Former Open champion Cameron Smith says the move he made to LIV Golf was the “best decision” of his life and one that has made him a “much happier person.”
The Australian golfer, who was speaking to the Herald Sun, is the captain of Ripper GC who won LIV Golf’s Team Championship for the first time at the season-finale in September.
He was the World No.2 when he left the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed circuit a little over two years ago, and it was a move that caused shockwaves at the top of the men’s game.
The 2022 Open champion was reported to have received $100 million for signing with LIV Golf, and his bank balance has been growing ever since with a further $40 million coming in with on-course earnings.
“It was the best decision of my life,” Smith told Herald Sun of leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.
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“Not only from where the tour is going and where it will end up but also from a life standpoint as well. The extra time I get to spend in Australia compared to what I used to means a lot. I feel like I am a much happier person now compared to where I was before.”
Smith won six times on the PGA Tour before joining LIV Golf, and he was regarded as one of the best putters in the game.
In 2022, as well as lifting the Claret Jug at St Andrews, he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Players Championship.
The Aussie is now ranked outside the world’s top 100, although this slip is largely down to the fact that world ranking points are not awarded in LIV Golf events.
Judging by his performances in the Majors – he has three top-10 finishes in the last two seasons in the ‘Big 4’ – Smith is clearly still one of the best players in the world.
And he’ll be hoping to demonstrate just how good a player he is when he makes a return to his homeland to play in four non-LIV Golf tournaments between now and the end of the year.
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The 31-year-old from Brisbane will be playing the Queensland PGA (31 October), New South Wales Open (14 November), BMW Australian PGA (21 November) and Australian Open (28 November).
Smith wasn’t the only one to insist he prefers life post-PGA Tour, with his Ripper GC teammate Lucas Herbert claiming similar.
“I played so much more in 2023, but it’s just a perfect schedule now,” Herbert said.
“You get your time to get away from the game and get your development blocks to be able to get better, not just from a perspective of hitting balls for three or four days and then go to an event, you can actually really work on your game and elevate your skill set rather than just tune it up.
“So just the knowledge I’ve been able to zap from my teammates at various stages throughout the year has been awesome, and my game has massively benefited from that.”
Herbert added that it was beneficial that travel and accommodation is taken care of with LIV. “And not on our dollar, which is nice,” he said.
