Ernie Els warns Cameron Smith of making 'dangerous' LIV Golf move

Two-time Open winner Ernie Els reckons that new Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith would be making a big mistake by joining LIV Golf in the wake of his St Andrews success.

Minutes after he’d got his hands on the Claret Jug for winning the 150th Open on Sunday, Australian Smith was being widely tipped to sign up for Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.

Els offered his response to that possible development at Gleneagles, where he is one of the star names teeing up in this week’s Senior Open presented by Rolex.

“Cam is in a great position right now,” said the South African. “He’s entering his prime. He’s 28 and he’s got time now to win majors and I wouldn’t want to put that under any danger of not happening.

“I would not at this stage go on any other tour where I might not play in a major again or be in a position where I have to be in a position to defend myself to play in a major.

“I would play my golf and put myself in the history books as far as I can go. There’s guys who have won one major, two, three, four then you start separating yourself by winning five, six, seven majors. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t go that far and why put that in jeopardy.

“I would stay exactly where I am. Do what I do. The money is there - it’s already there. The way he’s playing LIV will be there and his value might go up. So I’d stay exactly where I am in my lane and try and win more majors.”

Each worth $25 million, two LIV Golf Invitational Series events have already been held, with the third one being played at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey next week.

The PGA Tour instantly banned players who teed up in the first two tournaments while the DP World Tour tried to stop players from teeing up in the Genesis Scottish Open