{"id":396193,"date":"2026-01-06T22:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396193\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:27:23","slug":"has-ripper-gc-found-its-matt-jones-replacement-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396193\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Ripper GC found its Matt Jones replacement? \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[PHOTO: Getty Images]<\/p>\n<p>Australian rising star\u00a0Elvis Smylie\u00a0is reportedly on the verge of joining\u00a0LIV Golf\u00a0and linking up with the all-Australian\u00a0Ripper GC\u00a0team for the 2026 season. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/sport\/golf\/article\/thomas-detry-and-elvis-smylie-set-to-join-liv-golf-6k0z2xjqb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">According to\u00a0The Times<\/a>, Smylie and world No.57\u00a0Thomas Detry\u00a0are poised to be the latest high-profile additions to the Saudi-funded league, in what would be a significant move for both the young Queenslander and Cameron Smith\u2019s squad, which also includes Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.australiangolfdigest.com.au\/elvis-smylie-a-little-more-conversation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elvis Smylie: A little more conversation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Times report says that Smylie, currently ranked No.127 in the world, \u201cwill join Cameron Smith\u2019s Ripper GC\u201d following the departure of Matt Jones over the summer.\u00a0Smylie was one of two players to receive the Cameron Smith Scholarship\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Exclusive: Thomas Detry and Elvis Smylie are both set to join LIV Golf. Detry, the world No57, won the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour last year.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GGcdIoXUjr\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/GGcdIoXUjr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Kershaw (@trlkershaw) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trlkershaw\/status\/2008533235597537757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A number of Aussie stars had been linked to Ripper GC\u2019s fourth slot \u2013 including PGA Tour talent Min Woo Lee \u2013\u00a0but it appears Smylie could be the man to step in after an impressive showing in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smylie\u2019s rise up the ranks has been rapid. A winner of the 2024\u00a0BMW Australian PGA Championship, where he edged Cameron Smith, he\u2019s established himself as one of Australia\u2019s most promising young pros and is coming off a top-10 performance at the recent Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The potential signing comes amid a turbulent offseason for LIV, which has seen departures \u2013\u00a0most notably, American superstar Brooks Koepka \u2013 and roster reshuffles as the league heads into its fifth season.<\/p>\n<p>    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[PHOTO: Getty Images] Australian rising star\u00a0Elvis Smylie\u00a0is reportedly on the verge of joining\u00a0LIV Golf\u00a0and linking up with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,6409,118461,5506,755,14239,198637,85,24833],"class_list":["post-396193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cam-smith","tag-dp-world-tour","tag-elvis-smylie","tag-golf","tag-liv-golf","tag-ripper-gc","tag-sports","tag-the-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}