British Open champion Cameron Smith has the power to shift golf’s civil war one way or the other

Tommy Fleetwood was clearer and is staying put, but Henrik Stenson faces a summit meeting today (Tuesday) where he may be stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy. After 72 holes at St Andrews, welcome to the unholy mess.

The power struggle that has thrown the golf world off its axis is back on the agenda, with new names due to be announced by LIV today (Tuesday). If and when Smith jumps, it will be both the tipping point and game-changer.

Reports have also claimed that Fleetwood, 33, will be among those moving, but his manager said they were untrue and he is not going. That is rare good news for the DP World Tour. Fleetwood is hugely popular and, while he has suffered a dip in form, he was back to near his best at the weekend when he finished fourth at the Open.

However, the scale of the crisis is shown by today’s (Tuesday’s) summit meeting of Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive, and Stenson, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. The 46-year-old, an Open champion in 2016, is set to join LIV Golf for about pounds 25 million and, unless he has a change of heart, will be told he cannot retain the Ryder Cup captaincy for next year’s match in Rome. Luke Donald or Thomas Bjorn are likely to replace him.

For those wondering why this matters, the PGA Tour in the United States has banned its members who play on the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) issued temporary suspensions and fines, but Ian Poulter and others gained an injunction to abate the sanctions, pending a full appeal.

Poulter was irked by questioning about his reception from the St Andrews crowd. Sergio Garcia was irked by everything and said that he was quitting the DP Tour. The R&A said that LIV Golf was bad for the game’s long-term future. It plans to redraft its qualification criteria, which sounded vaguely threatening. LIV Golf applied for world-ranking points – not available at its tournaments at present – so its players can get into the majors. Meanwhile, one insider was just irked by what he called the “bulls--t” entitlement of the players.

As for Ryder Cup bans, Jon Rahm, one man who is not for jumping, defended Garcia, his fellow Spaniard, and accused the DP World Tour of turning its backs on the record points-scorer in the team event. “Because of this nonsense there are players who can’t play the Ryder Cup,” Rahm said. “That makes me a little more angry.” He advocated peace talks, but there is no sign of that. LIV Golf, however, says it is happy to negotiate with the PGA and DP Tours.

In the meantime, new names will be announced. Sources say Hideki Matsuyama already has a contract to join LIV Golf. The 2021 Masters champion is a top-20 player, big in Japan and a key cog in LIV’s global vision. He may wait until later in the year to go public.

Australia is another target region and Greg Norman, the LIV chief executive, wants Adam Scott and Marc Leishman to join Smith in an Australian team.

Then there is Viktor Hovland, who looked like he might win the Open for a while before fading. His agent did not respond to emails requesting confirmation that he was not joining LIV Golf. Hovland is 24 and arguably the brightest young player in Europe. His only public comments on LIV have come to Norwegian media, when he said he had “no plans” to join but it would be “exciting to see what happens in the future”. Lost in translation? Lost to LIV?

Smith, though, would be the killer blow for the traditional tours as the trickle becomes a tide. In his press conference after winning the Open, he did not say if there was truth in the rumours of his imminent exit and told Australian journalists that he planned to play at the FedEx Cup play-offs next month, a PGA Tour event. Some have said that the LIV question was inappropriately timed, but the Australian could have just said no. And if the answer is yes, then presumably he feels comfortable with his decision – so why be offended?

Regardless of Smith’s choice, LIV Golf has become impossible to ignore. The days of dismissing it as a sideshow, a circus or Twenty20-lite have gone.

A golden oldies retirement home? Not when Smith is part of the vanguard of change. This year marks the first time that all the major winners are under 30. Smith is 28, in his prime, the world No 2, the Open champion, a breath of fresh air. Also in the top ten at St Andrews were the LIV men Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau. Another, Abraham Ancer, tied for 11th.

At the moment, Johnson is the highest-ranked LIV Golf man at No 16, followed by Ancer (20), Brooks Koepka (22) and Louis Oosthuizen (25). Smith would change everything and it may be significant that Australia has long been a target for LIV Golf.

“I would love it if the PGA Tour would go down [to Australia] and play some golf,” Smith said at last month’s US Open. However, when the PGA Tour then announced three events to combat the LIV threat, Australia again missed out. Smith had also ducked LIV questions at Brookline. “This week my focus is to play golf,” he said back then. “I’m far from the smartest person in the room. I’m here to follow a white golf ball around.”

Norman was quick to offer his congratulations to Smith on Sunday, with a payoff that referenced his own Open triumph but also had a trace of ambiguity. “A spectacular final round mate,” he tweeted. “A triumph for you and for Australia as the first Australian to win for 29 years. You’re in good company.”

Time will tell.

– The Times

Originally published as British Open champion Cameron Smith has the power to shift golf’s civil war one way or the other