Cameron Smith has thrown his backing behind beleaguered LIV Golf boss Greg Norman amid uncertainty over the future of the former Australian golfing great as head of the Saudi-backed tour.
The British Open champion is adamant he wants to see the last Australian winner of the Claret Jug before him stay on as the driving force behind LIV.
But Norman's position as the tour's CEO has been the subject of much speculation since the recent details of the proposed merger between the PGA, European and LIV tours materialised.
The 68-year-old two-time British Open champion wasn't named in the joint statements released by the merging organisations, nor listed as a member of the new unified board.
The absence of his name only increased the widespread suggestions that Norman, who'd been the original driving force behind the move, has become a marginal figure in the LIV golfing hierarchy.
Documents released this month by the US senate committee investigating the deal then revealed the PGA Tour had sought a side agreement for Norman to be sidelined.
But fellow Queenslander Smith, one of LIV's most high-profile recruits last August after he won the British Open a month earlier, insisted at his pre-Open press conference on Monday that Norman was doing a great job with the breakaway tour.
"I've kind of become a bit of a friend of Greg's, I guess, the last eight or nine months," he told reporters.
"Personally, I think he's doing a great job for our tour. He's looking out for our best interests. That's all you can ask of a guy that's running the show.
"Yeah, I'd love to see him keep on."
And asked about the future of LIV in any possible merger, the 29-year-old added: "Yeah, absolutely I'm optimistic. I think golf is in a great spot.
"There's obviously a lot of things that are up in the air that no-one really knows at the moment.
"I don't even think the guys that are trying to sort it out really know what this outcome is going to be like. A lot of uncertainty, but I'm optimistic LIV will be around in the future."
