Australian PGA winner Jed Morgan joins Cam Smith’s LIV Golf team

The past two winners of the Australian PGA are now part of Greg Norman’s LIV Golf league after confirmation of the latest signing.

Jed Morgan has joined LIV full-time. Picture: Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images

The past two Australian PGA champs are now full-time LIV Golf members, with Jed Morgan joining the all-Australian team captained by Cameron Smith.

Morgan replaces veteran Wade Ormsby at Smith’s Ripper GC after choosing LIV over the DP World Tour, having played in the first LIV event in London in 2022.

The 23-year-old won the Australian PGA in 2022, in just his fourth event as a professional, which earnt him a DP World Tour card.

But Morgan, a Queenslander like Smith, made it clear when he played in the opening LIV event he was concerned about taking every opportunity available despite the backlash against the Saudi-backed operation.

“The opinions on the Saudi league are very mixed depending on which stage of your career you’re in,” Morgan said.

“My opinion is simple – I just want to take every opportunity I can to compete at this stage in my career and I’m grateful for the opportunity to compete regularly over the next four months in LIV.”

In five LIV events in 2022, Morgan won more than $1m without finishing inside the top 25 in any of them.

Ready to rip the competition 💪#LIVGolf#RipperGCpic.twitter.com/JP8cPUEBmP

— Ripper GC (@rippergc_) February 16, 2023

Morgan, who is ranked 351 in the world, played in both the US and British opens in 2022 but could now find opportunities in the majors rare.

Instead, he’s focused on playing in the 14 LIV events, including in Adelaide in April, where at least $25m will be on offer in prizemoney.

Smith took over as captain of his all-Australian team, renaming it Ripper GC from Punch GC and installing great mate Marc Leishman and Australian Open winner Matt Jones as his teammates.

Jones remains involved in legal action against the PGA Tour, which banned him and all LIV members from playing events after they joined the breakaway group.

On his return to playing golf at this week’s Genesis Invitational in California, Tiger Woods said the mood among players remained tense towards LIV players.

That includes five former Masters champions who he will run into at this year’s Champions Dinner.

“I don’t know that the reaction is going to be (towards LIV players),” Woods said.

“I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a different path, but we’ll see when all that transpires.

“The champions dinner is obviously something that’s going to be talked about. We, as a whole, need to honour Scottie, it’s his dinner. So making sure that Scottie gets honoured correctly but also realising the nature of what has transpired and the people that have left, just where our situations are either legally, emotionally … there’s a lot there.”

Originally published as Australian PGA winner Jed Morgan joins Cam Smith’s LIV Golf team