LIV GOLF ADELAIDE

February 15, 2026

Cam Smith

Marc Leishman

Lucas Herbert

Elvis Smylie

The Grange

Ripper GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome to the stage Ripper GC, LIV Golf Adelaide 2026 team champions. Congratulations. Can you just describe the electricity out there on the course today?

LUCAS HERBERT: It felt like every person, Adelaide or Australia, I'm not sure which one, but every one of them was following our group with the skip over here. It was pretty special.

Yeah, getting there late, coming down 18, I mean, Leish and Cam would have experienced it in the playoff last year, but felt like I got to experience it for the first time, and it was really cool.

Still a little nerve-racking trying to get it up on the green to make sure we -- I thought if one of us made birdie we'd sealed it. Still nerve-racking trying to do that. It was a cool experience to be able to do that in the second to last group at least.

Q. Marc or Cam, how does this team win compare to two years ago?

MARC LEISHMAN: I think every win is special in different ways. 2024 was obviously the first team playoff, which was special. Our first time experiencing that. I feel like we've done that the last couple years now.

Then this week, it was a little different just in different ways. Like I said, it's hard to separate them, but this was awesome. The last one was awesome. I don't think you can separate them.

Just excited to maybe have a shot or two up the sleeve there with the last hole there with the boys there. It was nice to not have to go into a playoff. That was pretty nerve-racking there a few years ago.

But yeah, this is definitely up there. I feel like the crowd was just unbelievable again this week. Obviously AK winning individually added a lot to this tournament. I feel like last time Steeley winning it was kind of pushed aside a little bit because of the team playoff.

But I feel like AK was as big a story as what this is. I feel like it's another great week, one that -- I won't say it's better or worse than the last one, but going to certainly look back on this in days and years to come pretty fondly.

Q. Quickly on the AK note, if you wouldn't mind sharing what watching that at the end and his win, what's that like?

LUCAS HERBERT: I cried.

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, there's not many players on tours around the world where you're trying not to tear up on the last green when they're winning. Being a dad myself and seeing his daughter run out, knowing what him and his wife have been through, geez, not too many better stories than that, I don't think.

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it was awesome. It was unreal. So good. Particularly where he's come from, and even where he come from at the start when he joined LIV to this now is pretty incredible.

Q. Elvis, the lads probably would have told you about it a couple years ago, but now having lived it, did it live up to expectations for the team win?

ELVIS SMYLIE: Yeah, I remember watching the 2024 playoff, and I'm like, gosh, I want to be part of this team. I genuinely did, because a few years ago when I was a professional golfer and playing on tours around the world, it was quite individual and isolated and you were traveling by yourself.

But to be able to achieve what we did today as a group, as a collective, it's such a better feeling than when you win individually.

Q. Can I ask you about the impact; feels like a footy game out there and you're the home team. What's it like inside the ropes having almost at every step somebody supporting for you?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it's unreal. It's so cool. I feel like it can motivate you at times, and then like this afternoon when they're trying to get you across the line, it's almost a little bit more nerve-racking. It's just one more thing to worry about other than yourself; know what I mean?

If you're coming down the stretch individually and you've got a chance to win, you're going to have a few people in the crowd, I would say, maybe 50 percent of the crowd rooting you on ready to go. Whereas today, no matter where Herby and I walked, it was "up the Rippers," "let's go, boys," "let's get going."

It's a sense of, like, energy, but it's also a sense of pressure, as well, because you don't want to let them down. Not only are you going to let these guys down, but you're letting down the home crowd, as well.

It's pretty special to be able to do it at home. It's hard work, but it's pretty special.

Q. Guys, did you sort of feel like the crowd turned a little bit, not against you, but Lucas in particular, you were one shot off the lead at one point, but then obviously AK started doing AK things, and the crowd appeared to shift. Did you notice that?

LUCAS HERBERT: It's kind of tricky to get a read off the crowd, I thought, for the group behind. Obviously Bryson is pretty popular with the younger generation through his YouTube stuff. Jon is quite a popular player, as well, and then I think it's hard not to root for AK.

It was tricky; you'd hear a roar from the group behind and it was tricky to know who'd made a putt, who'd made a birdie, whether it was a par save, whatever. So yeah, I didn't feel like the crowd turned. I felt like it was a pretty exciting day. They were cheering on par putts just as hard as they were birdie putts.

I kind of almost feel relieved to get out of it now because it felt pretty intense, that pressure out there. You just really wanted to give the crowd something to cheer for and get excited for.

Q. Leish, I'd be right in saying that the timeline of your career and Anthony's on the PGA TOUR kind of overlapped at the beginning. Do you have any recollections of how enigmatic he was back in those years?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, probably my first year was one of his last years, I would think. Man, he was a gun. He was playing Ryder Cups, winning fairly frequently, I would say. I'm not sure how many times exactly he won. Three times. He almost had an aura about him, somewhat for his golf, somewhat for his partying.

I mean, to see where he's come from and then I've actually spoke to him a fair bit over the last couple of years about a few of his experiences, and I mean, it's an unbelievable story, the place he got to and how close he was to not being here. I'm not talking about in Adelaide, I'm talking about not being on this planet.

He had some times where just after his daughter was born, he got to some low places. I won't elaborate more than that.

Like I said before, as a dad, it's pretty amazing what he's done for his daughter. I think we all as dads, you play for your family and you play for your wife and your kids and all that, and your extended family. But for him to be able to change his life through golf in that way, it shows what a good person he is and what a strong person he is, what golf can do for your life.

I don't know, it's pretty touching, actually, how good a story this is. I hope that people realize how it's a fairy-tale, it really is. Not just golf but life. You see his wife and his daughter run out on the green, and that's as good as it gets. I couldn't be happier for AK.

Q. Elvis seems like he's just fitted into this team seamlessly the last month or so. How was his Valentine's Day? You hinted at something earlier in the week.

CAM SMITH: Elvis?

ELVIS SMYLIE: I didn't get up to too much last night, but it'll be a different story tonight. (Laughter.)

Q. Cam and Lucas, when you play with each other on the final day and the heat is on when you're trying to win the team title, does it help you to encourage each other and spur each other on?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, there were definitely moments out there where we gave ourselves a little fist bump or high five or something like that. I don't think it -- at the start of the day, you know what your job is, and the job is to try to get it done.

There's moments out there where it feels like it's almost added pressure because he's there, so you can kind of take it both ways, in a sense.

I love playing with my teammates. I don't get to do it too often, particularly in a competitive state. I love watching what he does. I love watching what all the guys do, and try and learn from it. I think it's great.

Q. It was announced earlier today that this week's attendance not only set a LIV Golf record but a record for professional golf in Australia. As the home team, what does that mean for the Rippers? What does that mean for your impact on LIV and the sport?

CAM SMITH: Woohoo!

LUCAS HERBERT: I see on social media all the time that LIV has no fans, so it's pretty nice to see that a few of them turned out this week, and you can see why. It's clearly the best event. It's been voted the best event in the world, and you can absolutely see why. There's so many people out here. It's such a great atmosphere. There's so many kids out here, as well. I feel like between every green and tee, I'm high fiving kids the whole way down, which that's what we did all this far. That's what we really wanted to be here to make an impact for.

It's pretty special to hear those numbers that new records have been set. I'm sure Greg, wherever he is in the world, is smiling away at what this has turned into.