Cameron Smith has made a painful revelation about his controversial move to LIV Golf, after admitting it cost him a shot at becoming the World No.1 in golf. The Aussie superstar joined the Saudi-backed competition at the end of last year while ranked No.2 in the world.
Smith’s stunning rise up the rankings came off the back of his maiden major title at the British Open, with the 29-year-old also winning the Players Championship, the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and the Australian PGA Championship. However, with LIV Golf events not earning players rankings points, Smith has dropped down to fourth in the world standings.
The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) Board received an application from LIV Golf in July last year, but is yet to make any announcement. While LIV waits on that decision, the list of its top stars – including Smith – have seen their rankings fall.
Former World No.1 Dustin Johnson has dropped to 46, Bryson DeChambeau has slipped from 24 to 96, while Phil Mickelson is 254th compared to 38th at this time last year. Smith says he has tried to take the unfortunate situation in his stride but concedes missing out on his dream to become World No.1 is painful.
“I’ve tried not to take it that badly, to be honest,” said Smith on Wednesday as he prepared to play the Asian Tour’s $5 million season-opener, the Saudi International which features a host of LIV players. “I think when you rock up at a tournament, you know who you have to beat, whether there is a world ranking or not. There are generally seven-eight guys that are in that field that you know are going to put up a pretty good fight.
“For sure, it hurts. I feel as though I was really close to getting to number one, and that was definitely something I wanted to tick off. However, the longer this stuff goes on, I think the more obsolete those rankings become.”
