Star Australians Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman are reportedly among a group of golfers expected to tee up on the LIV Golf Series next week in a move set to severely impact the Presidents Cup’s International team.
World No.2 Smith would easily become the highest-ranked signing in a major coup for the Saudi-backed league which is led by countryman Greg Norman.
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Golf Channel was the first of multiple outlets to report on Sunday (AEST) that Smith, Leishman, Americans Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale, Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Anirban Lahiri of India will join LIV Golf for next week’s event outside Boston.
British Open champion Smith again declined to comment after completing his third round in the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
A two-under 68 left Smith tied 18th and 11 shots behind the leader, world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, all but out of contention for the $US18 million ($A26 million) Fed Ex Cup first prize and PGA Tour player of the year honors despite his wonderful three-win season.
Masters champion Scheffler has already won four times in 2022.
That may be some sort of relief for the PGA Tour as it battles to cope with the impact of its enormously well-funded new rival LIV Golf.
However playing a LIV event would mean Smith, Leishman and Niemann would likely not be allowed to play on the International team against the United States in the Presidents Cup in North Carolina in late September as the PGA Tour has suspended defectors.
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Smith and Niemann both earned automatic berths on the team while four-time Internationals representative Leishman may well have been a wildcard pick for captain Trevor Immelman.
Chile’s Mito Pereira, another automatic Presidents Cup pick, was also reportedly expected to make the move to LIV but Sports Illustrated said he was not scheduled to play next week’s event.
“Happy and honored to be part of the International Presidents Cup team,” Perreira posted on Instagram on Saturday.
Immelman seemed resigned to losing some stars as his team chases only its second win against the powerhouse US side in the 14th staging of the Presidents Cup.
“I was chosen by our players to lead the International team to the best of my abilities, and I will carry out this honor fully,” Immelman said in a statement to GolfChannel.com.
“All I can control is the experience the 12 players who want to be at the Presidents Cup will have. My wife and I along with our support staff have dedicated 2 years of our lives to making this Presidents Cup an amazing week for our players, caddies and families.”
Earlier, Golf Channel reported that LIV Golf added itself to the lawsuit that players have filed against the PGA Tour over their suspensions from the tour for playing in the LIV events, while four players have removed their names from the case.
That leaves seven players, most notably Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, along with LIV Golf, as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The four who withdrew their names are Carlos Ortiz, Abraham Ancer, Pat Perez and Jason Kokrak.
The amended complaint was filed Friday afternoon in the US District Court in Northern California.
Three players still on the lawsuit – Australian Matt Jones, Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford – previously sought a temporary restraining order to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The judge denied their request two weeks ago.
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