‘Sad case’ laid bare as LIV collapse leaves four Aussies scrambling

The collapse of LIV Golf has left four Aussie players without a home.

Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith, as well as his team members Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, and Elvis Smylie are in sporting limbo.

While their decisions to join the rebel Saudi-backed league filled their pockets in the short term, its death on Friday has suddenly put their futures in jeopardy.

From going back to qualifying school, to early retirement, these are the options facing each of the players.

Cameron Smith

It’s a sad case of what might have been for the laid-back Queenslander, who was arguably the best golfer on the planet in 2022 before defecting to LIV.

He won the Open Championship and climbed to No.2 on the official world rankings before stunning the PGA Tour by ditching them to join the Saudi-backed league.

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He is now ranked 162nd in the world and has struggled to compete at majors since the switch. While he was one of the top players in the world four years ago, he is only the 21st ranked player in the LIV standings this year.

Smith knocked back an olive branch to rejoin the PGA Tour earlier this year, and it’s unclear whether he even wants to go back to competing.

“It’s hard to make a decision when you don’t have at least some of the answers to make the right decision, or (any) decision. We need a few more answers,” Smith told The Sydney Morning Herald last month.

Smith has made tens of millions out of golf already – his sign-on bonus with LIV was reportedly $140m alone – and so he could easily quit professional sport and spend the rest of his days fishing if he wants to.

Marc Leishman

The 43-year-old has slipped to 294th on the world rankings and is unlikely to land a PGA or DP World tour card for next season.

He has earned more than $35m from his PGA Tour career alone and probably doesn’t need to join one of the major circuits at this stage of his career.

The Victorian veteran is heading home to play the Aussie swing this month, and is hoping to win one of the two major trophies for the first time in his career.

Lucas Herbert

The 30-year-old Victorian enjoyed one of his best years as a professional and was the fourth ranked player at LIV Golf in 2026, winning two individual titles to ensure his pockets were filled.

He also stunned the British Open with an electric round of 62 in July, and was one of the in-form golfers in the world at that stage.

Intriguingly, he actually quit LIV several weeks before the bankruptcy bombshell, and will head to Australia to play several end-of-year events before deciding where he wants to play next season.

“One of the things I’m passionate about is trying to help back home, back in Australia, whether it be junior sport, particularly junior golf, or you know mates in general, Australian foundations, Australian companies, that sort of thing,” Herbert said in an Instagram reel recently.

“I want you guys to reach out if you are small business owner, if you know a small business owner, if someone in the family, some friends, whoever, I want to wear some apparel.”

Herbert was previously a champion on the DP World Tour, but the Europeans have taken a grim view on LIV defectors in recent times.

At his best he is certainly good enough to compete and win on the PGA Tour.

Elvis Smylie

The up-and-coming Queenslander won the 2024 Australian PGA Championship and then joined the DP World Tour for 2025, where his best finish was a tied for second at the FedEx Open de France.

He then made the bold decision to join LIV this year, a move some thought could do more harm to his career than good.

It immediately paid dividends when he won the individual title on debut, netting himself a cool $5.7m in prize money. That victory alone ensures Smylie, still only 24 years old, has some time to figure out what to do next.

He will head home this month to play all the big Aussie tournaments but may have to go through qualifying school to earn his tour card again.