Cam Smith had a dream. And he reckons it's becoming reality quicker than he ever imagined.
The knockabout man with a mullet is being lauded as a sporting visionary who will transcend golf.
And he's the centrepiece of plans to turn his LIV Golf team, Ripper GC, from a sporting novelty into a marquee global lifestyle brand.
"There's a reason everyone wanted to support the Australian cricket team from a corporate standpoint when Steve Waugh was there," Ripper GC general manager Nick Adams told AAP.
"The Wallabies were successful when John Eales was there.
"I believe with Cam as captain and the players we have got around us, they're relatable, they're friendly and they're brand safe.
"And brands that are smart will want to be around these guys because they're representing those brands globally in a lot of different markets."
Smith is a salt of the Queensland earth 31-year-old who can whack a golf ball as well as anyone in the world.
In July 2022, he won golf's oldest major, the British Open, at golf's oldest course, St Andrews in Scotland.
The next month, he joined LIV Golf for a reported $US100 million signing fee from the Saudi-funded breakaway circuit.
Smith signed up as captain as one of LIV's 13 teams - he was also given 25 per cent equity in the all-Australian team he would name Ripper GC.
Smith's stake meant he wasn't just lured to LIV for his golf talent, but as a pivotal decision-maker for the league and a teams format initially decried as little more than an oddity by golf traditionalists.
"The amazing thing about LIV and the team stuff, is we really don't know where it's going to go," Smith said.
"If you had have told me three years ago that we'd be where we are today, I would have said no.
'Honestly, I think we've far exceeded all of our expectations. Not only with venues, with the league, even within the team.
"We're just making so many great strides and I can't wait to see where this goes in the future. Where it goes, who knows.
"I think we all have a dream but I think we'll be there quicker than later.
"There's definitely a feeling of exponential growth, not only within the team but within the league."
LIV teams, including Ripper GC, are now fielding interest from potential private owners.
"Ownership of professional sports teams globally is a proper asset class now," Adams said.
"There's real value there and for someone who has done extremely well and made a lot of money, there's a vanity issue - everyone wants to own a team.
"It's every kid's fantasy. That is how fantasy baseball started, that is how all these fantasy sports started: I get to control what goes on.
"Now, if you can do that for real, it's a pretty special thing.
"There have been some pretty crazy valuations thrown around from our teams already.
"But I think about the IPL (cricket's Indian Premier League) - where that started and where that is now.
"We're a global property that travels around the world, playing a sport that everyone loves, regardless of age - it's a pretty interesting proposition.
"We're going to see a lot of pretty robust conversations in the next couple of years."
Private ownership is just one facet on Ripper's radar.
Smith's team is the new principal partner of Golf Australia's junior participation program and plans a high performance centre to act as the sport's pathway in the country.
"We're the only national professional sports team Australia has; everyone else has a governing body or some kind of infrastructure like that," Adams said.
"That in itself is very unique.
"We're very committed to junior golf and growing the game globally, but especially here in Australia ... to get more kids swinging clubs.
"Cam is extremely passionate about nurturing the game and being a steward of the game in this country."
Ripper GC has picked new sponsors from numerous suitors and plans to become not just a golf team but a lifestyle brand.
"There's a community which follows golf but we're positioning ourself more as a lifestyle brand and positioning Cam and the boys as something that is very relatable in different markets," Adams said.
"We're not necessarily a golf club, we're a golf community.
"And we want to create content that enables people to come and interact at any time because we are more of a lifestyle brand."
Central to that is Smith, whose fame and fortune haven't altered his persona.
"Everyone wants, especially in the digital age, authenticity; people want to see someone's authenticity, being yourself," Adams said.
"Saying one thing and not doing the other; living your words - and Cam is the embodiment of that.
"Everything he says he'll do, he does."
Smith's Ripper GC have already conquered Australia: the team format was initially scoffed at but now is embraced by the 100,000-strong crowds at LIV Golf's Adelaide tournament.
Ripper won last year's team trophy in Adelaide.
"Nothing has felt like that before because I feel like we were playing for all of Australia, they all wanted us to win," Smith said.
And he'd rate another team triumph this weekend higher than an individual victory.
"I would 100 per cent take it over an individual (win)," he said.
"It's amazing how the crowd changed on that last day (last year).
"I was in the last group and it went from 'come on, Cam' to 'let's go, Ripper'."
The shift evidenced that the team format ridiculed by so many could succeed.
"Golf was a very traditional sport that was always done one way for a very long time," Adams said.
"LIV has blown the doors off that."
