'The Open Champ' Smith: "Will I Transfer to LIV Golf?"

Cameron Smith is giving an interview immediately after his 150th Open Championship victory. St Andrews (Scotland) = Getty Images / MultiBits Photo by MultiBits

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] "Avoiding a direct answer."

‘The Open Champion’ Cameron Smith (Australia) has been suggested as a possible new member of the Saudi Arabia-led LIV Golf. At a press conference immediately after winning the 150th Open, the final major of the 2022 season held at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland (par 72, 7,313 yards) in the early morning of the 18th (Korean time), when asked about the ‘LIV Golf transfer rumors,’ he avoided a clear answer, saying, "I just won, so it’s not an appropriate question."

Smith notably set a new milestone as the first Australian player to win The Open in 29 years since Greg Norman in 1993. It is important to note that Norman is the CEO of LIV Golf. Locally, the news that Henrik Stenson (Sweden), the 2023 Ryder Cup European team captain, is joining LIV Golf has been shocking. The PGA Tour’s defensive argument that "if you move to LIV Golf, you cannot participate in the Ryder Cup" has become meaningless.

Sergio Garcia (Spain) also announced that he will no longer play on the DP World Tour (European Tour), which is hostile to LIV Golf. Regarding the prospect that it might become difficult to participate in majors, he said, "If I don’t play, that’s fine," and expressed that he "doesn’t care at all." UK’s Sky Sports reported that LIV-affiliated players are turning their attention to participating in the Asian Tour. They can secure world ranking points there, and since the Asian Tour signed a 10-year contract with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund last year, it maintains a friendly relationship with LIV Golf.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.