British Open champions Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann are among six players leaving the PGA Tour to join Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which is returning for a fourth tournament outside of Boston this week.
Australian Cameron Smith threw the third tee in the second round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on Friday, August 26, 2022. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Deflecting questions about his impending retirement since the day he won the maroon pitcher, the signed Smith handed Greg Norman the world’s top 10 players.
The 29-year-old Australian Smith, St. Andrews. He could have peaked with a win early in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Now that chance is gone. LIV Golf does not accept rating points even though it applied last month.
Tour Championship Golf, courtesy of the Associated Press
The PGA Tour suspends participants after playing ball at LIV Golf events.
Other signers are six-time PGA Tour winner Mark Leishman from Australia, who fell out of the world’s top 50 at age 38, and three more who left without winning the PGA Tour – Harold Warner III’s The Americans and Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri from India.
Cameron Thringale watches his third tee shot during the first round of the BMW Golf Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday, August 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Smith and Niemann of Chile are among eight contenders for the international team at the Presidents’ Cup, which will be played in Quayle Hollow a month later. Leishman and Lahiri had played in matches before.
Players participating in LIV Golf are not eligible as the PGA Tour only hosts the Presidents Cup, unlike the Ryder Cup which Europe maintains.
Niemann, 23, considered joining a rival league in February until Phil Mickelson’s disparaging comments about the Saudis and the PGA Tour halted the launch of LIV Golf. Niemann won the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera and cited competition and history as reasons why he wanted to stay on the PGA tour.
But all of their best golf buddies have joined the competitive series – Carlos Ortiz of Mexico and Abraham Unser of Sergio Garcia of Spain – and they often share a house and have their own chef for a week. GSE Worldwide’s manager Carlos Rodriguez said Niemann was still not signed to LIV Golf when he flew to Boston on Monday.
Harold Varner III watches his 17th tee shot during the first round of the BMW Golf Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday, August 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In addition to winning the British Open in his first major tournament, Smith also won the Players Championship in March, one shot ahead of Lahiri. Paul Casey is two strokes down and now all three players have joined LIV Golf.
Alongside the massive signing bonus – The Daily Telegraph reported $150 million for Smith – players receive $25 million in prize money at each of the LIV Golf Invitational tournaments.
The Boston event takes place at The International, about 45 minutes west of Boston. LIV Golf kicks off next week with a flagship European tour in Wentworth, England, before returning to the suburb of Chicago on September 16-18.
Source: Breitbart
