Open champion Cameron Smith has become the latest star to join the LIV Golf ranks, according to fellow Australian Cam Percy. Smith etched his name into the history books after claiming the Claret Jug at the 150th Open at St Andrews last month.
Following his maiden major win, the Aussie star was quizzed on whether he would join the controversial series - but he was quick to shoot the line of questioning down. Speaking at St Andrews, Smith responded: "I just won the British Open and you're asking about that? I think that's pretty, not that good.
"I don't know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff. I'm here to win golf tournaments."
Three weeks on though, Smith apparently will be making the switch to the Saudi series along with his fellow Australian Marc Leishman. Confirming the move, PGA Tour star Percy told RSN Radio : "Unfortunately, yeah, they're gone. I had a long conversation with Adam Scott and he was very interesting talking to about it, just where it is.
"He said he met with these guys [LIV] in 2017 [and] they were ready do all this. So, the tour has known for a long time that this stuff's in the works. The more and more you look into it, some people don't care, some people have got a conscience and do care."
Hitting out at the Saudis - the main funder behind the LIV series - Percy added: "They're not the nicest people in the world. Do you just look past that and go, "oh well, I'm rich. I don't really care". It's a tough one, it really is.”
Smith is still set to compete in the FedEx Cup play-offs over the next month, with the opening event - the St Jude Invitational - kicking off this week. His switch could then set to be confirmed following this, with LIV CEO Norman revealing that more player announcements are right around the corner.
Norman said: "There will be more player announcements before [the FedEx Cup], but we're set on the maximum amount of players. It's interesting, we're still getting calls from agents of top-40 players in the world wanting to join LIV but it's too late now. What it tells me though, is what we're doing is very appealing to the world's best players."
