Aussie superstar Cameron Smith’s LIV Golf team gets a new – and VERY Aussie name – while fans have a field day with American team changing their tag to the RangeGoats
- Cameron Smith has dubbed his LIV Golf team ‘Ripper GC’
- Fellow Aussies Marc Leishman and Matt Jones part of the squad
- LIV Golf will stage a new look 14-tournament league this year
- Tension continues with PGA Tour, LIV made ‘zero revenue’ in 2022
Cameron Smith has announced the name for the LIV Golf team he will captain ahead of the coming season – and it has a unique Aussie flavour.
Smith, 29, dubbed his squad – featuring fellow countrymen Marc Leishman and Matt Jones – ‘Ripper GC.’
The 2022 Open Championship winner defected to LIV Golf last year for a reported $140million – and the affable Queenslander was also handed a 25 per cent stake in the all-Australian team by CEO Greg Norman.
A total of 12 teams will take part, with Bubba Watson’s name choice raising plenty of eyebrows.
The 44-year-old – who won the Masters in 2012 and 2014 – opted for RangeGoats, which attracted plenty of criticism on social media.
‘This is far worse than I could have imagined. As a fan it is very sad to see,’ one bemused supporter tweeted.
Cameron Smith has announced the name for his LIV Golf team ahead of the coming season – and it has a clear Aussie flavour
Rival captain and two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson opted to call his US team the RangeGoats
Another stated: ‘I have been laughing for two minutes straight because of this. This is unreal. Genuinely thought it was a joke.’
Meanwhile, despite having forked out nearly a billion dollars from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to start the breakaway league, LIV’s revenue was ‘virtually zero’ during its first season, it has emerged.
Determined not to roll over, LIV Golf are going after the PGA.
‘The (PGA) tour has damaged LIV’s brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars and driven down revenues to virtually zero,’ a document filed in court from LIV’s Golf lawyers revealed.
They have also accused the PGA of undermining the careers of several of the circuit’s players, including Aussie journeyman Matt Jones.
Sydney based Jones, 42, was one of many players suspended by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan after participating in LIV Golf events last year without formal releases.
The LIV Golf League—which has transitioned from an invitational series of eight events in 2022 to a 14-tournament league this year—begins on February 24 in Mexico.