, who went fishing with Perez on Tuesday at Doral’s 18th green, feels the good-spirited nature of the pre-tournament activities at Doral, which is a beast of a course with water everywhere, will put him in a good headspace for next week’s majors season opener at Augusta National.
Smith is one of 12 LIV golfers invited to the Masters and has a strong record at Augusta without a win. He was T-2 in 2020 and was T-6 last year.
“Yeah, it’s nice. It’s nice having the boys [from Smith’s team, Ripper GC] around. I’d like to think we’re the most lighthearted team out there,” Smith said Wednesday. “We like to have a laugh and play practice rounds together, have a bit of fun.
“But it is nice to get into that mindset the week before a major, take it easy. At the same time, we’re playing one of the hardest golf courses I think in the world. You can’t be too far off your game around here, otherwise you’re going to have a bad week and kind of some bad thoughts heading into next week at Augusta. I still need to hit every shot perfect out here. Yeah, hopefully I can do that this week and get some confidence heading into next week.”
Smith has not played great golf on LIV in 2025 but he has improved over the course of the league’s first four tournaments to record a season-best T-19 at Singapore recently. The three-time winner of LIV and former six-time winner on the PGA Tour says his technique feels ready for Augusta but is looking forward to the results coming
“Yeah, the game feels good; I feel like I’ve played a lot better than my results,” Smith said. “I did a lot of technique work over the off-season in Australia. The swing feels great. I just haven’t quite – everything kind of hasn’t synced together so far this year, so hopefully this is one of those weeks. This week you really have to dial in on targets and hit the right shots. For a place like next week, it’s kind of exactly the same, but yeah, it’s a good test heading into an even bigger test next week.”
