“Smith’s defection is a sickening blow to the PGA Tour”

It was expected, but Cameron Smith’s departure from LIV Golf remains a sickening blow to the PGA Tour and those seeking to preserve the sport’s status quo.

Having committed his future to the established circuit, the American was swayed by LIV’s millions in time for his inaugural event in June.

This led to the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed also leaving the preeminent tour in men’s golf.

But Johnson is 38 and has not won since picking up his second major at the 2020 Masters. DeChambeau and Koepka have been beset by debilitating injuries and Reed’s form and popularity are on the wane.

European recruits like Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia are past their prime. Paul Casey, in his mid-40s and with a dodgy back, decided to cash in while he could.

Smith is different. The Australian is 29 years old and number two in the world. He lives up to his powers.

The Queenslander is popular with fans; an unassuming, down-to-earth figure with endearing larrikin qualities and a game of a quality that the golf gods bestow very little upon him.

How the PGA Tour would have loved to have fully celebrated its newly incentivized schedule in its inaugural event next year. But he can’t.

It will be a Tournament of Champions without its defending champion, although the Hawaii event is now worth $15m (£12.9m). Smith, who shot a record 34 under par to clinch that title this year, will live the LIV life.

And that’s likely what makes it easier for him to spend this time of year playing or relaxing in his native Australia.

His absence will also be strongly felt at the Players Championship in March. The tour’s flagship event will be worth $25 million, but it will also be without its defending champion.

Likewise, the now $20 million Genesis Invitational a month earlier. Joaquin Niemann will be absent from defending the title he so thrillingly won earlier this year.

The 23-year-old Chilean is one of the most exciting talents in the game and another significant coup for LIV. Ranked 19th in the world, it is also a client of management company GSE Worldwide which has specialized in carving out lucrative Saudi-funded contracts for some of its clients.

They include DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Casey, Jason Kokrak, Garcia, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Carlos Ortiz, who are in the field for LIV’s fourth $25 million event, which begins Friday in Boston.

There’s no doubt that LIV has picked up momentum from a stuttering start. They have resources from the deepest pockets: the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth. They can be a lucrative force in golf for as long as they want.

Still, the announcement of their latest recruits isn’t as star-studded as LIV would have liked. The absence of Open runner-up Cameron Young and 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama should cheer the PGA Tour.

American Young was attracted to LIV’s 54-hole shotgun start formats and its inflated prizes. But he was influenced by the recent meeting of prominent players instigated by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

“I was very interested,” Young admitted. “I think they have a lot of good ideas. I think they’re doing some interesting things.” But the 25-year-old proved an impressionable listener at that vital meeting in Delaware earlier this month.

The result was the PGA Tour announcing its $20 million event series for its top stars, as well as an improved (and still controversial) player impact program.

Those changes helped convince Young, who also has an eye for golf history. “That’s what really helped me decide to stay and pursue the goals I have for myself.

“Like making the Presidents Cup team or the Ryder Cup team and winning a major, when all of that is uncertain if you’re going to go there.”

Some things in the game, perhaps, are priceless.

But without a doubt, money is the main driver and the men’s game may be faced with the challenge of ensuring that such largesse does not become a diversion in these straight times.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Smith confessed that he was desperate to play for internationals against the United States in the upcoming Presidents Cup. The mantra of the runaway tour is that there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to compete.

But LIV players are automatically suspended from the PGA Tour, which runs the biennial competition. Smith knew the consequences when he signed on the dotted line and will be aware that Australian sports fans will not be happy with this decision.

Thanks to his Open victory, the Queenslander has secured his place in the majors for at least the next five years, although it remains to be seen whether the Masters will extend invitations to LIV players.

How well will his game hold up while playing at a level that is currently well below the PGA Tour? Based on the current rankings, the average ranking of the three LIV winners so far (Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Henrik Stenson) is 150.

For golf fans who want to witness the best in the majors, it would be a shame to see Smith’s talent diminish in the absence of competing against the best players week after week.

But he has a hundred million reasons to take the chosen route. Money talks on both sides of the argument.

This remains a bitter power struggle with no end in sight. McIlroy and Woods have become the player/stewards of a PGA Tour that still boasts the vast majority of golf’s top talent.

McIlroy, meanwhile, has played down the rhetoric saying it will be “hard to stomach” competing with the LIV Rebels at Wentworth next week.

Which begs the question, should they be dropped from the European Ryder Cup team? If Luke Donald uses his six wildcard picks to select LIV players, how on earth does he form a harmonious team with McIlroy, their biggest star?

This is another issue, among many, yet to be resolved, as lawyers on both sides prepare to clash on several fronts.

It’s been a frantic couple of weeks and both sides are justified in claiming victories from the latest skirmishes.

LIV certainly know they have secured their biggest asset yet.