19th Hole
Cam Smith heckled over LIV Golf links during first FedEx Cup Playoff event

Amidst mass speculation that he will soon sign for the LIV Golf series, earlier this week Cameron Smith insisted, “My goal here is to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs. That’s all I’m here for.”
That has not stopped the recent Open Championship winner being on the receiving end of continuous questioning by reporters, despite fellow Aussie Cameron Percy backing down on his initial claim that Smith and Marc Leishman were ‘gone.’
After a first round 67 at the first of the FedEx play-off events at Sedgefield, Sky Golf presenter Nick Dougherty asked the 28-year-old if he understood why there was so much reporting on the subject.
As has been his way, Smith continued to bat away the notion that he was on his way after the Playoffs, but accepted why it was big news for the golf reporters.
“That’s just their job – that’s what they’re there to do. They’re there to sell stories, and I’m sure they’ve had a few looks at it the last few days.”
He recognised what may happen in the immediate future, “You know I’m ready to cop some heat … but like I said I’m here to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs – that’s my number one goal and whatever happens after that will come from me.”
The heat continued on the course during his third round of the FedEx St. Jude, with Memphis News’ Mark Giannotto tweeting the reaction of some of the crowd, with the Aussie on the end of some heckling during the opening Playoff event.
The reality of PGA Tour golf right now. Cam Smith, hitting his tee shot on 14, has a pretty large gallery following him. One man says “Let’s go Cam.” Another calls his mullet “pretty.” A third shouts “$100 million man.” Then yet another yells “sellout” loudest of all.
— Mark Giannotto (@mgiannotto) August 13, 2022
Reaction differed between support and distrust, feelings summed up by one reply that read, “If he goes to LIV, it shows $ are his main motivation rather than titles & standing in the game. As an Aussie, it’s disappointing. But let’s not forget, the PGA tour does nothing for golf in countries like Australia. Some effort to develop a world tour may have helped counter LIV.”
However, according to Australian news site nine.com.au the 28-year-old world number two could turn the episode into one where he becomes a hero from the jaws of villainy.
Talking to Sports Sunday, Nine’s regular roundup of world sports, former Aussie cricket captain Mark Taylor suggested Smith could turn this into a force for good for his homeland’s golf programme.
“There’s no doubt there’s a bit of reputational damage at the moment … but I want to go in and bat for him,” Taylor said.
“It’s a lot tougher for the non-Americans with this LIV Golf. As an Australian golfer or a South African golfer, you’ve got to make the big move to the (United) States to become a PGA Tour regular.”
“That’s what Adam Scott has done, that’s what Greg Norman did many years ago, so it’s tougher for those guys to commit full time to the PGA Tour when there’s another option which is also talking about moving events to Australia.”
“If Cameron Smith moves to LIV, yes, there will be some reputational damage, but I think he can make it work for him.”
Seeing the upside to the ‘investment’ into Australian golf, Taylor suggested the player himself takes advantage.
“LIV are already talking about having three tournaments in Australia and the Australian golf tour is nowhere near what it used to be. This influx of money from LIV will be great for Australian golf. I’d love to see Cameron Smith buy into it.”
“If I was his manager, I’d say, ‘Well if you’re going to sign up for this amount of money, put 10-20 per cent of it into Australian golf and buy in and get Australian golf back to where it used to be.”
“If he does that, it’ll be a win for him and a win for Australian golf. I think eventually LIV, the PGA, they’ll get back together in some form or another and I think it’ll be a win-win for him and Australian golf.”
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.