Cameron Smith remains fully committed to LIV Golf and won't entertain the prospect of a return to the PGA Tour until he knows exactly how the sport's controversial merger will work.
Like the rest of the game's stars, Smith has arrived in Los Angeles for the US Open none the wiser as to how the new arrangement will play out, after golf's powerbrokers shocked everyone with last week's sudden development.
It's unclear whether LIV Golf will continue beyond 2023 but, while it does, Australia's reigning British Open champion and world No.9 Smith says he will blissfully stay put.
"I've made the right decision anyway. I'm very happy with where I'm at," Smith said on Tuesday.
"I made that decision for a few different reasons."
One of Smith's motivations was to play less golf, which LIV offers with three-round tournaments and fewer of them, to allow the Queenslander to spend more time back home in Australia.
Asked if he would consider a return to the PGA Tour next year if there were were no longer LIV events, Smith said: "That's another pretty hypothetical question. I'm unable to answer that one.
"It's too early to say with what's going to go on here. I know as much as everyone else, and it's going to be interesting to see how the next few months, maybe even year, plays out."
Smith said he only found out about the surprise twist in golf's civil war when he received a phone call from Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) that finances LIV, 10 minutes before the announcement was made on American television.
"I guess the first reaction was I thought it was kind of a joke that had come out," Smith said.
"He didn't really explain too much. There's still a lot of stuff to be worked out, and as time goes on we'll get to know more and more.
"There's definitely a lot of curious players, on both sides, as to what the future is going to look like."
In the US, the leader of a Senate subcommittee is demanding the PGA Tour and the LIV present records about negotiations that led to their agreement.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has sent letters to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV CEO Greg Norman spelling out the “serious questions regarding the reasons for and terms behind the announced agreement".
Blumenthal said he wanted to know how any newly formed entity will be structured and operated, including how the PGA Tour intends to preserve its tax-exempt status.
He asked for a sweeping set of documents - essentially all communications between LIV and the tour from October 2021 onwards.
The PGA Tour, the European Tour and the LIV circuit had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport.
"PGA Tour’s agreement with (PIF) regarding LIV Golf raises concerns about the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution," Blumenthal wrote on Monday.
In response, the PGA Tour said on Tuesday: "We are confident that once Congress learns more about how the PGA Tour will control this new venture, they will understand the opportunities this will create for our players, our communities and our sport, all while protecting an American golf institution."
The PGA Tour insists the new venture is not a merger and that it is not owned by PIF. It says PIF will be investing in this new subsidiary, with the PGA Tour retaining majority ownership and control.
- with AP, Reuters
