LIV Golf star Cameron Smith faces fresh career blow leaving him scrambling over next steps
Cameron Smith, ranked 62nd in the world golf rankings, is worried about his ability to represent Australia in the Olympics as LIV Golf stars are ineligible to earn ranking points
LIV Golf’s Cameron Smith admitted that he wants to represent Australia in the upcoming Olympics despite his position of No. 62 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
Smith, born in Brisbane, Australia, noted that his chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympics are running out as LIV golfers can not earn ranking points within the Saudi-backed league. Smith was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world in 2022, but slowly dropped to No. 20 in 2023, followed by a sharp plummet to No. 62 – his lowest ranking since 2017.
Smith is eligible for competitions in all four PGA Major tournaments after winning The Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2022 – giving him a five-year major exemption. However, those wins have no impact on his selection for the upcoming Olympics.
“It’s desperately a place that I want to get to and represent Australia.” said Smith to The Guardian. “I have to play well to get there. I know I have to play well, and I’m probably only going to get three or four shots at it before they make the selection. I guess it is more pressure.”
Smith previously expressed what his country means to him after recently missing the cut by nine shots at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship last year. The 30-year-old golfer previously won the event three times, lastly in 2022.
“Australia has been so good to me, there’s no reason to perform like that. Unacceptable,” Smith said. “Yeah, no words. S***. I’ve performed under pressure before and it’s not acceptable, a bit upsetting actually. I know what I’m doing, it’s just going out there and committing to something is another thing.”
After careful deliberation, the OWGR rejected LIV Golf’s request for points in October of last year. The rankings organisation cited concerns regarding LIV Golf’s format, shotgun start rules, and team elements. “We are not at war with them,” stated Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board. “This decision not to make them eligible is not political. It is entirely technical.”
Just 60 players will qualify for the men’s golf tournament at the Paris Games. The world’s top 15 players will be invited to take part, but only up to a maximum of four golfers per country. For example, Brian Harman is not set to qualify because there are four Americans ranked higher than him – despite the Open champion being No. 9 in the world.
Another 45 players will then be invited based on their world ranking, but only up to two per country (and that country must not already have at least two players in the top 15. For example, World No. 80 Sami Valimaki and World No. 343 Kalle Samooja are on course to represent Finland at the Olympics.
Here’s a look at the top Men’s Olympic Golf Rankings as of March 27, 2024:
Men’s Olympic Golf Rankings
*Rankings as of Mar 27, provided by the Olympics
Scottie Scheffler
Rory McIlroy
Jon Rahm
Wyndham Clark
Xander Schauffele
Viktor Hovland
Patrick Cantlay
Ludvig Aberg
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Matsuyama Hideki
Jason Day
Kim Joo-hyung [Tom Kim]
Matthieu Pavon
Nick Taylor
Sepp Straka
Min Woo Lee
Shane Lowry
Emiliano Grillo
Im Sung-jae
Nicolai Hojgaard
Adam Hadwin
Ryan Fox
Adrian Meronk
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Erik van Rooyen
Alex Noren
Thorbjorn Olesen
Stephan Jaeger
Thomas Detry
Sami Valimaki
Hisatsune Ryo
Joaquín Niemann
Victor Perez
David Puig
Yu Chun-An [Kevin Yu]
Yannik Paul
Yuan Yechun [Carl Yuan]
Joost Luiten
Pan Cheng-Tsung [C.T. Pan]
Alejandro Tosti
Camilo Villegas
Mito Pereira
Daniel Hillier
Matteo Manassero
Shubshankar Sharma
Adrien Dumont de Chassart
Abraham Ancer
Darius van Driel
Carlos Ortiz
Gavin Green
Guido Migliozzi
Gaganjeet Bhullar
Phachara Khongwatmai
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Fabrizio Zanotti
Rafael Campos
Dou Zecheng
Nico Echevarria
Kalle Samooja
