‘He’s too young to retire’: Cam Smith and Australian golf ponder life without LIV’s riches
He was Australian golf’s shining light, a likeable everyman whose career has found the rough.Now, Cameron Smith “may be rethinking” his decision to stick with LIV Golf, according to the head of the PGA of Australia, after Saudi Arabian investors withdrew funding from the upstart tour.The entire Australian golf sector is wrestling with what a future without LIV – or with a fiscally restrained LIV-lite – might look like, as the South Australia government pushes on with spending $45m for an upgrade to a course still scheduled to host a LIV tournament from 2028.Australia’s golfing institutions are immune to any collapse of LIV, yet the links within the sport run deep.As the body for golf’s professionals, the PGA of Australia wants the best for Smith and his countrymen.
A junior entry program run by Golf Australia is sponsored by Smith’s LIV team Ripper GC, and the sport’s governing body celebrates the nation’s best golfers performing at their peak.All rely on the sport’s biggest names playing local tournaments.Smith was one of LIV’s highest-profile recruits when he joined in 2022, weeks after winning the Open, in a deal reportedly worth more than $100m.He has missed the cut at his past six majors, even if two eighth-place finishes at LIV tournaments this year are a reminder of his quality.Still just 32, Smith stuck with LIV earlier this year during a window when the PGA Tour offered a way back for players that would involve a financial penalty.
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka took up the offer, signalling a shift in momentum back towards the incumbents.Former LIV player Patrick Reed is playing on the DP World Tour before a return to the PGA Tour later this year.Gavin Kirkman, chief executive of the PGA of Australia, said Smith will be discussing his future with his management in the coming weeks, before a meeting with Kirkman and his team later this month.“What we’re hearing, he’s too young to retire, and then, where he made that decision based on where LIV Golf was at that stage, he may be rethinking with his management,” Kirkman said.While there appears to be efforts underway to continue operating LIV even without the investment of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, any salvaged operation is unlikely to resemble the flashy disruptor that has burnt through more than $5bn.
Some have called for bans and severe penalties for players seeking to rejoin the established tours if LIV falls over.However, the figurehead of the professional game in Australia urged golf officials with the majors and international tours to remember the best interests of the sport.“They’ll have to come together and work out how they’re going to get the best golfers in the field, and then we want the best golfers to come to Australia because we know we’ve got the courses, the capabilities,” Kirkman said, noting LIV has several esteemed Australians on its books who are already full members of the PGA Tour of Australasia.“Our focus is on Cam, Marc Leishman’s still got a lot of golf to play, Elvis Smylie is a superstar and Lucas Herbert is capable of winning a major, so those four players are very important to Australian golf.“We can’t make their decisions for them, but this is where we hope the global golf ecosystem really comes together because I can say that all the tours and all the majors want the best golfers playing.
”South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas said last week LIV Golf’s chief executive Scott O’Neil had assured him Adelaide would host a LIV tournament next year,The city has a deal to host a LIV tournament until at least 2031,James Sutherland, chief executive of Golf Australia – the sport’s broad stewards in Australia – said: “We’re certainly not blind or ignorant to some of the discussions going on with LIV and uncertainties around all of the golf course developments and what have you in Adelaide,”But he was eager to highlight how LIV’s popularity in South Australia has unlocked a new formula in golf that blends sport, lifestyle and music, akin to a similar transformation in tennis,“We look really closely at what the Australian Open tennis does in creating a great spectacle, in terms of sports entertainment with a lot on the line, but at the same time [giving] a reason for people to come to the event, to be in the precinct, to enjoy the atmosphere and to have a whole lot of other form of entertainment in and around it.
” he said.“LIV’s done that really well.I’m not sure that we we will be able to afford the sorts of artists that they attract to their events, but just trying to find a way to have a varied offering and improve that and get bigger crowds at our major events and maybe even extend beyond being four days of entertainment in the way that tennis has.”Sutherland is preparing for a board meeting this week in Adelaide, where the future of the LIV tournament remains a source of consternation.He said there will be more opportunities to attract elite golf to South Australia, although he noted there may now be more competition.
“We want all of our states to be vying for major events,” he said,“We haven’t necessarily enjoyed that demand in the past,”The 2025 men’s Australian Open in Melbourne was boosted by the appearance of Rory McIlroy, who will return later this year,The women’s edition in March was hosted by Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide, the first under a three-year deal with South Australia that will conclude with the 2028 edition at the renovated North Adelaide public course,Sutherland said golf’s new recipe for fan engagement – thanks, in part, to LIV – leaves it well placed.
“We’re really confident that state governments and other municipalities will come in behind and be coveting the hosting rights to major tournaments.”
Mercedes may have won again but Miami upgrades have shaken up the F1 grid | Giles Richards
The improved form of McLaren and Red Bull in Florida suggests the 2026 title race is likely to run and runThere is a long old way to go but after Formula One emerged from its enforced early season break with an entertaining romp around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, it indicated that there may yet be a decent tale to be told this season. One where Mercedes do not have it all their own way.Regulation changes dominated the buildup – of which more later because honestly paragraph two is too early to subject readers to the increasingly soul-destroying phrase “energy management” – but what really mattered in Miami was the sporting imperative of upgrades making a competitive difference.Mercedes had looked ominously strong with three straight wins in the opening three rounds before the five-week break caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi GPs. During that time there was no little beavering across the paddock on upgrades for Miami
RFU backs Steve Borthwick to lead England for 2027 World Cup after Six Nations review
Steve Borthwick and his coaching staff will remain in charge of England’s men despite the team’s worst Five or Six Nations for 50 years. The Rugby Football Union has opted to back Borthwick and his lieutenants through to the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year having completed what it described as “a detailed and robust review” of England’s latest campaign.Despite the team having lost four championship games in the same season for the first time since 1976, the RFU has chosen to keep faith with the Borthwick regime in the belief that things can only get better. The union has decided that sacking the head coach is not the optimal solution, having previously dispensed with Eddie Jones’s services nine months before the 2023 World Cup.“This has been a thorough and honest review, and it is clear that improvement will come from addressing several areas rather than chasing one simple answer,” said the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, in a statement
The Breakdown | Rugby needs to stop the screen-obsessed, finger-pointing, hair-trigger arguments
Game is in danger of losing its integrity by howling about referees’ decisions and unedifying actions on the field under the notional banner of player welfareIt felt like a proper occasion in Bordeaux on Sunday. The trams were so jammed en route to the ground that the kick-off had to be delayed to allow spectators extra time to find their seats. For those who dismiss the notion of club rugby rivaling football for vibrant mass interest, here was a compelling counterpoint: a heaving 42,000-capacity stadium, off-the-scale passion, top-class sport in every respect.Later on, after the game was done, there was another revealing snapshot at the airport. As Bath’s beaten players headed for their flight home they were warmly applauded down to the gate by their travelling supporters
Carlton fined $75,000 for mishandling of Elijah Hollands’ mental health episode
The AFL has fined Carlton $75,000 for not removing Elijah Hollands from the field while he was experiencing a mental health episode during round six against Collingwood.Hollands appeared to be acting erratically during the match at the MCG, and was admitted to hospital for treatment several days later.The AFL found Carlton should have removed Hollands from the game earlier based on visual cues, performance data and the player’s previously disclosed mental health challenges, and that the club’s failure to do so brought the game into disrepute.The AFL’s chief executive, Andrew Dillon, said the “substantial sanction” was made against the club “collectively” rather than singling out any individuals.“What transpired during the game was something we haven’t seen before and while Elijah did undergo checks, he should not have been left on the field for that period of time,” Dillon said, adding that the incident had highlighted areas of improvement for the code
‘English cricketers don’t always have that fight’: Simon Harmer on lessons from a decade in county game
The Essex and South Africa spinner has taken more Championship wickets than anyone else since arriving in 2017 – but says 18 teams can reward mediocrityFor 10 seasons, few have earned the right to comment on English cricket more than Simon Harmer. Because for 10 seasons, no one has taken more County Championship wickets than the South African off-spinner who arrived at Essex in 2017 on a six-month contract, his international career stalled and his options narrowing fast.He has since become one of the great imports of the English game: 522 first-class wickets and counting for Essex, two County Championship titles, a Bob Willis Trophy, a return to South Africa’s Test side and, perhaps most importantly, contentment. “My journey has been bumpy,” Harmer says from a sun-drenched beer garden near the Oval. “I can say now that I’m at peace with it
These are the questions I would ask the Enhanced Games … if they would let me | Sean Ingle
The plan to fly to Las Vegas to cover what the Enhanced Games claims is the “next frontier of human performance” ended with a short email sent at 7.02pm on Friday. “After careful consideration, we are unable to approve your media credential request for this year’s event,” it said. “Due to the high volume of applications and limited media capacity, we could not accommodate all requests … thank you again for your interest and understanding.”Admittedly, the rejection didn’t come entirely out of the blue
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