Australian LIV Players Lament Possibility of League Folding

BEDMINSTER, N.J. — LIV Golf star Cam Smith and his Australian teammates remain optimistic the league’s future will crystalize soon, but admit it would be a “shame” if things don’t turn around like they hope.

“I don’t really understand what is going to happen,” Smith, captain of the Ripper GC team, said Tuesday at the lone pre-tournament press conference ahead of LIV Golf New York, the league’s second U.S. event of the year that begins Thursday at Trump National Bedminster Golf Club.

This week’s event is scheduled to be the first of three events in August to conclude LIV’s 2026 season, but its $40 million team championship in Michigan is still expected to be cancelled, sources have told Front Office Sports. That means this week’s event and LIV Golf Indianapolis, scheduled for Aug. 20-23, will be the league’s final two events of the year as LIV searches for new investors with the Saudi PIF pulling its funding. 

“I think it’s all up in the air.” Smith said. “I know that the LIV team is working hard to get us to play next year and working hard for us. They do a lot of hard work behind the scenes. I want it to work, really, to be honest. It’s great fun out here.”

Smith is especially proud of the grassroots work his team and LIV have done for junior golf in Australia. “It would be a shame for all that to go away, and I feel like we’ve worked really hard over the last three or four years to kind of make that all happen,” Smith said.

Marc Leishman, who was part of Ripper GC’s team championship victory in Dallas in 2024, remains a fan of LIV’s emphasis on team golf, despite the uncertainty around its finale.  

“I remember I couldn’t feel my arms and I could hear my heart beating or feel my heart beating, and I’d never dealt with that before,” Leishman said recalling a moment from the 2024 team championship. “I don’t get that in individual tournaments. So to do things like that for your team and have that pressure is a lot of fun. I think the fans can feel that as well.”

No tournament infrastructure has been built at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort, which is scheduled to host LIV Golf MIchigan Aug. 27-30. 

“I think it would be a real shame if it did get canceled here in a few weeks,” Leishman said. “But like I said, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re preparing like we’re going to be playing. We’re looking forward to playing.”

Smith, Leishman, and fellow teammates Lucas Herbert and Travis Smyth all said they have not yet made any meaningful plans for playing on another tour next year, if LIV ceases operations. 

“My preference would be to still be playing out here if that was still an option,” said Herbert, who earned $4 million for winning the most recent LIV event in the U.K. Smyth said: “Plan A is to play LIV Golf, and plan B is to bounce around the world like I’ve been doing the last eight years.”