HOYLAKE, ENGLAND – Just moments after the reigning French Open champion Cameron Smith got emotional upon returning the Claret Jug he’d owned for a year, the Australian sent a message about the future of LIV Golf in the wake of a PGA Tour framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
“Obviously there are a lot of things up in the air that nobody really knows at the moment,” Smith said at a news conference on Monday ahead of the 151st Liverpool Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. “There is a lot of uncertainty but I am optimistic that LIV will be around in the future.”
It was this time last year when Smith put on a final round 64 to edge out Rory McIlroy and edge out Cameron Young to win the 150th Open at St Andrews only, shortly after the tournament, becoming LIV Golf’s biggest signing since its inception.
Earlier this month at the LIV event in London, which Smith won, he said he thought his Old Course win was “overshadowed” by questions about his future that he received at the post-championship press conference. On Monday, Smith looked back at the past 12 months and reiterated that the decision to go to LIV was “stressful” but one he doesn’t regret.
“It seems like a long time ago, last year,” Smith said. “I’ve said in the past that the PGA Tour is a great place to play golf, and it will continue for a very long time. I don’t think there was any part of me that made me think I made the wrong decision all the time for any part of the last eight or nine months.”
While the world of golf has consumed the power struggle between the LIV and the PGA Tour and now the US Senate investigation into their proposed partnership, Smith has instead chosen to focus more on Claret Jug.
“I wasn’t a part of all the lawsuit issues,” Smith said. I tried to get as far away from it as possible.
The 29-year-old added that he believes no player knows exactly how the current framework agreement will collapse, but regardless of his confidence in LIV’s future, Smith said he would like current LIV chief executive Greg Norman to remain involved in the league.
Norman, who was the fiery voice behind LIV’s push to overturn golf, faded from the spotlight in recent months when PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan directed the fund’s negotiations to partner with the PGA Tour. PGA Tour officials pushed for Norman’s removal as CEO of LIV during the tour’s negotiations with DP World Tour and PIF, according to documents released by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“I think I kind of became friends with Greg in the last eight or nine months,” Smith said. “Personally, I think he’s doing a great job on our tour. He looks out for our best interests. That’s all you could ask of the guy running the show. I’d like to see him continue.”
Despite his views on the competition, Smith said it gave him no extra motivation to try and defend his title this week at Royal Liverpool. Instead, he said it would be a “fantastic story” to have some kind of rematch with PGA player Rory McIlroy, who finished in the top three at the World Open last year and picks up a win on Sunday at the Scottish Open.
Smith said that after winning the LIV event in London and paying more attention to detail around the course recently, he has the right amount of confidence and momentum on his way to this week’s Open.
“It’s a little bit of a work in progress,” said Smith. “I think as a golfer, I think I’m actually a better golfer now than I was last year.”