Golf veteran Fred Couples has laid into Open champion Cameron Smith after t he Australian's move to the LIV Golf Series was confirmed on Tuesday.
Smith's Saudi switch has been rumoured for some time and was finally announced by the series ahead of this week's event in Boston. The Australian star will make his LIV debut at the circuit's fourth event of their opening campaign on Friday, and ahead of it Smith has opened up on why he has made the move.
The world No. 2 has reportedly signed a deal worth £121million to join the breakaway circuit.
Smith though insisted this mega-money deal is not the key reason behind his contentious switch, but is instead based around being able to spend time with his friends and family more often.
Speaking to Golf Digest , he said: "I’ll be able to spend more time at home in Australia and maybe have an event down there, as well. I haven’t been able to do that, and to get that part of my life back was really appealing.
"I’ve lived over here seven years now, and I love living in the U.S., 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." Many within the world of golf are less than convinced though, especially 1992 Masters champion Couples.
Taking aim at Aussie's excuses on Twitter, the American wrote: "To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings... so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the @pgatour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends. And by weekends i mean 72 holes. Sorry not sorry."
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This is not the first time Couples has laid into a LIV defector, as the 62-year-old also hit out at Phil Mickelson after revealing he has cut ties with the six-time major winner following his well documented move. Speaking in June, he told Golf.com : "I don't think I'll ever talk to him again.
"I'm not in the same boat as him anymore, and probably will never play golf with him again. I'm not saying that to be mean. We're just in different orbits." Due to the controversies surrounding LIV's funding from the state of Saudi Arabia, Couples went on to say his family would 'disown him' if he joined the circuit, whilst labelling Mickelson 'stupid'.
"I think this is a family thing for me,” he added. “I’m a little peon from Seattle, but I know where the money’s coming from, and I think my family would disown me if I went. Of course, that’s easy for me to say because I’m not going, so I can actually tell you whatever I want to tell you... These guys — you’ve seen their interviews, right? Have you ever seen Phil look so stupid in his life? They know it’s a joke.”
