{"id":649149,"date":"2026-05-05T10:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649149\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:41:08","slug":"hes-too-young-to-retire-cam-smith-and-australian-golf-ponder-life-without-livs-riches-liv-golf-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/649149\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s too young to retire\u2019: Cam Smith and Australian golf ponder life without LIV\u2019s riches | LIV Golf Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was Australian golf\u2019s shining light, a likeable everyman whose career has found the rough. Now, Cameron Smith \u201cmay be rethinking\u201d his decision to stick with LIV Golf, according to the head of the PGA of Australia, after Saudi Arabian investors withdrew funding from the upstart tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The entire Australian golf sector is wrestling with what a future without LIV \u2013 or with a fiscally restrained LIV-lite \u2013 might look like, as the South Australia government pushes on with spending $45m for an upgrade to a course still scheduled to host a LIV tournament from 2028.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s golfing institutions are immune to any collapse of LIV, yet the links within the sport run deep. As the body for golf\u2019s professionals, the PGA of Australia wants the best for Smith and his countrymen. A junior entry program run by Golf<\/a> Australia is sponsored by Smith\u2019s LIV team Ripper GC, and the sport\u2019s governing body celebrates the nation\u2019s best golfers performing at their peak. All rely on the sport\u2019s biggest names playing local tournaments.<\/p>\n

Smith was one of LIV\u2019s highest-profile recruits when he joined in 2022, weeks after winning the Open, in a deal reportedly worth more than $100m. He has missed the cut at his past six majors, even if two eighth-place finishes at LIV tournaments this year are a reminder of his quality.<\/p>\n

Still just 32, Smith stuck with LIV earlier this year during a window when the PGA Tour offered a way back for players that would involve a financial penalty.<\/p>\n

Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka took up the offer<\/a>, signalling a shift in momentum back towards the incumbents. Former LIV player Patrick Reed is playing on the DP World Tour before a return to the PGA Tour later this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Patrick Reed reacts to his hole-in-one at last year\u2019s LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide. Photograph: Jon Ferrey\/LIV Golf\/AP<\/p>\n

Gavin Kirkman, chief executive of the PGA of Australia, said Smith will be discussing his future with his management in the coming weeks, before a meeting with Kirkman and his team later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re hearing, he\u2019s too young to retire, and then, where he made that decision based on where LIV Golf was at that stage, he may be rethinking with his management,\u201d Kirkman said.<\/p>\n

While there appears to be efforts underway to continue operating LIV even without the investment of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, any salvaged operation is unlikely to resemble the flashy disruptor that has burnt through more than $5bn.<\/p>\n

Some have called for bans and severe penalties for players seeking to rejoin the established tours if LIV falls over. However, the figurehead of the professional game in Australia urged golf officials with the majors and international tours to remember the best interests of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have to come together and work out how they\u2019re going to get the best golfers in the field, and then we want the best golfers to come to Australia because we know we\u2019ve got the courses, the capabilities,\u201d Kirkman said, noting LIV has several esteemed Australians on its books who are already full members of the PGA Tour of Australasia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is on Cam, Marc Leishman\u2019s still got a lot of golf to play, Elvis Smylie is a superstar and Lucas Herbert is capable of winning a major, so those four players are very important to Australian golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t make their decisions for them, but this is where we hope the global golf ecosystem really comes together because I can say that all the tours and all the majors want the best golfers playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elvis Smylie remains one of Australia\u2019s brightest golf talents. Photograph: H\u00e9ctor Vivas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas said last week LIV Golf\u2019s chief executive Scott O\u2019Neil had assured him Adelaide would host a LIV tournament next year. The city has a deal to host a LIV tournament until at least 2031.<\/p>\n

James Sutherland, chief executive of Golf Australia \u2013 the sport\u2019s broad stewards in Australia \u2013 said: \u201cWe\u2019re certainly not blind or ignorant to some of the discussions going on with LIV and uncertainties around all of the golf course developments and what have you in Adelaide.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was eager to highlight how LIV\u2019s popularity in South Australia has unlocked a new formula in golf that blends sport, lifestyle and music, akin to a similar transformation in tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look really closely at what the Australian Open tennis does in creating a great spectacle, in terms of sports entertainment with a lot on the line, but at the same time [giving] a reason for people to come to the event, to be in the precinct, to enjoy the atmosphere and to have a whole lot of other form of entertainment in and around it. \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLIV\u2019s done that really well. I\u2019m not sure that we we will be able to afford the sorts of artists that they attract to their events, but just trying to find a way to have a varied offering and improve that and get bigger crowds at our major events and maybe even extend beyond being four days of entertainment in the way that tennis has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutherland is preparing for a board meeting this week in Adelaide, where the future of the LIV tournament remains a source of consternation. He said there will be more opportunities to attract elite golf to South Australia, although he noted there may now be more competition. \u201cWe want all of our states to be vying for major events,\u201d he said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t necessarily enjoyed that demand in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2025 men\u2019s Australian Open in Melbourne was boosted by the appearance of Rory McIlroy<\/a>, who will return later this year. The women\u2019s edition in March was hosted by Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide, the first under a three-year deal with South Australia that will conclude with the 2028 edition at the renovated North Adelaide public course.<\/p>\n

Sutherland said golf\u2019s new recipe for fan engagement \u2013 thanks, in part, to LIV \u2013 leaves it well placed. \u201cWe\u2019re really confident that state governments and other municipalities will come in behind and be coveting the hosting rights to major tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was Australian golf\u2019s shining light, a likeable everyman whose career has found the rough. Now, Cameron Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-649149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}