With just eight days remaining before the inaugural LIV Golf event in Australia, two of our nation’s most prominent golfers talk about what lies ahead in Adelaide.
Q: Are you excited about having a LIV event in your home country?
Cam Smith: Absolutely. The boys have been looking forward to it now for five or six months. I know the prep down there is going pretty good and I’m just happy to bring LIV Golf to Australia. I think the Australian fans will really love it.
Q: What can you tell us about the course at the Grange Golf Club?Â
Smith: I actually haven’t played The Grange before. I’ve played a lot around Adelaide; never made it out to The Grange but have heard lots of good things. I know it will be our first party hole experience and to be honest I couldn’t really think of a better place to have it than in Australia. The crowd gets pretty rowdy and pretty loud, so it’ll be awesome.
Q: What do you know about the course at The Grange. How does it play?
Marc Leishman: I’ve heard strategic golf [is] needed, so not just ripping driver everywhere and hitting it as far as you can. You’ve got to hit it to ‘here’ to get it to ‘there’. There’s a few doglegs and I hear the rough is quite long, so it should be tough enough but still reward good play which is what you want.
Q: As somebody who is on LIV with several other Australian golfers, what does is mean to you to have a tournament in your home country?
Leishman: It’s unbelievable. Any time you get to go home and play it’s amazing, but it’s pretty close to my home town. To get back at that time of year is gonna be pretty cool with the football on. There is a big weekend of football the week before in Adelaide. It’s just great to be able to go back and play in front of home fans and to see the look on all the kids’ faces when they see me or Cam and I’m sure all the other guys, it’s pretty cool. Guys they normally see on TV, they’ll actually see in person and get to interact with, which is great.
Q:Â How much does that mean to you going back to Australia with golf finally there for all the fans that deserve it.
Leishman: It’s amazing. I know when I was home over Christmas… I live a six-hour drive from Adelaide and the buzz about the event was crazy already. I think they’ve released more tickets since then and they sold. I’m really excited that we can get down there [and] play in front of home crowds. I haven’t been home during the year, apart from Christmas, for 16 years so it will be nice to be able to play in front of home crowds in Adelaide which is a really cool city. They love their sport and [I am] certainly excited to get down there and showcase what we’ve got with LIV.
