It has finally been confirmed — Cameron Smith has accepted Saudi Arabia's 30 pieces of silver and defected to the breakaway LIV tour.
It was golf's worst-kept secret and led to a chilly response when he was asked at the Open but, now that it's in the open, those who heralded the end of golf's status quo can ready themselves for plenty more hand-wringing.
Smith, aged 29 and arguably at the peak of his powers, is the biggest name since the early flurry of major winners to switch his allegiance to the big-money, Greg Norman-fronted tour.
He joins a host of golf star names in signing for the LIV Tour, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooke Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau among others.
While most of those names are fairly well established, Smith, who is ranked number two in the world, earlier this year won the Players Championship and has just become Open champion for the first time, is one of the Tour's biggest rising stars.
Not only that, the Queenslander is popular among supporters as a down-to-earth larrikin whose aggressive style and humble beginnings captured the essence of those who traipse their local courses dreaming of that one perfect round.
No wonder some have described his defection as a "sickening blow".
He is the highest profile of the six new names to join LIV's ranks, alongside fellow Aussie Marc Leishman and rising Chilean star Joaquin Niemann — and arguably its most important since Johnson.
Unheralded Americans Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale, plus India's Anirban Lahiri have also signed up.
Varner, the world number 46, was very honest about the motivation for his departure.
"The opportunity to join LIV Golf is simply too good of a financial breakthrough to pass by," he wrote on social media — this from a man who has won $3.35 million on tour this year.
He also acknowledged that: "Your opinion of me might have changed because of this announcement. No lie, that will be a tough thing to deal with".
Neither did Smith hide from the fact that he went for the money, describing the rumoured $145 million signing fee as a "business decision".
"[That] was definitely a factor in making that decision, I won't ignore that or say that wasn't a reason," Smith told Golf Digest.
"It was obviously … an offer I couldn't ignore."
Despite competing regularly in a sport known for its eye-watering prize purses — so far this year Smith has earned over $US10 million ($14.7 million) on the PGA Tour — his hefty signing bonus is still a monumental sum.
It's not just life-changing for him, but impactful for multiple generations.
As sole trader athletes who are, after all, just one injury or lengthy run of poor form away from losing their access to these sorts of riches, it becomes more understandable that they'd be willing to cash in when they have the chance.
Like all business decisions, it is a risk — his brand will inarguably be damaged in Australia such is the opposition to the LIV tour and, like Varner, that may be a "tough thing to deal with".
Especially as Smith said that his move was not just for the money though, but the chance to spend more time at home — just last week Smith said he will play in the Australian PGA Championships at Brisbane's Royal Queensland course.
"The biggest thing for me joining is [LIV's] schedule is really appealing," Smith said.
"I'll be able to spend more time at home in Australia and maybe have an event down there, as well.
"I've lived over here seven years now, and I love living in the US, but just little things like missing friends' weddings, birthday parties and seeing your mates having a great time at rugby league games has been tough."
A tough but necessary sacrifice for players not from the USA or Europe to endure if they want to succeed in what has been golf's flagship tour.
Having achieved an obvious career goal by winning the Open after several gruelling years in the Tour's pressure-cooker environment, perhaps it's not a surprise that Smith might want a more balanced lifestyle now the opportunity to enjoy one has presented itself.
Smith's safety net
The real — and very justifiable angst over LIV — comes back to the source of the new league's money — Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF).
This is the same sportswashing cash-pile that has attracted, most notably, Formula One and world heavyweight boxing to decamp to the desert in recent years — as well as the acquisition of Newcastle United in the English Premier League.
Greg Norman has previously claimed that because PGA sponsors do business with Saudi Arabia that people did not have the right to criticise the players.
The mental gymnastics required to make a direct comparison between a business and directly accepting money from a country with repeated, documented human rights violations is confusing and as pitiful an example of whataboutism as you're likely to find.
However, perhaps questioning the provenance of corporate dollars is something that should be encouraged more and not excused because they finance a popular sport played on America's perfectly manicured greens.
Moreover, the elite selection of country clubs that host some of those PGA events could not be universally praised for their own civil rights records.
Next year, LIV said it will organise 14 tournaments with a prize fund of $405 million.
Those tournaments will see 48 players split into 12 teams of four, played across three days for 54-hole events, with shotgun starts and no cut.
In response, the PGA has raised its prize pool for the upcoming season to $US428.6 million and revamped its more bloated, 47-event calendar as it attempts to maintain its monopoly over golf's major events and players.
The PGA's solution, to throw more dollars at the existing tour, was an expected solution from a sport that is obsessed with money.
And yet Smith's admission that the improved schedule was the biggest reason for his move should indicate to PGA chiefs that this "problem" won't just go away if they throw enough money at it — even if they did have the capital to compete with Saudi Arabia.
That they don't means they need to look at other issues, such as their own tournament formats, which are at risk of becoming somewhat staid.
In terms of the sport's biggest events, Smith will enjoy something of a safety net thanks to his Open win which, for now, guarantees Smith's presence at golf's biggest events for at least the next five years — assuming the Open, the Masters, the US Open and the US PGA Championships honour that invitation.
Despite all that, with the defection of one of golf's brightest stars at the crest of his playing career, the PGA has suffered its biggest blow to date.
