£142m LIV Golf stars make feelings clear on PGA Tour merger as five-word comment made

LIV Golf and the PGA Tour person been successful talks implicit ending golf's civilian warfare - but not each apical players privation the athletics to alteration arsenic they bask their existent schedule

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf whitethorn beryllium discussing a imaginable merger, but not each pro is keen connected bridging the sport's divide.

It's been astir 18 months since reports of a whopping $1.2billion merger archetypal emerged, with gradual updates hinting astatine golf's civilian warfare nearing an end. In June 2022, the PGA was stunned arsenic apical names defected to the Saudi-backed breakaway league.

The likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau jumped vessel for staggering paydays with LIV contempt risking their spot astatine aboriginal majors. Among those who joined LIV that twelvemonth were Australian brace Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, caller from his triumph astatine The Open.

While fans mightiness beryllium anxious for a truce betwixt the rival tours, Leishman is rather contented with LIV's much laid-back calendar. A captious subordinate of the victorious Ripper GC team, the 41-year-old claims the circuit has fixed him 1 of the 'best twelvemonth of my life'.

"The fields are conscionable truthful bully each week. You're playing against immoderate truly bully players and it's hard to triumph retired there. Obviously, that's a container I'd similar to tick, to triumph connected LIV individually," Leishman admitted connected Tuesday earlier the Australian PGA Championship. "I've enactment it down arsenic a beauteous bully twelvemonth connected the golf people and disconnected the play course, it's astir apt the happiest I've ever been.

"It's been the champion twelvemonth of my life. Getting to walk truthful overmuch clip with my kids, they came to a fewer tournaments and those that they came to I played truly well. Travelling astir with 7 oregon 8 of us, eating retired for meal and having amusive each night, I've truly enjoyed that astir it.

"Playing immoderate bully play and winning arsenic a squad - it's precise uncommon successful play that you get to really observe with different radical erstwhile you triumph who are arsenic arsenic blessed arsenic you are, and that's the chill happening astir what we get to bash now. We've had immoderate memorable nights retired and made immoderate large memories all-round."

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Australian duo Leishman and Smith joined LIV for a reported combined fig of £142millon ($180m) and person earned £14m and £38m, respectively, connected the course. Their winnings were boosted by Ripper GC winning the squad title successful Dallas, wherever they are joined by chap Aussies Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones.

One antagonistic of being a LIV golfer is the deficiency of ranked events, with Leishman sitting 914th successful the world, having not played successful a large since 2022. Smith is 128th and warmed up for the Australian PGA with a second-place decorativeness astatine the NSW Open and a necktie for 3rd astatine the Queensland PGA, wherever the Ripper squad skipper proved his loyalty to LIV by scouting for caller talent.

"For me, being a franchise owner, it's thing that you look at, young guys coming through," Smith explained. "It's been truly chill to spot due to the fact that we don't get to spot that precise often and being truthful acold distant each the time, sometimes you don't adjacent truly get to look astatine the scores. It's been chill to play with them, spot however they vie and get a fewer ideas successful the head."