PGA Tour star Cameron Percy has revealed Cameron Smith no longer returns his calls after the Australian inadvertently let slip that the Open champion was set to join LIV Golf.
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 sports 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 became the highest ranked player to make the move. The Australian - who is second in the official world golf rankings - reportedly signed for the Saudi-backed venture for £84 million.
News of Smith’s move to LIV Golf went public after Percy gave a radio interview and confirmed the Australian and compatriot Marc Leishman were joining the breakaway tour. The 48-year-old assumed it was fairly public knowledge given the number of leaks that had occurred.
“It is what it is,” Percy told bunkered.co.uk . “They knew they were going, everyone else knew they were going and it was just a matter of time.
“The thing is, we don’t see these guys now. Before if something happened, you could see them at the next tournament and talk to them. I don’t see Cam or Leish now and they don’t return my phone calls at the moment.”
He added: “I didn’t think anything of it and the next day I woke up to 300 text messages and missed calls. I woke up thinking ‘what the hell has happened here?’
“Everyone took it as me confirming they were gone. If I'd said ‘what I'm hearing is they’re gone’ it would have changed everything.”
Percy has been outspoken against the rise of LIV Golf, often pointing to the fact the tour is bankrolled by a Saudi Arabian regime renowned for their human rights abuses. However, the Australian still struggles to understand the appeal of LIV on a sporting level.
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He is aware the PGA Tour has its flaws, but Percy cannot understand why players would leave. He said: “Their contracts came out in court and you’re thinking ‘what are you complaining about the PGA Tour for? These are way more restrictive’.
“But if you say something on Twitter which is perceived as negative all the robots come out. I just don’t understand the guys wanting world ranking points. It’s just narcissistic and arrogant.
“There are things you need to do to get them and LIV doesn’t cover half of it. It's not a real tour, there’s no way to qualify, it’s 54 holes, no cut, 48 guys. I don’t understand the arrogance. They’re living in a different world.”
Percy, who dismissed LIV as ‘not an actual tour’, added: “I don’t understand why they’re calling themselves one because there’s no way to qualify for it. The 54 holes, it is what it is, but how do you get on it? They just say ‘we like you, here’s X amount of dollars’. It's not real yet.
“My son was watching it on YouTube and Patrick Reed was saying he’s sick of the grind and all that stuff. Now he’s travelling to Asia, he’s playing at Wentworth. The stuff they’re saying doesn’t make any sense to me.”
