Greg Norman accused of ruining Cameron Smith’s career with LIV Golf deal

Greg Norman is being accused of robbing Cameron Smith of the chance to forge one of golf’s great careers after luring the British Open champion to his Saudi-backed rebel league.

Polarising analyst Brandel Chamblee compared Smith’s short-game wizardry to that of legends Seve Ballesteros and Tom Watson, and says the Australian looked on a path towards multiple major championship victories after reigning at St Andrews last July.

Instead, Smith is unable to even defend his title at this week’s prestigious Players Championship in Florida after being suspended from the PGA Tour.

Smith lives at Jacksonville Beach, 10 minutes from Players Stadium, and is fishing buddies with course superintendent Jeff Plotts, yet is persona non grata at TPC Sawgrass after, Chamblee says, being misguided by his idol Norman.

“It’s ironic to me that it might possibly be an Aussie that will keep another Aussie in Cameron Smith possibly from ascending to a spot where he’s considered the greatest player of all time (from Australia),” Chamblee told the Golf Channel.

“Supplanting Peter Thomson, he had that kind of talent.

“Norman didn’t get there but (Smith) could have easily supplanted Greg Norman as the second-best player of all time from Australia. That’s at least in my view where Cameron Smith was headed.

“That’s what he’s turned his back on and a lot of it has to do with Greg Norman, and Cam Smith got a lot of bad advice from his agents and other people in the game around him trying to suck him into LIV.”

Chamblee misses watching Smith play on the PGA Tour.

“He had the potential to be an absolute great player,” he said. “If you look at the qualities that he had, the age that he was, he was a great scrambler - and is likely (still) - a great