Aussie star Cameron Smith slams fellow LIV golfer Phil Mickelson for his slow play at $25MILLION tournament: ‘It hurts’
- Cameron Smith says it ‘hurt’ to play quarters against Phil Mickelson
- Smith leads the Punch GC team and now has a chance to win the $16million first prize
- The 52-year-old Mickelson sledded Smith’s inexperience last week
Aussie superstar Cameron Smith has slammed veteran major-winning golfer Phil Mickelson for his ‘painful’ slow play, as the 2022 Open win propels his team into the semi-finals of the golf team championship of LIV.
Punch GC, flying the flag for Australia, now enters the final against fellow big-name captains Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka.
Aussie golfing champion Cameron Smith spoke to LIV media after Punch GC made the final team
But it was before the semi-finals that the 29-year-old Smith made a rude remark to his opponent Mickelson, which was seen during the match-play event.
The top eight match-up came down to the final hole, where Smith dropped a classy 10-foot putt to knock out the Hyflyers.
After the round, Smith said Mickelson was hitting holes in the finals.
‘Yeah, it was a good match,’ said the 2022 Players Champion.
‘I think Phil might have some gamesmanship there a little bit. It seems like he has forever now. I think we had three or four holes in the back, so that hurt quite a bit.’
Hyflyers team captain Phil Mickelson (R) speaks to LIV media with teammate Matt Wolff (L) and Punch GC skipper Cam Smith (C)
Earlier in the week the two had a hilarious dig at each other before going head to head.
‘The way Phil hits his driver around here, I think he’s dropping some balls there,’ said Smith, who had a crack at Mickelson’s driver (once) going astray.
‘I don’t have much to say. But I won here [in 2009], just saying’. Cam, have you ever played here in Doral?’, answered the 52-year-old American.
‘I think you were there at the clinic I gave. Nice to see you paying attention.’
On Sunday, Smith and compatriots Marc Leishman, Wade Ormsby and Matt Jones will have a chance to take home a whopping $4million individually.
2004 Masters champion Phil Mickelson (L) congratulates 2005 Masters champion Tiger Woods, who captured his fourth Augusta National title
The four will compete in stroke play, where they must record the lowest score as a team (from all individual strokes combined) to win the purse and inaugural LIV team gong.
If Smith is crowned LIV team champs along with his Punch teammates, it will cap a fantastic year overseas before he heads down under to play in the Fortinet Australian PGA championship.
Phil Mickelson and Cam Smith share a laugh on the first tee on day one of the inaugural LIV golf team championship
The Queenslander has six career PGA titles to his name in a breakout 2022 year, winning the 150th Open and pocketing $2.5 million.
In an unprecedented golf deal, Smith moved to the Saudi-backed league, signing a $140million contract.
