LIV GOLF NEW YORK

August 4, 2026

Cam Smith

Marc Leishman

Lucas Herbert

Travis Smyth

Trump National Golf Club Bedminster

Ripper GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the media center, Ripper Golf Club, Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Travis Smyth. Cam, we're back at the site where you won in 2023, both individually and as a team. What do you remember about the performances that week, not only for yourself but for Ripper, the first team win?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it was a good week for us last time we were here. It's a tough golf course. It's a tough venue. It's nice to be back.

I remember we all loved the golf course here last time. Went out there yesterday, played 18 holes; not much has really changed. A few holes are maybe a little bit longer. Still the same great venue was it was last time.

Lots of good memories and lots of good times last time, so hopefully we can keep that rolling this week.

Q. Marc, last time we were here I think you finished T7. What is it specifically about this course that provides such a challenging test?

MARC LEISHMAN: Everything. I remember I left on Sunday night here, and I was absolutely exhausted. I feel like every tee shot, you feel like you have to hit the fairway or you feel like you're pushing water uphill.

I remember it tests every part of your game. It's long. The rough is brutal. The greens are perfect, but you have to be in the right sections of them. It's just a tough golf course, but it's a fun course to play, as well, which is, I think, a pretty big compliment. Normally when courses are really, really difficult they're not that much fun to play. This one I feel like there's a lot of really cool holes out there.

Obviously we had a great week as a team, and watching Cam win there pretty convincingly was fun and made the team side of it a lot less stressful than what it might have been if he didn't tear away with a win.

Q. You've won two of the last four LIV Golf events, wire to wire fashion, along with a T6 finish at The Open. Cam said in the UK that he thinks right now you might be one of the five or ten hottest players in the world. What's it going to take to keep that momentum going this week, and how did you spend the time between JCB and here?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I chilled out quite a bit last week, tried to get back as much energy as I could for this last little stretch we've got now coming up.

Yeah, I mean, like Cam said, I'm in a bit of a hot streak at the moment with my game, which has been really fun, and I think that's going to be pretty important this week to carry in because, as he said, it's a pretty good test of golf out here.

You can see some pin positions that are going to be fun come the weekend. It's nice to turn up here in some good form because I can imagine a few of these shots can get pretty scary if you were struggling with your game.

Q. Travis, you actually played back here in 2022. One of the original teams, which then ended up being rebranded into Ripper, who you're obviously now competing with today, how much have you seen LIV Golf evolve since those first few events since when we were back here to where we are now as a league?

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, I mean, it's an incredible league. Ever since I got to play those first three events, it's the tour I've wanted to play on, obviously playing Asian Tour, International Series, they kind of have been my majors that I've focused on and really wanted to get back. It's so much fun out here.

I think the league then -- I don't know the differences because I only got to play three, and I've only now played, I think, three or four this year. So I can't really comment. But it's still an incredible league. I really hope it survives. It's a ton of fun out here, especially alongside these guys.

Q. What have you heard about the LIV Golf Team Championship and its status in terms of happening as an event? Just the uncertainty of that, how does that affect how you guys as a team view the end of the season?

CAM SMITH: We've been told to prepare as though it's going ahead. So we're expecting it to happen. I'm really unsure, but we had a great year there last year in Detroit, and we're hoping we get back there. It's a great golf course, a great venue, and the crowds really turned up as well. Yeah, would be disappointed if it wasn't.

Q. Just to follow up on that, Martin Kaymer was quoted as saying there was a 5 percent chance of the Team Championship happening. I'm just wondering how that squares with, Cam, what you're saying, what you're hearing. 5 percent doesn't sound great; what would you put the odds of this event actually happening at? Secondarily, you guys are, I think, second in the team standings. Do you have any sense for what would happen in terms of payouts or standings if this event does not go down?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, like I said, we're expecting to play. Hopefully we get there. I know we've got a player meeting this afternoon, so I'm sure we'll hear a little bit more, but as it stands right now, all I can comment on is we're expecting to play.

Q. Cam, Leish and Travis, you guys were here in 2022 and you played under the Punch nickname. I'm wondering if you have any apparel that says Punch on it?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I do. I've got about 20 hats at home that I've stored in the back of the cupboard. I don't know, they might have moths growing on them at the moment, but I know exactly where they are.

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I've got one hat, one left. I threw all those smelly ones out and got one left that'll probably be smelly here pretty soon.

TRAVIS SMYTH: Yeah, I think I've got a shirt somewhere, yeah. It's got cobwebs on it as well.

Q. Cam, how quickly, once you joined LIV, did you want to change the name to something that's more Australian appropriate? Was it like a day-one decision for you?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I think it was maybe even part of joining with the league was making an Australian team and making it as Australian as it could be. Obviously the name needed to change. Punch isn't really an Australian slang.

I think we played four or five events in that '22 year, and then we were pretty quick on to it before '23 to try and get it changed. It was actually a really fun process with the logo and even the names. There was a few random names that got thrown out that I can't even remember, but it was pretty fun with the creative team.

I think we did a good job. But some people maybe not. But I think it's pretty good.

MARC LEISHMAN: I was going to say, I don't think Cam gets enough credit for how good the name is. It's a word in the Australian dictionary, I think.

TRAVIS SMYTH: Why don't you tell us, why is Ripper so good, Leish?

MARC LEISHMAN: Well, if someone does something good in Australia, like if they hit a good drive, you might say, oh, that was a Ripper.

TRAVIS SMYTH: What's the other meaning?

MARC LEISHMAN: The other one, yeah, we won't talk about that.

Q. Lucas, would you have joined LIV if it was still Punch GC?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, part of my package coming across, I was trying to change it back to Punch GC. I was a big fan of that name.

No, I was pretty happy with the Ripper GC name. I think we've got one of the coolest names in the league, so I'm pretty happy with it.

I think the logo is quite cool, too. I don't think people would realize the subtle nod it gives to the Southern Cross with the Chevrons the way they're positioned. If you're an Aussie you would know. But maybe to non-Aussies, I don't know that they would see it as easily and as quickly as we do, but I think it's a really nice node to our Southern Cross, which is something that is very symbolically Australian.

Q. Cam, when you guys swept here in 2023, since then, the team has won seven times, including the Team Championship. Does the team's success and the ability to celebrate team wins kind of mitigate some of the individual stuff from your perspective?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, I mean, for sure. I definitely haven't played how I wished I had have played over the last couple of years, but Leish says it a lot; when you're out of a tournament and the team is doing quite well, it makes you grind for something else and makes you a better golfer.

You don't get those experiences anywhere else. I've felt over the last few years when I haven't been playing my best golf coming down the stretch a lot of pressure to kind of show up for the team, and otherwise I would have just been finishing 20th or 30th or 40th and it not really mean much.

For sure, I think it makes you grind it out, and in the long run hopefully makes you a better golfer.

Q. Could you share what you understand to be the state of the negotiations for the next iteration of LIV? More generally, what, if any, preparations have you made for playing another tour? Are there other possibilities for your competitive futures?

CAM SMITH: I'm a positive guy, so I've made no effort to go seek anything else.

I don't really understand what is going to happen. I think it's all up in the air. I know that the LIV team is working hard to get us to play next year and working hard for us. They do a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

I want it to work, really, to be honest. It's great fun out here. The team that we've got, I feel like we make each other better, better people and better golfers as well. Yeah, I'd hate to see it go away. We'll see what happens.

Like I said before, we've got a player meeting this afternoon. I'm sure we'll get some more info. But at the moment we're preparing to keep playing and keep the team alive.

Q. Considering how close-knit you all are, can you talk about what the Team Championship has meant to you in previous seasons? I know it's in flux right now, but how cool has that event been because it seems like it's really translated to maybe the most popular LIV event in past seasons?

MARC LEISHMAN: Yeah, I mean, it's obviously unbelievable. We've had some success at the Team Championship in Dallas there two years ago. That was some of the most pressure I've played under. I remember hitting a putt on the Saturday -- it wasn't even on Sunday, but it was to get us through to Sunday, and all the boys were standing on the side of the green there, and I remember I had this four-footer and I've been lucky throughout my career that I haven't had to deal with too many nerves for whatever reason, but I remember standing over this four-footer and it wasn't a hard four-footer. It was like a right edge, exactly the one you'd want under pressure, and I remember I couldn't feel my arms and I could hear my heart beating or feel my heart beating, and I'd never dealt with that before.

I don't get that in individual tournaments. So to do things like that for your team and have that pressure is a lot of fun. I think the fans can feel that as well.

I think it would be a real shame if it did get canceled here in a few weeks. But like I said, we don't know what's going to happen. We're preparing like we're going to be playing. We're looking forward to playing.

Q. Cam, I think people might be surprised to hear you say that you sort of haven't really thought about what the next chapter might look like if LIV is not around next year. Do you have an interest, if it comes to it, in returning to the PGA TOUR?

CAM SMITH: I mean, if it was the only option, I think that's where everyone would want to be for sure, 100 percent. It would go back to old times.

Q. But you've not had any discussions with the TOUR what that might look like?

CAM SMITH: No, I'm contracted to the end of next year, so I was expecting to play until the end of next year and renegotiate and hopefully go on.

What we've been able to do for golf in Australia is really quite important to me, junior golf, the Little Rippers, the event that we have down there, the people it brings out to showcase our great league. It would be a shame for all that to go away, and I feel like we've worked really hard over the last three or four years to kind of make that all happen.

Yeah, like I said, Australian golf is important to me. I think it improves it. I think all the numbers are up. The memberships are up. Social play is up. I think that's in part because of us. So I think it would be a shame for Australian golf if it did go away.

Q. I'd just ask your teammates, have there been any outreach to the TOUR over the last couple months in terms of potentially coming back?

MARC LEISHMAN: No, I haven't. No. I'm confident there will be something next year. The team is working really hard, and I would certainly like to be here next year for sure, whether it looks how it does now or something different. I would assume if it is around it'll be something a little different, but I'm invested in this.

LUCAS HERBERT: I haven't personally had any discussions but I think my manager has. If LIV were to go away and you've got nowhere to play, I think ultimately you need somewhere to play as a professional golfer. So we're just doing due diligence, having that conversation. As I said, I haven't had it personally, and my preference would be to still be playing out here if that was still an option.

Yeah, I think conversations have been had without me being privy to them. I don't know the results of any of those either. Yeah, that's my update.

TRAVIS SMYTH: For me, I've got status on about four tours, so plan A is to play LIV Golf, and plan B is to bounce around the world like I've been doing the last eight years.

Q. Cam, there's been some discussion about LIV 2.0 restructuring contracts to be more of an equity model. Is that something that you would be interested in as opposed to the stuck tour that you've been operating on the past couple of years?

CAM SMITH: Yeah, it's interesting, and it can be hard to understand, but it's so early on in the process that it's hard to really think of what that means or what the differences will be.

Like I said, I feel like we're well-informed, but I feel like a lot of it is still up in the air. We don't know.