For all the brickbats about signing aging Europeans and banged-up Americans, Norman now has 12 of the past 25 major winners on his LIV roster – and a genuine superstar at the peak of his powers in Smith, the first defector inside the world’s top 10 .
Smith now has an endless cash reserve, and his camp acknowledged as much, calling the switch a “business decision”.
LIV Golf frontman Greg Norman.Credit:AP
So where to from here?
No doubt Smith felt aggrieved Australia has largely been ignored by world golf’s superpowers, chiefly the PGA Tour. A Presidents Cup arrives here once every eight years or so and then the caravan rolls on.
A staunch advocate for more top-level tournaments in Australia, there have been private discussions about Smith lending his name to an elite event Down Under to complement the expected arrival of LIV on Australian shores, in which he’s expected to captain an Australian team featuring Leishman and Matt Jones.
It would potentially require Smith working with Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia to find a suitable spot in the schedule and venue, but suddenly the British Open champion has the funds – and clout – to start his own event if he wanted, which would be a magnet for corporate support.
In comments to Golf Digest, the 29-year-old said the LIV tour would also allow him to return home more frequently and watch “more rugby league with mates”. What’s to stop him buying part of the Brisbane Broncos and dragging those same mates off Caxton Street into the corporate suites?
As much as he loves the rough and tumble of the NRL, Smith will have to take some hits.
The pro-United States crowd both cheered and heckled Smith during last week’s Tour Championship, the climax of the PGA Tour season, with reports of his defection imminent.
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No one has ever had a reason to dislike Smith, who is just as comfortable mixing with caddies as fellow players and spent the days after his Claret Jug success entering a fishing competition in Florida. Norman, and his bullion, has a way of polarizing opinion, and it will do so for one of Australia’s most admired athletes.
From a pure golf perspective, his world ranking will slide unless LIV is granted official recognition alongside the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and other circuits such as the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Smith’s status in the four majors will be safe given his five-year exemption for winning the British Open, and it’s unlikely the governing bodies of golf’s most important events will change their stance given they will be the only custodians of tournaments when the world’s best players come together.
But for now, Smith has signed up for an immediate future as a YouTube hit.
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