Smith, Niemann leave PGA Tour for LIV
Published
On Tuesday morning, LIV Golf made official what had been a forgone conclusion.
Cam Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale, and Anirban Lahiri have joined the Saudi-backed league, representing perhaps its most significant haul of golf talent.
All six golfers will make their LIV debut at the event being held this week in Boston. Also appearing at this week's event is Bubba Watson, who will be a non-playing team captain. He is recovering from knee surgery.
Smith, ranked second in the world, is the reigning Open Championship winner and won the Players Championship back in March. He is perhaps the biggest catch for LIV. At 29, he is arguably at the peak of his career.
Niemann is also a significant acquisition. Most of the golfers who have moved to the upstart group are older players in the latter stages of their professional careers. The Chilean golfer is just 23 and ranked No. 23 in the world. He was said to be wavering on joining the series and last week attended a meeting of PGA Tour players headed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The departure of Smith and Niemann creates two holes on the International Team for the Presidents Cup. Both golfers earned spots in the automatic qualifying. Their places will now be filled through captain’s picks made next week by Trevor Immelman, who has six spots to fill.
Varner was another player who was believed to be on the bubble between moving to LIV and remaining with the PGA Tour. He is also an RBC ambassador and was the face of the RBC Community Junior Golf Program. The financial institution terminated its arrangements with previous ambassadors Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell when they moved to LIV and is expected to do the same with Varner, although no official word has yet been made.
Tringale announced his change in a post on social media on Monday. He leaves the PGA Tour having earned the most career money without an official win.
Leishman, 38, has won six times on the PGA Tour and has played in four Presidents Cups.
Lahiri, 35, has won twice on the European Tour but never on the PGA Tour. He is India’s highest-ranked golfer and currently ranked 92nd in the world.
It’s expected that this will be the last move of golfers to LIV from the PGA Tour for this season. The LIV Golf Series has five events remaining, including stops in Chicago, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and a season finale in Miami at Trump Doral from Oct. 27-30.