Australian pro golfer Cameron Percy has clarified his comments about whether world No.2 Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman will join LIV Golf, which went viral on Tuesday.
Percy appeared on Australian network RSN Radio via phone on Monday, a day after he’d finished tied eighth at the PGA Tour’s regular season-ending event in North Carolina. He was lobbed a question about long-held speculation that fellow Australians Smith and Leishman may join the lucrative LIV Golf circuit.
“Unfortunate, yeah, they’re gone,” Percy told RSN.
Within hours, he’d inadvertently created global headlines in the New York Post, Golf Monthly in the UK and multiple media outlets back in his native Australia, which all took his word as confirmation. Percy also fielded a call from PGA Tour chief tournaments and competitions officer, Andy Pazder. Such is the speculation over whether newly crowned Open Championship winner Smith and Leishman will or won’t join LIV Golf.
Smith was asked about LIV Golf in his winning Open press conference at St Andrews last month but answered, “My team around me worries about all that stuff, I’m here to win golf tournaments,” he said in Scotland.
Percy doesn’t back down from locker room talk that Smith, who has won three PGA Tour events already this year, Leishman and other golf stars such as Hideki Matsuyama could join the rival tour. But he did confirm none of this information came directly from Smith and Leishman’s camp.
“Look, I was just conveying what was said in the locker room during the many rain delays we’ve had on tour the past few weeks,” Percy told Australian Golf Digest over the phone.
Smith and Leishman’s management have been contacted for comment. As No.2 on the FedEx Cup, Smith was due to hold a press conference on Tuesday in Memphis ahead of the FedEx St Jude championship.
This week’s St Jude Championship in Memphis kicks off the three-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs. At the end of the finals, the FedEx Cup winner will receive a $US18 million.
