In his four years on LIV Golf, Cameron Smith has earned close to $50 million, and now, with the league\u2019s funding clock ticking, the paychecks may not stay as lucrative. But instead of opting for a return to the PGA Tour and facing the criticism that would come with it, retirement is also an option. Is it one for Smith, though?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 32, so I\u2019ve got a while yet,\u201d he told 10 News AU. \u201cGee, I haven\u2019t been asked that question before. That\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The 2022 Open champion is very assured that the league will survive beyond the season. He also extends confidence to LIV Golf Adelaide, one of the most successful LIV Golf events. Adelaide drew over 1150,000 spectators across four days in 2026, a new attendance record for the professional golf event in Australia, and he is adamant that the flagship will return next year as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely, yeah, that\u2019s the goal. I think it\u2019s going to be another great event. I\u2019m sure it will be a great atmosphere. We\u2019ll have the same crew out there, and it\u2019ll be another really good week.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the captain of the all-Australian Ripper GC, Smith holds a 25% equity stake in the franchise. Ripper GC\u2019s director Nick Adams said this week that team values could reach $1 billion, which would put Smith in line for a $250 million payday from his stake alone, and yet Smith has shared more reasons for his loyalty to the league.<\/p>\n
He joined LIV Golf in the summer of 2022, just weeks after winning The Open Championship at St Andrews Links, and has never wavered on that decision. When LIV golfers were given a return pathway earlier this year, Smith shut down the conversation quickly, saying LIV was \u201cthe best decision\u201d he had made and that he still stood by it. He has repeatedly defended the move. Speaking to broadcaster Rick Shiels earlier this year, Smith put it plainly:<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was the best decision of my life, not from where the tour is going and where it\u2019ll end up, but also from a life standpoint as well. The extra time I get to spend in Australia compared to what I used to get means a lot. I feel like I\u2019m a much happier person now compared to where I was before.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Smith\u2019s performance on the course tells a different story. He has three individual LIV wins to his name: Chicago 2022, London 2023, and Bedminster 2023. Each of those victories came with a $4,000,000 first-prize check. He also finished second in the 2023 season-long individual standings, earning a $10 million bonus. However, since then, the wins have dried up.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI want to win tournaments; I want to win majors,\u201d he said recently. \u201cThe fire is really burning at the moment. It feels like I\u2019m getting a lot of confidence back on the golf course again.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n For now, Smith is focused on his next opportunity that comes at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club from May 11\u201317. Anyways, Smith isn\u2019t alone in being pressed on what LIV\u2019s uncertain future means for them personally. His fellow league player, Thomas Pieters, offered a far more unfiltered window into the moment the PIF news broke.<\/p>\n Thomas Pieter was ready to retire when he heard the funding news<\/p>\n Talking about when the funding news broke, Pieters described the atmosphere as \u201cvery grim.<\/a>\u201d He said everyone was checking social media every two seconds, and it even made him think of retiring.<\/p>\n \u201cI called home, and I was like, I\u2019m ready to retire on Monday if they pull the plug that quick. And that was like, okay with me, kind of.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Pieters was clear that a return to the PGA Tour was never a part of any fallback plan for him. He says that he has tried that life and wasn\u2019t happy there, and he would sooner explore the DP World Tour than go back to the American Tour.<\/p>\n He also acknowledged that he is completely fine with not being the best player in the sport, but he understands that he has already achieved more than he ever possibly believed growing up in Belgium.<\/p>\n After three sluggish LIV seasons, 2025 was a breakthrough for him. His best individual finish yet is 19th, with consecutive T4s in Korea and Virginia and back-to-back T8s to close the year, qualifying for the LIV zone for the first time. In 2026, he is carrying that momentum. He currently sits eighth in the individual season standings.<\/p>\n What happens with LIV after 2026 ends remains to be seen, but for now, its players seem confident in it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The post Cam Smith Delivers Defiant Statement on Retirement Plans Amid LIV Golf\u2019s Financial Crisis<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n Trending Articles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his four years on LIV Golf, Cameron Smith has earned close to $50 million, and now, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,17653,18938,10658,147,530,3332,206150],"class_list":["post-630876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-cam-smith","tag-cameron-smith","tag-liv-golf","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-pga-tour","tag-thomas-pieters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}