PGA Tour winner "confirmed" on Cameron Smith's LIV Golf team
LIV Golf star Cameron Smith has snapped up fellow Australian Lucas Herbert onto Ripper GC.
Cameron Smith has signed fellow Australian Lucas Herbert onto Ripper GC ahead of the start of the 2024 LIV Golf season, according to popular social media account Flushing It.
Smith, 30, will now have a full Australian team on Ripper GC this season.
He also confirmed the signature of compatriot Matt Jones last week.
Jones, 43, will return for his third season on Ripper GC having been out of contract.
Ripper GC also comprises 40-year-old Aussie Marc Leishman, who has always been alongside his good pal Smith since joining the breakaway circuit.
According to our sources close to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, the 150th Open champion and Ripper GC captain had been doing his best to bring in one final Australian to his team before the first event of the season in Mexico from 2-4 February.
To our knowledge, Smith had been trying to persuade both fellow major champions in Jason Day and Adam Scott to Ripper GC, but both players confirmed their allegiance to the PGA Tour earlier this month.
Smith then turned his attentions to one-time PGA Tour champion and three-time DP World Tour winner Lucas Herbert, 28.
He very quickly got his man.
Flushing It confirmed the news via Twitter on 16 January, just two weeks before the start of the 2024 LIV Golf League season.
See the tweet below:
28 year old Australian, Lucas Herbert is now confirmed as being the 4th and final player to join Cameron Smith’s LIV Golf League team “Ripper GC”.
Lucas has 3 x DP World Tour wins, including the 2020 Dubai Desert Classic, 2021 Irish Open and 2023 ISPS Handa in Japan. He also… pic.twitter.com/JbPAzGlmvf— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) January 16, 2024
Herbert won the 2020 Dubai Desert Classic, 2021 Irish Open and 2023 ISPS Handa Championship in Japan on the DP World Tour. He also captured his sole PGA Tour title at the 2021 Bermuda Championship.
GolfMagic had been informed of Smith's interest in Herbert all month.
"Herbert is the top name on Smith's list after being unsuccessful in trying to track down Day and Scott," a source told GolfMagic last week.
"Cam is fully set on a full-strength Ripper team that will wave the Aussie flag proud on LIV Golf in 2024.
"He is doing everything he can to try and persuade Herbert to come and join his side."
There was no greater incentive for an all-Australian team in Smith's eyes, especially with Australia's LIV Golf Adelaide set to play out as the most popular event on the schedule in 2024.
Adelaide's record-breaking LIV tournament was named the World's Best Golf Event of the Year 2023 at the World Golf Awards.
LIV Golf Adelaide saw 77,076 spectators attend The Grange GC in 2023.
Much of its popularity was down to the atmosphere and its Party Hole.
Chase Koepka got a hole-in-one, which brought the house down (watch below).
The 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide will once again take place at The Grange GC from 26-28 April, which is two weeks after The Masters.
Herbert recently revealed mental health struggles that led to a near two-month hiatus from professional golf last year.
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