Controversial LIV Golf Tour, Aussie star Cameron Smith, tee it up outside of Boston

It is a city of sports legends - Tom Brady, Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Bobby Orr. And now the U.S. sports-crazed city of Boston is hosting 48 pro golfers, providing a reception that may not be so warm and fuzzy.

Australian rising star Cameron Smith is the headliner as the LIV Golf Tour kicks off its fourth tournament, the LIV Golf Invitational Boston, over the next three days. The 48 golfers are competing for $20 million in prize money, including $4 million to the winner.

New additions to LIV Golf joining Smith, are Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (World No. 19), Americans Harold Varner III (World No. 46) and Cameron Tringale (World No. 55), Australian Marc Leishman (World No. 62) and India’s Anirban Lahiri (World No. 92).

The fourth tournament in the eight-event series, in its debut season, is being played at the Oaks Course in Bolton, Massachusetts, on the outskirts of Boston.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has informed as soon as the six new players joining the controversial tour, hit their opening tee shots, they will be ineligible for all future PGA Tour events.

Smith, who won the 150th Open Championship six weeks ago at historic St. Andrews, the home of golf, spoke about his LIV Golf debut, while warming up on the practice range.

“I’m so excited – I feel like I’ve been to a lot of golf events, but the last hour here has been unreal, I can’t wait,” said the Aussie, who sports a 1980′s mullet hairstyle.

“I’m playing some of the best golf of my life and I can’t wait to show everyone out here that it’s still there.”

Smith proceeded to pull his opening tee shot on the imposing 524-yard, first hole, left and into the rough.

His playing partner, two-time major winner Dustin Johnson did the same, not exactly an auspicious start from the featured players. Many poor shots have been witnessed on the digital feeds of the previous three LIV Golf tournaments, leading many to question the caliber of the golf being played on the renegade league.

LIV Players at the majors or Paris 2024?

The LIV Golfers, including notables Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, all of whom are major tournament champions, move ahead with their professional careers, uncertain as to if they will ever be allowed to play in another major tournament, or have the chance to try and qualify for Paris 2024, or any future Olympic Games.

Skepticism remains as to whether LIV Golf will earn inclusion into the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), especially considering Monahan is a leading voice on the board of directors responsible for voting on LIV Golf’s application filed by CEO and two-time Open Champion Greg Norman. The OWGR have entirely determined Olympic qualification for both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Bubba Watson, a 2016 Olympian and two-time Masters champion, who is skipping the Boston event while still recovering from knee surgery, candidly addressed LIV events being included in the OWGR and his future status at the prestigious Augusta National tournament.

“The No. 2 player in the world is now here, so if you’re going to try to see the best players in the world, then you should have World Ranking points because these are the best players in the world here, just like everywhere else across the world,” Watson told reporters on Wednesday,

Regarding his Masters future, with Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley yet to announce the status of LIV golfers competing at the tournament next spring, Watson was also outspoken: “If they tell me that I can’t go, being a past champion, then I don’t want to be there anyway, because that’s just the wrong way to look at it. It’s the game of golf. We are all trying to be the best players.”

The LIV Tour is now comprised of 12 major champions in total, 13 top 50 players, and 14 countries are represented. Additionally, there are 20 players with ten or more pro victories and the LIV golfers have accounted for 22 majors won. There are also 24 of the top 100 ranked players.

The controversial new tour, entirely financially backed by the Saudi fund, continues to attract some of the world’s top players, in addition to others who are past their prime. Battle lines have been drawn, in what has become a verbal war on social media, between players loyal to the PGA Tour and those who have jumped ship for the enormous sums of guaranteed money.

The Boston Invitational also continues the LIV Golf team format, involving 12 teams of four players competing for an additional $5 million. It seems the quirky team format, while somewhat unique to the sport, has yet to captivate fans or draw the attention the LIV Golf Chief Executive Officer Greg Norman had hoped for. Still, LIV Golf and its announcers, continue to hype the teams and format.

McIlroy pulls no punches

Rory McIlroy, who pocketed a record $24 million for winning his third PGA Tour FedEx Cup last weekend, continues to be an outspoken critic of the new venture, frequently criticizing his peers who have joined.

When McIlroy, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, tees off at the BMW PGA Championship next week outside of London, he’ll do so alongside 18 LIV Golf members. It appears it will be a weird, somewhat uncomfortable dynamic between the two divided factions of pro golfers.

“I hate what it’s going to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do,” McIlory said about LIV Golf after his PGA Tour Championship victory. “Like it’s going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks’ time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn’t sit right with me.

“So yeah, I feel strongly. I believe what I’m saying are the right things, and I think when you believe that what you’re saying is the right thing, you’re happy to stick your neck out on the line.”

The inaugural season of the LIV Golf Tour will wrap up with its eighth and final event, a team format finale, which will be contested on the Blue Monster Course at Trump National Doral in Miami, October 27-30.

Follow Brian on Twitter - @Brian_Pinelli