{"id":467923,"date":"2026-02-09T05:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T05:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467923\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T05:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T05:51:14","slug":"cam-smith-opens-up-on-brutal-matt-jones-call-and-why-elvis-smylie-can-be-the-best-golfer-in-the-world-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467923\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Smith opens up on ‘brutal’ Matt Jones call, and why Elvis Smylie can be ‘the best golfer in the world’ \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

[IMAGE: LIV Golf]<\/p>\n

Cam Smith believes Ripper GC\u2019s star recruit Elvis Smylie has the talent, grit and mindset to become the best golfer on the planet after the Queenslander turned heads with a surprise victory on his LIV Golf debut in Riyadh.<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED: Elvis Smylie just pulled off the smartest \u2018money grab\u2019 golf has ever seen \u2013\u00a0and the haters will HATE it<\/a><\/p>\n

Smylie\u2019s immediate impact has not only vindicated Ripper GC\u2019s off-season list call, but also forced Smith and teammate Marc Leishman to confront the emotional reality of moving on from founding Ripper GC member and close friend Matt Jones.<\/p>\n

Following the expiry of his LIV contract at the end of 2025, Smith made the difficult decision to cut Jones after four seasons together, a move the Ripper GC skipper described as one of the hardest of his career. Smylie\u2019s breakthrough win has softened the blow \u2013 but not erased it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, it was an extremely tough decision to look elsewhere,\u201d Smith said. \u201c\u2019Jonesy\u2019 has turned into one of my best mates over the last four years out here. He\u2019s a great guy. He\u2019s a legend. I still love him.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Elvis\u2019 victory) does make it feel a little bit better. But it\u2019s still one of the hardest things I think I\u2019ve ever had to do, which is \u2013 yeah, it was pretty brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leishman echoed Smith\u2019s sentiments, acknowledging both the personal difficulty and the football-style reality of professional teams evolving.<\/p>\n

\"\"The 2025 Ripper foursome that included Matt Jones [far left]<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it was a tough decision for Cam. Like he said, (Jonesy) has become one of our best mates,\u201d Leishman said. \u201cI\u2019d say Jonesy would say he hasn\u2019t played like he\u2019s probably wanted to play over the last couple of years, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike anything, teams progress, and I think, with all respect to Jonesy, it\u2019s progressing in a good way. Elvis proved himself this past week, and hopefully we can continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Smith, Smylie\u2019s ceiling is frighteningly high \u2013 and the scary part is how much room there still is for growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s got a decision to make. I think he\u2019s already decided \u2013\u00a0I think Elvis wants to be one of the best players in the world. He proved it this week,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[IMAGE: LIV Golf]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crazy thing is I still think he\u2019s got a lot of improving to do, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He\u2019s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he\u2019s doing and knuckle down. He\u2019s got the mentality. He showed it out there today. He\u2019s got the grit. He\u2019s a Queenslander, so that comes with it [laughs].<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has to decide where he goes from here, and I think it can only go one way, and it\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ripper team arrives in Adelaide this week full of confidence after their clean sweep of the individual and team titles in Saudi Arabia last week. Another huge crowd is expected to fill Grange Golf Club for the league\u2019s new-look, four-day, 72-hole showpiece event.<\/p>\n

Tickets are still available HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[IMAGE: LIV Golf] Cam Smith believes Ripper GC\u2019s star recruit Elvis Smylie has the talent, grit and mindset…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,27451,6409,5506,755,14239,62092,198637,16748,85,226183],"class_list":["post-467923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brutal","tag-cam-smith","tag-elvis-smylie","tag-golf","tag-liv-golf","tag-matt-jones","tag-ripper-gc","tag-riyadh","tag-sports","tag-world-no-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467923","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=467923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}