20 November 2023 , 19:28
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Cam Smith is one of seven LIV Golf players returning to the DP World Tour this week across the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and the Joburg Open.
Smith himself will compete in his home country's PGA Championship alongside fellow LIV stars Marc Leishmann, Joaquin Niemann and Mito Peirera, whilst three South Africans in Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester and Branden Grace head back to their native land for Joburg Open.
The entry of a number of the breakaway league's players into DP World Tour events may have come to a shock to many, after the Wentworth-based circuit inflicted sanctions on those who chose to join LIV.
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Those who made the Saudi switch have no doubt felt the repercussions, after the PGA Tour suspended any player who chose to enter a LIV Golf event last June. The DP World Tour finally followed suit 10 months later, as they won a lengthy legal dispute to suspend and fine defecting players.
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Despite the sanctioning, Smith and co are able to return to Tour action this week via a number of loopholes. The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour Australasia and with Smith a past champion, he is eligible compete.
The former Champion Golfer of The Year, won the event for a third time last November by three shots, having already prevailed in 2017 and 2018. Fellow Australian Leishmann meanwhile has received a tournament invite, whilst Torque GC teammates Niemann and Peirera have earned a spot via the 'National Spots' category.
Cam Smith returns to Australia as a defending championThree other players with LIV links are also in the field, with recently relegated rebel Jediah Morgan also entering as a past champion. Elsewhere, LIV reserve Wade Ormsby has also received a tournament invite, while former Majesticks GC star Laurie Canter picked up a spot via his finish in the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai standings.
There is a similar situation in South Africa too, with the Joburg Open co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour. All three of Schwartzel, Grace and Burmester are heading back to their home country thanks to the 'National Spots category.
For Grace, it is a second DP World Tour event in three weeks, after the South African entered another home event on home soil at the Nedbank Golf Challenge via a tournament invite. The route onto the Wentworth-based circuit may well soon become even easier for LIV members, with negotiations surrounding a framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia ongoing.