Open champion Cameron Smith has declared it will be ‘unfair’ if LIV Golf players are not allowed to play in majors after he made the switch to the controversial series from the PGA Tour.
The lucrative LIV Golf series is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and it has divided golf, leaving the PGA and DP World Tours fractured after the new series poached some of the sport's biggest names. Several of the world’s most prominent players have decided to switch to LIV Golf, including the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has lured a number of players to the breakaway series since it rose to prominence earlier in the year, and Smith is the latest and perhaps greatest to make the move when it was announced on Tuesday. The Australian - who is second in the official world golf rankings - reportedly signed for the Saudi-backed venture for £84 million.
LIV Golf stars were allowed to compete in June’s US Open and July’s Open Championship but their future in majors going forwards is uncertain. Smith believes barring players who have joined the controversial series - which is bankrolled by the Saudi regime - would be a step too far.
“To the fans of major championship golf, it may be a little bit unfair on them,” the 29-year-old said. “I think majors is about having the best guys in the best field on the best golf courses. Hopefully we can sort that out.”
LIV Golf players do not receive the necessary ranking points needed to compete at majors. Smith - who is set to make his debut for Norman’s series on Friday - added: “To have 48 of the best guys around the world playing and not to get world ranking points, I think is perhaps a little bit unfair.”
Smith is set to link up with the LIV Golf series ahead of their next events in Boston and Chicago. Former Europe Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson won the third event - which took place in Bedminster - to earn a £3.37m payout, substantially more than the £2.08m awarded to Smith for securing the coveted Open title last month.
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The World No.2’s compatriot Marc Leishman believes LIV Golf players should be cleared to play at majors given the star-studded cast who have made the switch. He said: “As far as the majors and all that go, I think it could potentially hurt them having some guys potentially miss out because they are not offered world ranking points here.
“As a golf fan that's hard for the top tournaments, but hopefully it sorts itself out.”
Players who have joined the LIV Golf series were handed immediate and indefinite bans from the PGA Tour. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson is also harbouring hope he can return to Augusta National in April 2023 after the American also joined LIV Golf.
“It's a weird situation, being a Masters champion,” Watson commented. “Augusta, right now, we can play in it, and I'm hoping, and praying, that they make the right decisions and past champions [can play].
“If they tell me that I can't go, being a past champion, then I don't want to be there anyway because that's just the wrong way to look at it.”
