Masters: Cameron Smith admits LIV Golf’s ‘field AREN’T as strong’

LIV Golf rebel Cameron Smith openly admitted that the breakaway’s fields aren’t as strong as the PGA Tour’s but insisted that he and his fellow rebels need a win this week to shut down the ‘chatter’ about them not playing real golf. 

The Saudi-backed series has faced a lot of criticism over the quality of its tournaments, in particular the strength of its limited fields. 

Open champion Smith hit back at the backlash, insisting his LIV Golf peers have the game to reach the top of the leaderboard, in what would be a victory not just for the one player but for all of them. 

‘For sure, I’d love to see one of us guys get up to the top of the leaderboard and really give it a nice shot,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a lot of chatter about these guys don’t play real golf, these guys don’t play real golf courses.

‘For sure, I’ll be the first one to say, the fields aren’t as strong. I’m the first one to say that,’ he said, before adding, ‘but we’ve still got a lot of guys that can play some really serious golf, and we compete against each other hard week-in and week-out and we’re trying to do the same things that we did six months ago.’

Following the civil war that has developed between those who have jumped ship to LIV Golf and the PGA Tour traditionalists amid a ceaseless exchange of digs, Smith admitted he hadn’t been sure what reception he would receive. 

But he claimed that he had been welcomed on to the driving range with open arms earlier Monday.  

‘I spent some time out on the range today,’ he said.’ It was good to see some familiar faces, lots of laughs, lots of handshakes. It was really nice. I really wasn’t sure what to expect walking on to the range but it was good to see some familiar faces.’

The Australian, representing LIV Golf with the L logo on his collar and his team Ripper GC’s on his right sleeve, also confirmed that the branded clothing was a contractual agreement with the rebel tour. 

The breakaway’s CEO, Greg Norman, had suggested that if a LIV Player is heading up the stretch in the lead come Sunday, the other 17 in The Masters field would be gathered around the 18th to celebrate. 

However, Smith didn’t appear to have been consulted over that plan as, when asked about Norman’s claims, he said: ‘There definitely hasn’t been a conversation with me. If there was one, I definitely got left out of that one.’