After years of struggles, Cameron Smith and his golf game are on the rise. But the major champion and LIV Golf star thinks prize money in pro golf should go in the opposite direction.
That was the gist of his comments to the Mirror Sports U.S. this week at LIV Golf Andalucia in Spain. The 2022 Open champion laid out why he thinks the stratospheric rise in golf purses amid the LIV Golf-PGA Tour feud has gotten out of hand, and that purses across pro golf should be reduced “back to the way it was.”
How golf prize money has increased since LIV’s arrival
At the end of 2022, Smith was at the height of his powers. He won the Players Championship early that year, then followed it up with a breakthrough major victory at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he topped Rory McIlroy in the final round.
Smith then signed a massive LIV Golf contract worth reportedly upwards of nine figures. Since its inception, LIV Golf has featured $30 million purses with $4 million going to the winner. Those numbers were far higher than the prize money found on the PGA Tour back then.
Not wasting any time, Smith cashed in with a win at the 2022 LIV Chicago event, adding two more LIV victories in 2023.
In response to LIV’s huge purses, the PGA Tour and the majors fought back by massively increasing their own prize money. The Players Championship is a great example.
In 2021, Justin Thomas took home $2.7 million from the total $15 million Players purse for his win at TPC Sawgrass. That was by far the biggest purse in pro golf at the time.
In 2022, the prize money increased dramatically, with Smith earning $3.6 million out of a $20 million purse.
But the increases weren’t done. From 2023 to present, the Players Championship has sported a $25 million purse with $4.5 million going to the winner.
Major purses have gone through similar, though slightly more modest increases, and the PGA Tour added a series of Signature Events with $20 million purses.
Cam Smith on massive golf prize money: ‘Time for everything to come back’
The way Smith sees it, the ever-increasing purses need to stop, and prize money needs a return to sanity. After telling the Mirror Sports U.S. that reduced LIV purses in 2027 would not make him leave the tour, he spoke more broadly about the issue of sky-high purses.
“This has been an awesome four or five years for us golfers, for everyone around the world. It’s changed a lot of things, but I think realistically, it’s time for everything to come back to the way it was,” Smith argued.
That is especially true on LIV, where executives are in a frantic search for investors following the Saudi Arabian PIF’s decision to pull all funding from the tour after this season.
“It was obviously not working, and it’s pretty far-fetched, realistically,” Smith told the Mirror Sports U.S. “So we’ll see what happens. I’m sure there are going to be a lot of changes, particularly with prize money next year.”
