Cam Smith, LIV Golf's Most Significant New Addition, is Ready for His New Chapter
BOSTON – Cameron Smith’s destiny is no longer a secret.
On Wednesday the 29-year-old sat next to his good friend and fellow Aussie, Marc Leishman, and he finally spoke about his future with LIV Golf, a tour that he has been asked about since he won the Open Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews last month.
Currently No. 2 in the world rankings, Smith’s presence at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston ticks many of the boxes that LIV CEO Greg Norman hoped to fill when the concept for LIV was born – specifically, signing a major-winning, highly ranked player to eliminate a PGA Tour talking point that no top players have joined LIV.
There is also Norman’s parochial view of having an Australian team, with Smith and Leishman added to the existing duo of Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby.
Of course, Norman, a two-time Open Champion, could never have envisioned that Smith, the reigning Open Champion, would eventually tee it up on Friday in his first-ever LIV event, several months after he connected with Smith’s representatives shortly after Smith’s Players Championship victory in March.
“I'm the captain of the team and I'm the youngest, so I think the older boys will be putting me back in line to be honest,” Smith said jokingly in his Wednesday press conference. “I'm just super excited for it all. To have an Australian team, playing for mates and out there having fun with them, it's super exciting for me.”
Smith and Leishman genuinely seemed excited to make the move. Leishman, a 38-year-old father of three, appears to be on the back side of his career. Smith, considered a homebody by many that know him, is looking forward to a reduced schedule, but more importantly the two friends are excited to jump on a plane and fly Down Under, since both have been unable to recently make the trip due to Covid-19 protocols and their schedules.
“It's been three years since I've been home and to be able to spend more time in my home country, see friends again, play on golf courses that I know, it's certainly exciting,” Leishman said. “Like I say, it's a pretty cool day for us.”
Both are planning to return to Australia later this year and play in both the Australian PGA and the Australian Open, since the FedEx Cup points race is no longer an issue for them.
Smith called his signing with LIV Golf a new chapter in his life, believing that it’s the future of golf and embracing LIV’s laid-back nature, which includes music on the range.
“I think there has been a lot of stuff up in the air over the past month or so, but you know, for me personally, I'm here to play the best golf I can,” Smith said. “Now I'm not only playing for myself, I'm playing for three of my mates, the other team members.”
As a captain, Smith is eager to bring LIV to Australia, where he feels it will eventually be embraced.
“We are working on it,” Smith said of a potential Australian LIV event. “I think it would be awesome for Australian golf. I think Australia needs another event. A few years back, we lost the Aussie Masters, and to bring this new, exciting format to Australia I think will be embraced.”
When Smith tees it up in Friday’s first round he will bring an added legitimacy not only to the event, but to LIV Golf itself. He’s a 6/1 favorite to win on the website Betonline, and a victory for the young Australian would likely add interest to the tour and potentially elevate LIV in global golfing circles.
Smith also believes that his success will breed interest in LIV as an alternative to the PGA Tour’s more staid and rigid view of professional golf.
“I think it needs to change,” Smith said of professional golf. “Particularly as our golf fans become younger, I think we need to do something to make it exciting for them. I think it's the right move for sure.”