British Open champion Cameron Smith has signed a $100 million plus deal with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, according to The Telegraph.
The six-time PGA Tour winner declined to comment on the report during a press conference at TPC Southwind on Tuesday. When asked if he would give a direct “yes or no” to confirm the rumor, Smith also remained silent.
“My goal here is to win the FedEx Cup playoffs,” Smith said. “That’s all I’m here for. If there’s something I need to say regarding the PGA Tour or LIV, it will come from Cameron Smith, not Cameron Percy. I’m a man of my word and whenever you guys [reporters] need to know anything, it’ll be said by me.”
The Telegraph article came hours after Cameron Percy told an Australian radio station that Smith and fellow Australian Marc Leishman had signed a deal with LIV Golf.
The 28-year-old won the Players Championship in March, bagging home $3.6 million, the biggest winner’s purse in PGA history. He has won more than $9.8 million in 16 starts this season.
The No. 2 player also said Tuesday that he wanted to compete in the Presidents Cup, which will be held from September. 19-25 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Absolutely, yeah,” Smith said when asked if he would participate in the Presidents Cup. “That’s something that we’ve been looking forward to for the last three years. We missed a year because of COVID and that’s something that I look forward to being a part of.”
The Telegraph claimed Smith planned to finish this PGA Tour season, where he is a strong contender to win the FedEx Cup and its $18 million prize, before joining LIV for its next tournament in Boston in September.
Cameron Smith has signed a deal with LIV Golf worth at least $100 million, per @Telegraph.
The Open champion will reportedly play in the next LIV event in Boston, teeing off Sept 2nd. pic.twitter.com/XyBX2eoYv8
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 9, 2022
Smith’s FedEx Cup ranking
Smith is ranked second in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. In both the FedEx Cup and the Official World Golf Rankings, he is ranked just behind Scottie Scheffler, who rose to No. 1 in the FedExCup with his triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March.
Scheffler has remained there since. He recently returned from a three-week break following the Open Championship (T21). He has 3,556 FedExCup points and is 1,221 points ahead of Smith with four victories and nine top-10 finishes.
Judge denies RTO against ban on LIV Golfers
The news of Smith’s agreement with LIV Golf came when opening arguments in a hearing for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the ban of Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford from participating in PGA Tour events took place in a U.S. district court on Tuesday.
The three golfers, who signed with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, lost their cases and will be unable to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman made her decision in San Jose after each side’s attorneys spoke for about two-hour.
She argued that the players failed to demonstrate that not playing in the competition would cause them “irreparable harm.” She also said that the players were fully aware of the consequences of joining LIV.