# Cam Smith on LIV vs. PGA, DeChambeau’s “Intimidating” Power, Jon Rahm’s Incredible Consitency

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 20 Aug 2025, 17 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/1b9dc329-3ff8-4669-a521-b33f0177ed32/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Colin is joined by LIV Golf star Cam Smith! Colin begins by asking Cam about what he misses most about his home country of Australia while on tour in the states (4:30). He pivots to golf and asks about the mental part of the game and what Cam attributes his struggles to and the challenges of changing his swing (6:00). They discuss the rowdier nature of the environment at LIV events and whether it was a difficult adjustment and Cam’s involvement in getting kids involved in playing golf (7:30). They talk about the global nature of the LIV Tour and whether Cam grew up wanting to play on the PGA Tour (9:45). Cam discusses being starstruck by Jason Day early in his career and how intimidating it was, and why the Asian countries are flying under the radar as great golf destinations (11:00). Colin quizzes Cam on the golf game of stars like and he highlights the consistency of Jon Rahm, the improvisation skills of Phil Mickelson, and Rory McIlroy’s incredible drives (13:00). They discuss the mended fences between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, and whether Bryson is intimidating to play with due to his power (16:15). Finally, they discuss the huge crowds at LIV events and the energy that can provide to the golfers (18:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume.
[0:03] Speaker 2: Golf as a winner takes All decider, and it's happening
[0:07] Speaker 2: this weekend at Saint John's Resort in beautiful Michigan. To
[0:10] Speaker 2: Live Golf Team Championship is absolutely on the line. Twelve
[0:13] Speaker 2: international squads battling to settle the entire season, and one
[0:17] Speaker 2: weekend of Survived Advanced Golf. It's a lot of fun.
[0:20] Speaker 2: The teams represent six continents include no fewer than fourteen
[0:24] Speaker 2: major championships. It's a global event. Notable players include Bryce
[0:29] Speaker 2: and De Shambeau, Phil Mickelson, Spain's John Rahm, Australia's Cam Smith.
[0:33] Speaker 2: Fans also get a chance to enjoy the biggest party
[0:35] Speaker 2: to Live golf season. It will be the biggest party
[0:38] Speaker 2: with two iconic acts dropping in to headline the post
[0:42] Speaker 2: round shows. Imagine Dragons, yep, Imagine Dragon's going to play Saturday,
[0:46] Speaker 2: right after golf before Swedish House Mafia close out the
[0:49] Speaker 2: weekend Sunday at seven pm. It is a great time
[0:52] Speaker 2: at Saint John's Resort, one of America's boldest new resorts.
[0:56] Speaker 2: Built on the side of the old Catholic Seminary, Saint
[0:58] Speaker 2: John's spans twenty fourthou and square feet it's won the
[1:01] Speaker 2: Triple A four Diamond Award, big time course. So I
[1:10] Speaker 2: got to ask you years ago. The people that own
[1:13] Speaker 2: my company are Australian, the Murdochs. And years ago I
[1:18] Speaker 2: asked Lachlan. I said, hey, Lachlan, because I lived in
[1:21] Speaker 2: Manhattan Beach, California, I said, you know, I always wanted
[1:23] Speaker 2: to go to Australia and he said, well, you live
[1:28] Speaker 2: in Manhattan Beach. It's the same weather, he said, it's you.
[1:32] Speaker 2: I'm like, really, he didn't hard sell Australia and I'm like,
[1:36] Speaker 2: it shattered my I know, it shattered my dreams of
[1:40] Speaker 2: So when you are because you, obviously, to our audience
[1:45] Speaker 2: you were a young phenom, you come up through their system.
[1:48] Speaker 2: For somebody that has never been to Australia, there are
[1:54] Speaker 2: obviously similarities in our democracy. What is the one thing
[1:58] Speaker 2: when you're in the States you're like, oh, mate, I
[2:02] Speaker 2: miss home. What do you miss because California in Australia
[2:06] Speaker 2: have some similarities.
[2:08] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely they do. He's probably not too far off
[2:12] Speaker 1: with the weather. To be fair, California is a beautiful place. Obviously,
[2:17] Speaker 1: beaches Australia, the beaches are really nice. There is a
[2:21] Speaker 1: lot of similarities, but I guess the one thing for
[2:24] Speaker 1: me would be probably coffee and beer. Like I feel like,
[2:29] Speaker 1: I feel like that's it, to be honest. But we
[2:33] Speaker 1: have some amazing places, obviously the Great Barrier Reef. I've
[2:37] Speaker 1: traveled up there a bunch, one of the most beautiful
[2:40] Speaker 1: places in the world. Yeah, but I mean the first
[2:46] Speaker 1: thing I do when I land in Australia is I'll
[2:47] Speaker 1: go get a nice coffee and then probably later that
[2:50] Speaker 1: afternoon have a nice gold Miss you know what.
[2:53] Speaker 2: That's good living, cam I can tell you right now
[2:55] Speaker 2: that is good. Limit. So when you, oh, when you
[3:01] Speaker 2: came to the Live Tour, I've always thought it's interesting,
[3:03] Speaker 2: and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago
[3:06] Speaker 2: with a member of the tour. I said, if a
[3:09] Speaker 2: player on the Live Tour struggles, invariably, everybody goes, well,
[3:13] Speaker 2: it's the money, That's what it did, And I'm like, no,
[3:16] Speaker 2: it's golf. I watched David Duvall's career collapse. Ian Baker Finch,
[3:22] Speaker 2: I watched Greg Norman, who is arguably the best player
[3:24] Speaker 2: in the world. Forget how to golf in the back nine.
[3:26] Speaker 2: The Masters golf is different. It is a game of
[3:30] Speaker 2: a slower tempo, there's a lot of time to get
[3:33] Speaker 2: into your head. So when you've had recent struggles, everybody's
[3:36] Speaker 2: going to point to the live money, and I'm like,
[3:41] Speaker 2: that's an easy out because golfers struggle outside of tiger
[3:45] Speaker 2: Woods for ten years, all golfers have streaks. So with
[3:48] Speaker 2: your struggles, what do you think it is?
[3:53] Speaker 1: You know, at the end of last year, I really
[3:55] Speaker 1: did a lot of hard work on my swing and
[3:59] Speaker 1: I feel like if you looked at twenty twenty two
[4:02] Speaker 1: Cameron Smith in twenty twenty five Cameron Smith on the range,
[4:05] Speaker 1: you would say that twenty twenty five Cameron Smith is
[4:08] Speaker 1: a better golfer than twenty twenty two, just technically and
[4:13] Speaker 1: maybe looks wise. But it's just been a hard year
[4:17] Speaker 1: to commit and like you say, between shots, you have
[4:21] Speaker 1: so much time to think.
[4:22] Speaker 3: You know, it's just the right thing. Am I doing
[4:24] Speaker 3: the right thing?
[4:26] Speaker 1: And then maybe through reps it's got better as the
[4:30] Speaker 1: season's going on, ye, But just committing to a thought
[4:35] Speaker 1: or you know, I changed a fair bit technically, so
[4:40] Speaker 1: I feel like this in the long run is the
[4:42] Speaker 1: right thing to do.
[4:43] Speaker 3: But it has been a little bit of a struggle
[4:45] Speaker 3: this year for sure.
[4:46] Speaker 2: So you know, the tour had the Phoenix opened, there's
[4:49] Speaker 2: the Ryder Cup. It's not like golf's never been rowdy.
[4:53] Speaker 2: Not everything is Augusta. So when I went to my
[4:57] Speaker 2: first live tour bit in Chicago, I thought it was
[5:00] Speaker 2: just so I like new stuff and between the merch
[5:03] Speaker 2: sales there was lines around the block that the crowd
[5:07] Speaker 2: was younger. The access, I mean, I'm like Phil Mickelson, Brooks, Koepka, Sergio,
[5:14] Speaker 2: They're like I can touch them when you and maybe
[5:18] Speaker 2: Australian junior golf is rowdier. It's a rowdy country. People
[5:22] Speaker 2: like their beer and their beach and there you know,
[5:24] Speaker 2: they're they're good times. Did it Was it an adjustment
[5:29] Speaker 2: to the access fans have, to the volume, to the
[5:33] Speaker 2: music as a as a professional golfer. Was that a
[5:36] Speaker 2: pivot for you? Was it a difficult change or did
[5:39] Speaker 2: it come easy? It definitely was a little bit.
[5:44] Speaker 1: Of a change, to be honest, But you know, at
[5:46] Speaker 1: the time I come over, I was playing some pretty
[5:48] Speaker 1: handy golf, so everything felt kind of easy, to be honest.
[5:51] Speaker 1: You know, I felt like I could have gone somewhere
[5:53] Speaker 1: else and played really good golf. And I think I
[5:58] Speaker 1: think what we're doing is really coold the excess. As
[6:02] Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, selfishly in Australia, we're doing lots
[6:06] Speaker 1: of good things with the little rippers. We have junior
[6:09] Speaker 1: golf programs and Golf Australia has been really helpful and
[6:14] Speaker 1: being on our side and getting a lot of that
[6:16] Speaker 1: stuff prepped up.
[6:17] Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's been awesome mate. You know.
[6:21] Speaker 1: I think for me, the best thing we can do
[6:27] Speaker 1: as professional golfers is get more clubs in the kids' hands.
[6:32] Speaker 1: And I feel like we're going the right way about
[6:33] Speaker 1: it out here. It's fun. The kids love to come back,
[6:37] Speaker 1: We've got the fans an't out there. Kids are putting
[6:42] Speaker 1: playing as we're playing next to them, so it's really cool.
[6:45] Speaker 2: So the Live Tour is more global than the PGA Tour,
[6:48] Speaker 2: which I liked. I think golf's an individual sport as
[6:53] Speaker 2: somebody born in Australia and now the Live is global,
[6:57] Speaker 2: so it fits. But how did you view the pg
[7:00] Speaker 2: when you were fourteen fifteen? How did you view the
[7:04] Speaker 2: PGA or would you have been happy being Australia's you
[7:08] Speaker 2: were second, first or second best golfer? Like did you
[7:11] Speaker 2: immediately at eight years old, look at American say that's
[7:14] Speaker 2: where I'm gonna play.
[7:17] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[7:17] Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean that was you know, growing up on
[7:20] Speaker 1: watching guys like Jason Day and Adam Scott and Tiger.
[7:24] Speaker 3: Of course that's where I wanted to be.
[7:28] Speaker 1: But that was because all the best players are playing
[7:31] Speaker 1: there and it was really the only place you could play.
[7:35] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[7:36] Speaker 1: So absolutely I wanted to be in the US, play
[7:40] Speaker 1: on the PGA Tour, and you know, be the best
[7:43] Speaker 1: golfer I could be, But like I mentioned, it was
[7:45] Speaker 1: the only option at that point.
[7:48] Speaker 2: Who was the first American golf star in an event
[7:52] Speaker 2: you played with? And what was the experience like? Were
[7:55] Speaker 2: you nervous? Was it like, oh, I've watched him on
[7:57] Speaker 2: TV for years? Go to your first event that you
[8:01] Speaker 2: played with us? You played with a star?
[8:05] Speaker 3: Jeez? I can't even remember. Jeez.
[8:11] Speaker 1: I think one of my first PGA Tour events was
[8:14] Speaker 1: maybe the Pebble Beach Pro Am. I can't remember who
[8:16] Speaker 1: I played with. You know, I knew Jason a fair
[8:23] Speaker 1: bit by then. He was probably you know the j Yeah,
[8:28] Speaker 1: Jason Day. He was probably the first guy that I
[8:31] Speaker 1: spent a fair bit of time around and went, Wow,
[8:34] Speaker 1: this guy is so much better than me.
[8:36] Speaker 3: I've got so much work today.
[8:39] Speaker 1: But I was I was probably only twenty one, twenty
[8:41] Speaker 1: two years old, and he was that kind of the
[8:42] Speaker 1: peak of his career. He was playing some amazing golf
[8:45] Speaker 1: when I come on tour. Yeah, but he was probably
[8:51] Speaker 1: the first guy that I really got kind of star
[8:53] Speaker 1: struck around. And then you know, as as time went on,
[8:56] Speaker 1: you play with different guys and you know you've growing
[9:00] Speaker 1: up your whole off watching them. Yeah, but Jason was
[9:04] Speaker 1: definitely the first guy I was like, holy shit, I'm
[9:07] Speaker 1: so bad at golf.
[9:11] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I always tell my kids life is
[9:14] Speaker 2: about reaction, not action. So you obviously, you know you
[9:17] Speaker 2: have to kind of go home and not soul can
[9:19] Speaker 2: kind of figure it out. There are there are there
[9:23] Speaker 2: courses for you? You know, as you travel around the world.
[9:28] Speaker 2: And I've asked lived players this before. I'm just now
[9:33] Speaker 2: becoming addicted to golf. Is there a country I know
[9:37] Speaker 2: it's tormenting. Is there is there a country that you
[9:41] Speaker 2: look at and think is underrated, that you look at
[9:44] Speaker 2: the courses and you look at the young players. Is
[9:48] Speaker 2: there a place in this globe that maybe is fairly
[9:51] Speaker 2: new to you and you think it has an incredibly
[9:53] Speaker 2: promising future in the sport, I would say, I would.
[9:59] Speaker 1: Say, ajah. You know, Asia is a continent. I don't
[10:02] Speaker 1: think there's one kind of country that really stands out.
[10:06] Speaker 1: You know, every golf course that we've gone to in
[10:08] Speaker 1: Asia is has been phenomenal. I hear, yeah, not only
[10:15] Speaker 1: the design and stuff like that, but just their practice facilities.
[10:22] Speaker 1: You know, they're they're so excited as well to have
[10:24] Speaker 1: you there. It's such a cool place. But I would
[10:26] Speaker 1: say I would say, for sure, in the next you know,
[10:29] Speaker 1: ten twenty years, that's the place i'd look to to
[10:34] Speaker 1: where I think the most good golfers are going to
[10:36] Speaker 1: come out of You know, there's a fair few in
[10:39] Speaker 1: Australia as well South Africa. We're going on there next year.
[10:43] Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to getting there. You know, there are
[10:47] Speaker 1: places where good golfers have come kind of regularly, but
[10:50] Speaker 1: I think we'll see the biggest in Plux in Asia
[10:52] Speaker 1: for sure.
[10:53] Speaker 2: I'm going to give you a golfer and you give
[10:56] Speaker 2: me a sentence as if I've never seen them play.
[10:59] Speaker 2: I've never seen him play, and I want you to
[11:02] Speaker 2: describe their greatness, John.
[11:07] Speaker 3: Oh, I mean he's incredible.
[11:13] Speaker 1: It feels like when you're playing against him, when you're
[11:17] Speaker 1: up near the lead, when you're in contention with him,
[11:21] Speaker 1: it feels like you have to do everything perfect to
[11:23] Speaker 1: beat him. That's drive the ball, chip the ball, you know,
[11:27] Speaker 1: approach everything. It feels like he doesn't let up, he
[11:30] Speaker 1: doesn't miss a shot. He's so consistent, you know, like
[11:36] Speaker 1: out here he's had I think every start he's had
[11:38] Speaker 1: like a top ten, you know, which is which is
[11:40] Speaker 1: a crazy thing.
[11:41] Speaker 3: People might not think.
[11:42] Speaker 1: That that's that's hard, but it's hard, I would I
[11:48] Speaker 1: would say, just incredibly consistent, persistent as well, like doesn't
[11:52] Speaker 1: let up, and he's and he's a fighter too, you
[11:55] Speaker 1: know when when he's when he's on his heels, you
[12:00] Speaker 1: know more often than not he comes out on top.
[12:04] Speaker 2: An older guy, but one of my favorite players ever.
[12:07] Speaker 2: Philm Michelson. I've never seen him play. Describe Phil Michelson
[12:15] Speaker 2: a crazy golfer.
[12:16] Speaker 1: To be honest, I've played with Phil a lot, particularly
[12:19] Speaker 1: the last you know, five or six years. You know,
[12:25] Speaker 1: I've played with him when he stripes the ball, hits
[12:28] Speaker 1: everything perfect, does all the right stuff. And I've played
[12:30] Speaker 1: with him where he hits it offline, he sees miraculous
[12:34] Speaker 1: shots and gets up and down and kind of keeps
[12:37] Speaker 1: a momentum going.
[12:38] Speaker 3: He's definitely a momentum guy.
[12:40] Speaker 1: Once he gets on a string of birdies, it seems
[12:43] Speaker 1: like he's not going to stop. But a completely different
[12:49] Speaker 1: golfer to John Rahm in that. Yeah, he kind of
[12:56] Speaker 1: hits it everywhere and like gets gets like gets it done.
[13:02] Speaker 2: He's the great chef that spills a few things, but
[13:05] Speaker 2: he's still great.
[13:06] Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Rory McElroy.
[13:12] Speaker 1: Rory is the most impressive driver of the golf well
[13:15] Speaker 1: I've ever seen.
[13:15] Speaker 3: I don't think I'll ever see.
[13:18] Speaker 1: I don't think anyone could ever be better than him
[13:21] Speaker 1: off the tee again, just does all the right stuff,
[13:27] Speaker 1: hits it in the right places, a very a very
[13:35] Speaker 1: He can be very dominant when he's when he's on,
[13:38] Speaker 1: I feel like he's he's very, very tough to be.
[13:42] Speaker 2: You know, Bryce Mushambeau is he looks like a football
[13:45] Speaker 2: player and he's got kind of a crazy personality. I
[13:49] Speaker 2: didn't like him when he initially came on the tour.
[13:51] Speaker 2: I thought he was obnoxious, and then something happened and
[13:54] Speaker 2: two years later, I you know, I was always a
[13:57] Speaker 2: brooks Kepta guy, and now I love him ball and
[14:00] Speaker 2: reportedly they've mended fences, which makes me happy because I
[14:04] Speaker 2: think they're really great. That's what I've heard. So, first
[14:08] Speaker 2: of all, can you confirm that they now speak? They're okay?
[14:12] Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, they're okay, okay.
[14:13] Speaker 2: They're okay, all right, Cam's reporting that. But it's it's
[14:18] Speaker 2: Bryson intimidating just because of a sheer stature and size
[14:21] Speaker 2: when you golf with him. What is it like to
[14:23] Speaker 2: golf with him?
[14:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, he can be intimidating. Again, he can get the
[14:28] Speaker 1: driver going as well. For me, I would say, I'm
[14:32] Speaker 1: a kind of average, kind of length guy. I don't
[14:37] Speaker 1: I don't hit the ball too short, I don't hit
[14:38] Speaker 1: it too far. He can just overpower golf courses like
[14:42] Speaker 1: no one else can, and it can be quite intimidating.
[14:47] Speaker 1: But I don't think. I don't think there's a golf
[14:51] Speaker 1: course he can play that necessarily I can't play, if
[14:54] Speaker 1: that makes sense. Sure, But yeah, he can get that
[14:59] Speaker 1: driver going. It's pretty crazy.
[15:03] Speaker 3: You know.
[15:03] Speaker 1: Sometimes he's you know, seventy eighty ninety yards ahead of you,
[15:07] Speaker 1: and it's pretty demoralizing.
[15:09] Speaker 2: Honest, Finally, I was in Chicago. The Indie crowds were
[15:14] Speaker 2: double Chicago. I expect the Michigan crowds to be huge.
[15:19] Speaker 2: That Are you aware of that? Like in basketball, the
[15:22] Speaker 2: crowd is on you, but in golf, are you aware
[15:25] Speaker 2: of the gallery size? Does it make a difference? Is
[15:27] Speaker 2: it energizing?
[15:30] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[15:31] Speaker 1: I think you get a certain sense of energy from
[15:35] Speaker 1: the crowd, you know.
[15:38] Speaker 3: Last week was really cool.
[15:40] Speaker 1: The golf course was kind of really narrow, yep, and
[15:45] Speaker 1: the crowd almost felt on top of you. We have
[15:47] Speaker 1: a few events like that. Hong Kong is one of them.
[15:49] Speaker 1: Adelaide is one of them where it feels like it
[15:53] Speaker 1: feels like you can't get away, and it brings a
[15:55] Speaker 1: certain type of energy, particularly when they're amped up, you know,
[16:00] Speaker 1: particularly when you're in contention and there's a lot of
[16:03] Speaker 1: yahooing and all the other stuff. But yeah, Indy was
[16:07] Speaker 1: great last week. I can't wait for this week. This
[16:09] Speaker 1: golf course is one of the best conditioned golf courses
[16:12] Speaker 1: I've ever played. It's amazing. The format is cool. This
[16:17] Speaker 1: week match play, there will be a ton of birdies.
[16:19] Speaker 1: It'll be really fun to watch.
[16:21] Speaker 2: Yeah, Michigan's a beautiful state. I don't know how familiar
[16:23] Speaker 2: you are with it, but it's got great golf. You
[16:26] Speaker 2: know that you've really gotten that Midwest swing. You get
[16:28] Speaker 2: a little humidity in the Midwest. It can get like
[16:30] Speaker 2: against It can get a little hot.
[16:32] Speaker 3: It was hot.
[16:33] Speaker 1: It was hot in Chicago, Indiana last week was hot too,
[16:35] Speaker 1: way hotter than I expected.
[16:39] Speaker 2: The Midwest can get a little, a little warm. But
[16:42] Speaker 2: I'll tell you what Midwest in America, those sports fans
[16:44] Speaker 2: there are none better. Man. They love their sports and
[16:48] Speaker 2: they like their beer as much as you like your
[16:49] Speaker 2: aussy beer, my friend, I can assure you that, Cam Smith, Hey,
[16:53] Speaker 2: I appreciate you stopping mind given us fifteen minutes. I
[16:55] Speaker 2: really do.
[16:56] Speaker 3: Yeah, no worries, mate, thanks for having me on. I
[16:58] Speaker 3: appreciate it. The volume

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