Golf news: Australian golfer Matt Jones loses PGA legal fight, Cameron Smith to join LIV Tour

Defeat for Greg Norman and the LIV Tour in the US courts comes as they close in on their greatest victory - landing Australia British Open champion Cam Smith.

Cameron Percy claims Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman will compete on the LIV Tour.

Aussie golfer Matt Jones has lost his legal fight to play in the latest event on the US PGA Tour.

Jones, along with fellow LIV Tour defectors Americans Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford, launched action in the US courts last week seeking permission to play in the opening event of the Fed Ex Cup series, the FedEx St Jude Championship.

However, in a blow to Jones and LIV Tour commissioner Greg Norman, the courts ruled that the PGA Tour was within its rights to prevent the trio taking part in the tournament.

The LIV Tour, the Saudi-backed series which is led by Norman, immediately released a statement saying they were disappointed with the decision.

“We’re disappointed that Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones won’t be allowed to play golf,” the statement said.

“No one gains by banning golfers from playing.”

Defeat for Norman and the LIV Tour in the US courts comes as they close in on their greatest victory.

Matt Jones lost his legal battle against the US PGA. Picture: Andy Lyons/Getty/AFP

English newspaper The Telegraph reported overnight that world No.2 Cameron Smith was on the verge of switching camps in return for an astonishing sign-on fee, believed to be worth in excess of $US100 million.

The report follows a radio interview on Tuesday when Australian golfer Cam Percy claimed Smith and Marc Leishman were poised to join the breakaway tour.

Smith declined to answer questions about his plans in an interview on Wednesday morning but it now appears a matter of time before he joins Norman’s rebel league, most likely after the Fed Ex Cup series comes to an end later this month.

Smith offered an icy reply when asked about his future.

“If there’s something I need to say regarding the PGA Tour or LIV, it will come from Cameron Smith, not Cameron Percy,” Smith said.

Cameron Smith listo en LIV. Y no será el último... https://t.co/wB5SrNcFBi

— Fabio Ríos M. (@FabioRiosM) August 9, 2022

In the meantime, Smith will play in the St Jude Championship, but he won’t be joined by Jones after Judge Beth Freeman sided with the PGA Tour in their fight with LIV golf.

“LIV contracts are based upon players’ calculation of what they were leaving behind,” Freeman said.

The hearing lasted about two hours.

Cam’s $140 million dollar leap to LIV

- Russell Gould

British Open champion Cameron Smith again failed to deny he’d signed a big-money deal to join Greg Norman’s LIV golf circuit declaring any news will “be said by me”.

Smith was questioned ahead of the opening event of the FedEx Cup playoffs after a report in the UK’s Telegraph that he had signed a $AUD140 million deal to join Norman’s Saudi-backed outfit and would be playing an event in September.

It was reported Smith and Norman had been speaking before his British Open triumph at St Andrews with speculation he and good friend Marc Leishman are set to join LIV.

The world number refused to confirm or deny any such move and also offered a frosty response for fellow Aussie Cameron Percy who told Melbourne radio on Tuesday that Smith was “gone” and would join LIV.

“My goal here is to win the FedExCup Playoffs. That’s all I’m here for. If there’s something I need to say regarding the PGA TOUR or LIV, it will come from Cameron Smith, not Cameron Percy,” Smith said.

“I‘m a man of my word and whenever you guys need to know anything, it‘ll be said by me.”

With a report that he could be heading to LIV Golf, Cam Smith met the media today. pic.twitter.com/gkXMTXKNDA

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 9, 2022

Smith said he had “no comment to that” when asked again if he would “say yes or no” to the Telegraph report.

“Like I said, I’m here to play the FedExCup Playoffs. That’s been my focus the last week and a half, that’s what I’m here to do, I’m here to win the FedExCup Playoffs,”

“And like I said, it will come from me, it won’t come from Cameron Percy.”

Smith declared his intention to play in September’s Presidents Cup, which he wouldn’t be able to do if he joined the LIV tour.

“That‘s something that we’ve been looking forward to for the last three years,” he said.

“We missed a year because of Covid and that‘s something that I look forward to being a part of.

If ‘already gone’, what is ripple effect of Smith’s LIV defection?

- Brent Read

Cameron Percy reckons Cameron Smith is a done deal with the LIV Tour. Signed and sealed.

If you believe what Percy — who finished in the top 10 at the latest event on the US PGA Tour — has to say, it is now simply a matter of when Smith joins the LIV Tour.

Smith, preparing for the opening event of the Fed Ex Cup, finds himself once again being linked with a controversial switch of camps as compatriot Matt Jones becomes one of three faces of the billion-dollar legal battle between Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed rebel outfit and the US PGA Tour.

Percy, in an interview with RSN Radio on Tuesday morning, remarkably declared that Smith would be joined by Marc Leishman in crossing golf’s great divide.

Cameron Smith.

Marc Leishman.

Cameron Percy claims Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman will compete on the LIV Tour.

“Unfortunate, yeah, they’re gone,” Percy said.

Smith was asked about the LIV Tour immediately after he won the Open Championship but was evasive with his answer.

Since then, TMZ Sport declared he was ready to switch camps and Percy has now weighed into the issue, with confirmation of Smith’s switch expected to arrive in a matter of weeks, most likely after the conclusion of the Fed Ex Cup.

The LIV Tour is currently on a break but resumes competition the week after the Fed Ex Cup comes to an end with an event at The International golf course in Boston. Smith and Leishman have been in their sights for some time.

In terms of Smith, his value skyrocketed after his win at St Andrew’s. If he was worth $50 million to Norman before then, he would be worth $100 million now. It’s the sort of life-changing money that may prove too good to resist.

The repercussions of Smith’s defection would be huge for world golf. Signing the world No. 2 would be a massive statement for Norman and the LIV Tour. It would also leave the prestigious Presidents Cup in tatters given Smith would be the International team’s No. 1 player and Leishman would likely be part of the side.

Percy also claimed the PGA Tour should have been aware of the threat posed by the LIV Tour some years ago, suggesting Adam Scott had told him that he had spoken to people behind the LIV Tour several years ago.

“I had a long conversation with Adam Scott and he was very interesting talking to about it, just where it is,” Percy said.

“He said he met with these guys (LIV) in 2017 (and) they were ready do all this. So, the tour has known for a long time that this stuff’s in the works.”

Originally published as Golf news: Australian golfer Matt Jones loses PGA legal fight, Cameron Smith to join LIV Tour