Cameron Smith provides update on LIV Golf's future: "I'd hate to see it go away"

Former Open champion Cameron Smith says he's made no attempt to try and return to the PGA Tour and is desperate for the LIV Golf League to survive. 

The 2022 champion golfer of the year was the highest-ranked player to join the renegade tour in 2022, penning a contract understood to be worth north of $100m. 

But the league’s future beyond the end of this season remains uncertain after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced in late March that it would withdraw its financial backing at the conclusion of the campaign.

The league's chief executive, Scott O'Neil, has been on the hunt for fresh investment since the conclusion of The Masters.

The outlook looked grim until The New York Post reported last week that the league were on the brink of securing $250m to keep going in 2027. 

A second iteration of the league, dubbed "LIV Golf 2.0" would reportedly feature a streamlined model of fewer events and reduced prize purses. 

"I'm a positive guy, so I've made no effort to go seek anything else," Smith told reporters in New York on Tuesday when asked for an update on LIV's future.

"I don't really understand what is going to happen. I think it's all up in the air. 

"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. 

"The team that we've got, I feel like we make each other better, better people and better golfers as well. 

"I'd hate to see it go away. We'll see what happens."

Smith said there is a player meeting scheduled to take place later this evening. 

"I'm sure we'll get some more info," he said. "But at the moment we're preparing to keep playing and keep the team alive."

wo-time major champion Martin Kaymer previously suggested that LIV Golf’s season-ending Team Championship in Michigan later this month was unlikely to go ahead.

The German gave the $40m event just a five per cent chance of taking place.

According to Golfweek, the infrastructure buildout hasn't even begun yet. 

Smith said: "We've been told to prepare as though it's going ahead. So we're expecting it to happen. 

"I'm really unsure, but we had a great year there last year in Detroit, and we're hoping we get back there. 

"It's a great golf course, a great venue, and the crowds really turned up as well. Yeah, would be disappointed if it wasn't.

"We're expecting to play. Hopefully we get there. 

"I know we've got a player meeting this afternoon, so I'm sure we'll hear a little bit more, but as it stands right now, all I can comment on is we're expecting to play."

Smith previously had the opportunity to return to the PGA Tour via a returning member programme. 

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka took advantage of the offer in January, a month after leaving LIV Golf.

The offer was extended to Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, too, but all three players turned it down. 

Smith conceded he'd probably try and head back "if it was the only option". 

"I think that's where everyone would want to be for sure, 100 percent," he said. "It would go back to old times.

"I'm contracted to the end of next year, so I was expecting to play until the end of next year and renegotiate and hopefully go on."

Smith added that it would be a shame if LIV failed, especially with what they have achieved in Australia. 

The annual stop in his homeland has been a huge success, with tens of thousands of fans turning out to support Smith and his Ripper team. 

"What we've been able to do for golf in Australia is really quite important to me, junior golf, the Little Rippers, the event that we have down there, the people it brings out to showcase our great league," he said. 

"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.

"Australian golf is important to me. I think it improves it. I think all the numbers are up. The memberships are up. Social play is up. I think that's in part because of us. 

"So I think it would be a shame for Australian golf if it did go away."