Cameron Smith is one of LIV Golf’s 15 captains, and the Ripper GC skipper has revealed the proposed peace deal with the PGA Tour is a common discussion in meetings
Cam Smith had his say on negotiations (
Image: Getty Images)
Cameron Smith has become the latest star to provide his insight into the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF).
On the back of a shock framework agreement announcement last June, the PGA Tour have been in talks with PIF ever since over the former ending their ongoing fallout with LIV Golf. Smith became one of the big names to make the move from the Tour to the LIV setup two years ago.
Along with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, the former world No. 2 is currently banned from competing on the PGA Tour amid his LIV loyalties.
There are hopes however that the proposed deal which is currently being negotiated will allow players to compete freely across the two separate tours. Speaking earlier this week, Smith admitted he tends to stay out of the off-course politics, but ‘merger’ talks come up frequently in meetings with the 15 LIV captains.
“We definitely have some meetings between the players and captains fairly frequently where it’s often brought up,” he said per Fox Sports of the negotiations. “I don’t like to get caught up in that side of the game, but judging from what we’ve heard and what has been happening that everyone is aware of is kind of a step in the right direction and hopefully they can keep that ball rolling.
“It’s a really big process that everyone underestimates how big it was going to be. It’s taking some time but I feel like there are some positive things happening.” Last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship proved to be a meeting ground for those on both sides of the negotiations.
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Cam Smith leads Ripper GC ( Getty images)
The Pro-Am event saw 14 LIV members venture over to the DP World Tour, while two men at the centre of talks, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan competing in the Pro-Am event. Not only were Monahan and Al-Rumayyan both on the entry list, but they were also paired together in the opening round.
And while the week proved to be more about the goings on on the course rather than off it, relations between the two were friendly throughout. PGA Tour loyalist Rory McIlroy was also in the field, competing alongside Al-Rumayyan on the second day of the event.
McIlroy has often found himself at the centre of the saga between the PGA Tour and LIV, and remains involved having been brought onto the former’s transactional committee as part of the PIF negotiations. Providing his own update in Scotland last week, the four-time major winner claimed: “Maybe it’s going too slow for the people that follow golf.
“In the business world, deals of this size take time. You are talking about billions of dollars changing hands, different jurisdictions. I think we’ll know a lot more by year’s end. We’re in October so hopefully three months to get something done.”
