LALI STANDER: Cameron Smith’s move to LIV Golf tour is a game changer

This one feels like a game changer. Like the tide has turned and that the golfing landscape has changed for good. Like the dam wall has burst.

I’m talking about Cameron Smith’s decision to chase the big bucks on the LIV Golf tour. Before Smith’s defection, the cast of the LIV show looked like it was mostly a combination of has-beens, nobodies and the least-liked players on tour. I’m looking at you, Phil, Patrick, Brooks, Bryson and Bubba.

But think about it. We are talking about the reigning Open champion and the No 2-ranked player in the world. A man whose trajectory was hurtling him towards the world No 1 ranking and, arguably, becoming Australia’s greatest golfer.

Smith represents the future, not the past.

So it must have been one heck of a pay cheque to win him over. I don’t get the feeling LIV commissioner and fellow Aussie Greg Norman is all that charming, and I doubt Smith needed the bucks, but I guess everyone has their price in the end.

In fairness though, the Open win was probably what made the decision for Smith. Whereas many LIV golfers face being excluded from the Majors, particularly as their world rankings fall, by winning golf’s oldest trophy, Smith has essentially secured his rights to play in all the Majors for the next five years, and the Open until he turns 60.

Or has he?

Sure, the current rules say so, but if this turns into a messy bunfight (perhaps we are already beyond this point) between the PGA Tour and its allies on one side and LIV on the other, it may be that the former opt to change the qualification rules for the Majors. That could mean  the LIV players are excluded from the four biggest events in golf. And this would appear to be about the only card the PGA Tour still has up its sleeve.

All’s fair in love, war and pro golf.

This week, the professionals on the DP World Tour will gather at the tour’s headquarters at Wentworth for their flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship. It’s one of the biggest weeks on the calendar and yet there is a distinct chill in the air around the Surrey course. That’s because no fewer than 18 LIV players will be in the field this week, something that has drawn the anger of some DP World Tour players.

Rory McIlroy has said it will be “hard to stomach” seeing LIV golfers in the field, while former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley was equally scathing, saying the LIV players were simply not welcome in the field.

“The key to the anger felt by the ordinary, non-LIV members of the DP World Tour is that these guys who’ve taken the big money from LIV think they are entitled to come back and take the places of players who support our tour week in and week out,” said McGinley.

“This has led to a lot of resentment. [DP World Tour commissioner] Keith Pelley has spoken to virtually every one of our players. No-one wants the LIV guys in our tournaments.”

The DP World Tour has gone out of its way to make the LIV players feel unwelcome too. They were not invited to play in the pro am, have been given rather unappealing tee times and, for the first two rounds at least, won’t appear in the televised groups. They have also been instructed to remove their LIV branding for the week. The tattoos can stay.

Better product

Where exactly is this all heading? Who knows for sure, but we can be certain that, despite the mess this is becoming, golfers on both sides of the fence are getting far richer as a result. As a direct reaction to the threat of LIV, the PGA Tour is upping its purses and giving the players — led by Tiger Woods and McIlroy, it seems — more influence in its long-term decisions. That’s not a bad thing.

Also, LIV is slowly becoming a better product. Last week’s event, won by Dustin Johnson, felt a lot more like a real golf tournament than the previous versions. Decent players, good golf and I’m even starting to warm to the team component, despite the ridiculous names and logos.

As our good friend Dale Hayes often laments, why can’t the PGA Tour and LIV just find a way to work together? When we are no longer seeing all the world’s top players in the same field, it’s the viewers that lose out.