'Is he going to really enjoy it?' – Smith warned against LIV Golf defection by former Ryder Cup captain

By Sports Desk July 22, 2022

Cameron Smith may be swayed by the lucrative financial offer from the LIV Golf International Series, but must consider whether he will enjoy competing on the breakaway tour.

That is the message from former Ryder Cup captain Mark James, who acknowledged the financial benefits of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf but was unsure of the merits of a competition still in its infancy.

Smith secured his first major title at the historic 150th Open Championship last weekend, triumphing ahead of Cameron Young and Rory McIlroy on the picturesque Old Course at St Andrews.

While lauded for the blemish-free final round that ensured Open glory, speculation grew that Smith may become the next high-profile defector to LIV Golf, the tournament headed by Greg Norman.

Smith refused to comment on the matter as he celebrated at St Andrews, remaining non-committal on his future as he expressed his disappointment with the line of questioning following his Open victory.

Though James, a 32-time professional winner, appreciated the lucrative offers LIV Golf are making to secure the PGA Tour's prized assets, he warned Smith to think carefully about his future.

"I would imagine right now they're weighing up his contracts, weighing up what you'll get for playing the LIV Golf Tour and what you'll get for playing around the world and having all these contracts," James told Stats Perform.

"And I mean, yeah, they might pay him. They would have to pay him I would think 100 million to play LIV Golf Tour compared to winning the Open and having all those contracts, maybe more.

"I don't know, I'm a bit out of touch with the big money game these days. But that means you don't have to work the rest of your life, even at his age 100 million will go a long way.

"But he's going to be playing, is he going to be playing with his mind on the golf? Is he going to really enjoy it? I don't know.

"I think there's a lot of question marks over this tour. And it will be interesting to see what the outcome is."

Henrik Stenson relinquished his Ryder Cup captaincy after becoming the next big-name signing for LIV Golf, announced on Wednesday alongside Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell III.

The breakaway league already has the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, with every defector banned from playing on the PGA Tour as retaliation to their move away.

And James, who had a long career on the European Tour and has played on the US-based Champions Tour in senior golf, does not envisage LIV Golf succeeding, likening the tournaments to "exhibition events". 

"They've gone in extremely heavy-handedly LIV Golf," he added. "But then I suppose if they're trying to take players away from the two major tours, they have to because the two majors are so protective of their product.

"But I agree with the two main tours, I think they have to be and I think the two main tours are brilliant for golf, because they have a pyramid system on both tours where anyone who's any good will make it to the top. It is that simple.

"Whereas, if LIV Golf were in charge, then that would not be the case. We'll see if they're still talking at the end of the year. Maybe something can be thrashed out and both tours can end a little sooner and have some big jamboree at the end of the year for six, eight weeks for anyone who wants to play.

"Certain events might be better suited but LIV Golf seems to want to take over the whole thing. And I think those tournaments are not good for golf right now. They're basically exhibition events.

"People are getting paid crazy amounts of money and there's a lot of animosity between current tour players and the LIV Golf players. So it's not a great situation. And I don't think LIV Golf have handled it well. 

"I'm not sure Norman is a particularly good spokesman because they've taken him out in the press to a large extent, because he wasn't really voicing what Saudi wants someone to say.

"But, equally, I think that the pros from the tours who signed up with LIV Golf have not exactly been eloquent in defence of LIV Golf. So the whole thing, I think, is a little shambolic.

"But as I say, if you want to take golf by the scruff of the neck and make an impression on the main tour players, then maybe this is the only way to try and do it."

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    At the heart of this transformative journey stands Bill Williams, a man deeply committed to changing the lives of young Jamaicans through the Sandals Foundation Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme.

    Williams, the lead professional golfer at the Sandals Golf and Country Club, has for years been dedicated to empowering boys who are at risk of straying down troubled paths, introducing them to the game of golf, not just as a sport but as a means of character building and personal development.

    “I love kids. There’s a duty in me to take care of kids. I always tell myself, if you can grow kids, you grow the country, and you’re growing something good. The guys tell me they love it because I take them off the streets and... them things,” Williams said in a recent interview.

    “I’ve been doing this programme since 2002; that’s when I started. I went into my village where I live in Exchange and I see kids... and I bring them over and [guide] them,” he added.

    Williams sees golf as more than a series of strokes and strategies. For him, it is a way to teach young men about patience, discipline, and respect—qualities that they can carry well beyond the green.

    Bill Williams (centre) shares a photo opportunity with members of Team 13 during the Sandals US Travel Advisors Tournament.

    The success stories he tells are numerous, as many of the boys who once faced uncertain futures have gone on to compete at the national level, among them are Zandre Roye, Romaine Evans, and Oshae Haye, just to name a few.

    “I turn out some very good kids out of this thing here. And they are all over the world, global now. There [are] so many kids because I used to do this for eight years on my own before Sandals Foundation came on board. And even though they leave the programme at the age of 18, they still come back here, and I still try to offer advice because there is always room for improvements,” Williams shared.

    Williams is especially enthusiastic about the future of the programme, as funds raised through the three Sandals Travel Advisors Golf Tournaments—Latin America, Canada, and the United States—the programme is set for significant expansion.

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    The honouree for this year’s event is Johnny Bloomfield who won the Jamaica Open three times.

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    Beckford, the SDF’s general manager said “the Sports Development Foundation has historically supported the sport of golf and it goes more than just supporting the golf federation. We also have had a summer camp that we have supported in collaboration with Insports and we have had this camp for a number of years where we have students from the community around Caymanas Golf Course coming out to participate in the camp. We have sponsored a pro-am tournament a couple of years as well too so we see golf to be a very important sport among the sports in Jamaica. We think it’s an excellent sport and we wish them the best with this tournament.” 

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    “This tournament itself goes beyond just a game of golf,” Laird shared passionately.

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    “It was only one day of golf; we still got the educational component built into it. In the last few months we've also taken a bigger approach because when you add this number together, we've brought about a thousand people to the destination over the last eight weeks because there's so many things that are happening in Jamaica that people aren't aware of. So there's so many new things that's going on, and our responsibility is to educate the advisors so that they can educate their customers,” he added.

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