LIV GOLF ADELAIDE

February 16, 2025

Cam Smith

Matt Jones

The Grange

Ripper GC

Quick Quotes

Q. Can you describe your week for us?

CAM SMITH: As far as experience goes, it was amazing. As far as how I played, not my best stuff. I scrambled really well the first day to kind of stay in the tournament, and then the last couple of days I actually did a lot of good stuff and just couldn't really keep on top of it, keep the momentum going.

Q. Does it take any longer to recover when you come home and don't play as well as you like and then you leave and don't come back until November?

CAM SMITH: No, I mean, it's just -- it is home, but it's just another week. We've got 14 of these tournaments to figure stuff out. It hasn't been the greatest start for me, but I feel like there's a lot of really good stuff. I know I've been working hard. I know I've been putting in the hours. I just need to go out there and kind of make it happen.

Q. (Indiscernible.)

CAM SMITH: No. To be clear, I feel comfortable. I think the wind was really tricky this week. I hit a lot of good shots that ended up in bad spots, and it was one of those weeks where you had to be really patient.

But I think given the circumstances and obviously being home, you're always pushing, and perhaps that got us out of the tournament. That's the only thing I can really think of.

Like I said, hit lots of good shots, committed to a lot of tricky kind of situations, and just didn't come out on top. It is what it is.

Q. Did the Rippers have a lot more pressure --

CAM SMITH: Yes, a lot.

Q. Has it scaled back the last couple years?

CAM SMITH: I was saying to the boys, I think the last couple of years we've come in pretty fresh, and these boys have had a couple weeks off and I've come off the Masters with a week off in between, so I've kind of had time to, I guess, get here and get settled and then get ready for a big week, whereas this week it was kind of all just thrown in front of us very quickly, and coming from Riyadh, being jet lagged and stuff, it definitely took a lot out of us. But it's taken a lot out of us the last couple years, as well, I think just not being as fresh, and then the extra work. Everyone was kind of dragging a little bit. But it is what it is.

Q. They announced this morning it's going to be here until 2031 in Adelaide. Talk about playing at home in an event for that long.

MATT JONES: I just think it speaks volumes for the state, the support they've got here from Peter Malinauskas and the fans that come here and travel here, the way it's received. The golf course is phenomenal, and it's a very good thing for LIV. It's a great thing for South Australia, and it just shows where this whole league is headed and what's possible for future events.

Q. Did you expect they'd be making an announcement until 2031 this early in your LIV existence?

CAM SMITH: No. I think our first one was Spain that was a three- or four-year deal, and then this kind of went on top of that. But yeah, to have another six, it's pretty crazy and so cool. We all love coming down here. It's kind of the middle of the country. Everyone travels here, and they've got a really good thing going, so it's exciting for it to just keep coming down here, keep being better and better every year. It's got better every year. I can't see why it can't get better again next year.

Q. Also the Greg Norman group in north Adelaide is designing a course for an event in Sydney. What's that mean beyond LIV but for golf in general?

CAM SMITH: I hope he designs it for our game; that would be nice. No, that's awesome. I think that's been the vision for a long time in a lot of places. It's nice that we're the first one. It's really cool. It just shows the support we have here, and I love Greg's golf courses. Is there an existing golf course there, they're just redoing it? Yeah, so that will be awesome to have LIV's first golf course is pretty cool.