LIV Golf's Cam Smith Got a Heads-Up About the Alliance Moments Before the Rest of the World
LOS ANGELES – Like most of the golf world, Cam Smith had no inkling that a seismic change was coming to golf last week when the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia announced that they were forming an alliance.
But he did receive a call just prior from Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, just before the news went public.
"It was just before it went on CNBC," Smith said during a news conference Monday at Los Angeles Country Club in advance of the US. Open
He was referring to the interview Al-Rumayyan did alongside PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. "It was probably 10 minutes before and he said you can watch the interview if you'd like. I think he was probably calling a few different players, so the call was kind of short and sweet.
"He didn’t really explain much, but just kind of explained what was going to happen on that day, and there was still a lot of stuff to work out."
Nobody has been able to explain much since the surprising announcement that brings the golf entities together and will allegedly bring peace to the game after more than a year of upheaval with the start of the rival LIV Golf League.
Smith, the reigning British Open champion, waited until after the Tour Championship last year to join LIV Golf, and won his second event in Chicago. He is the captain of the all-Australian team called Ripper GC. He tied for ninth last month at the PGA Championship and is ranked ninth in the world (11th in the SI World Golf Rankings).
Rumayyan nor anyone in a leadership position with the PIF or LIV Golf has spoken publicly about the situation since the Tuesday announcement. But Rumayyan called several players, mostly captains, including Martin Kaymer and Dustin Johnson.
Not much is known about the future of LIV Golf in its current format other than this year’s schedule is supposed to go on with seven more events. A source associated with LIV Golf said he was told the 2024 schedule is also to go on as planned.
"I really know as much as you guys know, to be honest. I haven't been told much at all. I'm just taking it as it goes along," Smith said. "I guess if anything comes up, I'll let you guys know, but for the moment it's just trying to play the best golf I can and trying to win a U.S. Open.
"I guess the first reaction was I thought it was kind of a joke that had come out, and then H.E. (Al-Rumayyan) gave me a call and kind of explained what was going on. He didn't really explain too much. I think there's still a lot of stuff to be worked out, and as time goes on, we'll get to know more and more."
What we do know is that the PGA Tour’s non-profit member organization—the FedEx Cup schedule, in essence—is expected to stay virtually the same. The DP World Tour and the PIF have joined forces with the PGA Tour to start a new for-profit LLC, to be named, that will embark on some undetermined golf initiatives that may or may not include LIV Golf—but it would seemingly be a pared-down version. LIV Golf’s overall fate remains unknown.