Some Mullets Were Born in Cam Smith's Honor Outside Chicago, and Then He Won
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. — While Cam Smith traversed the Rich Harvest Farms course in search of his first LIV Golf Invitational Series victory, a steady stream of customers visited a booth in the fan village set up in his honor.
The reigning British Open champion from Australia who sports an impressive mullet was the subject of a promotion in which spectators at the tournament could get the same treatment.
There was no fee, and those who got their own mullet could feel good knowing that LIV Golf was donating $1,000 in their honor for every person who did so. While exact numbers were unavailable, a sizeable donation was forthcoming as more than 100 brave folks took part, meaning more than $100,000 in contributions.
Smith, of course, could easily add to that total.
He shot 3-under-par 69 to hold off Dustin Johnson and Peter Uihlein to win in his second LIV Golf start, earning $4 million from the individual purse.
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As perhaps LIV Golf’s biggest signee to date—he won the British Open and the Players Championship this year and is ranked third in the world—Smith said he felt a burden to perform.
“I think probably that first event was the most pressure I’ve been under all year inside of an event,’’ said Smith, who made his LIV debut at the event outside of Boston and tied for fourth two weeks ago. “I feel as though I needed to prove to myself and probably more so to other people that just because I’ve changed tours doesn’t mean I’m a worse player for it. That’s what we’re all here for. Hopefully we can keep it going.’’
Smith felt other pressures. Such as cutting LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman’s hair as part of the mullet promotion on Saturday. “Talking about nerves, I was so nervous to cut Greg's hair,’’ Smith said. “I didn't really want to stuff it up. I know he doesn't have a lot left, so if I had have stuffed it up, it would have taken him a while to bring that back.’’
As LIV Golf strives to gain acceptance and credibility—aspects that will undoubtedly need to play out—it doesn’t hurt to have a player of Smith’s stature win and do so quickly.
Johnson’s victory two weeks ago in a sudden-death playoff was a boost and so was this win, accomplished before perhaps the biggest gallery yet to see one of the five LIV Golf events now played.
Tournament officials have been mum about attendance figures to date, stating only that they purposely limited ticket sales due to various infrastructure issues and growing pains as the tournament scheduled was only announced in March.
Anecdotally, the crowds were more robust at Rich Harvest Farms at a location some 40 miles from Chicago, which has not had a PGA Tour event since 2020 BMW Championship—some 80 miles away at Olympia Fields. That tournament could not have spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions, so there has been some pent-up demand in the area.
Still in search of some sort of over-the-air broadcast deal, LIV Golf will continue to deal with growing pains as it heads overseas in two weeks to play back-to-back weeks, first in Bangkok and then in Jeddah. Getting world ranking points would help, too, an issue that Smith addressed.
“I think for all the guys on the tour, I would mean a lot to get world ranking points,’’ he said. “I suppose there’s a lot on the line with ranking points, getting into majors, stuff like that. There needs to be (a decision) quite soon, I think. The field here is strong enough to where it warrants that, and hopefully it’s soon.’’
For now, Smith will have to settle for pride—and the big paycheck. He added another $65,000 in tip money by making a birdie at the last hole, which meant a tie for third place for his Punch GC team that includes Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormbsy.
They tied Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers—with Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Wolff and Cameron Tringale—and all eight players split $500,000.
Johnson’s 4 Aces team of Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez won for the fourth consecutive tournament, sharing $3 million. The Smash GC team—Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Uihlein and Chase Koepka—finished second and split $1.5 million.
For Mickelson, it was his best event to date. His final-round 66 included nine birdies and helped his team secure the tie for third. He tied for eighth and the score was his best since opening the Saudi International—where he tied for 19th—with a 67 in February.