Gary Player rips LIV Golf, Cameron Smith in blistering rebuke: 'It's a tour for people who don't have confidence'

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At least one player with ties to Saudi Arabia has spoken out against the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, and the players who make it up.

Gary Player, speaking to BBC Radio 5Live, blasted the breakout tour. He also claimed it would never measure up to the PGA Tour, as he took particular aim at its three-round, team-based format.

Player, who has 28 combined wins on the PGA and European tours — and nine major victories, including at least one in each of the four majors — characterized the tour as a place for people unsure of their future in the sport.

“How can you ever be a champion playing a tour with 54 holes and no cut?" Player told BBC Radio. "“What sort of tour is that? 54 holes, no cut, a team event nobody understands.

MORE: Who is playing LIV Golf? Updated list of PGA Tour defectors

“It’s a tour for people who don’t have confidence in their future. They don’t have the confidence they can be winners."

Player, 86, also said LIV Golf has "no chance" of becoming the world's premier golf tour. To that end, he said defectors to the tour should not be allowed to play in events tied to the PGA Tour, against whom LIV golfers have "declared war."

“They must not expect to play in the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, play in the majors and all those things," Player said. “You can’t have your cake and eat it. That’s the bed you’ve chosen, that’s the bed you’ve got to lie in.”

Player also took particular aim at Cameron Smith and Henrik Stenson — recent defectors to the new Saudi-backed tour — in the interview.

“Here’s a young man (Smith) I really thought was going to be a superstar. Now what sort of future does he have?” Player said. “Will he be able to realize this great dream of being a champion? I don’t know.

I don’t blame Stenson for going. He had no money, so he had to go. But this (Smith) is a potential superstar. I think his advisors have given him the wrong advice.

MORE: Rory McIlroy hammers LIV Golf after Tour Championship win

Player isn't the first golfer to call out the LIV tour or its players. Rory McIlroy, who won the Tour Championship on Sunday, used his stage to once again bash LIV Golf:

"I hate what it's done to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do," McIlroy said. "It's gonna be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth (for the BMW PGA Championship) in a couple weeks' time and seeing 18 of them there. It just doesn't sit right with me.

I feel strongly. I believe what I'm saying are the right things, and I think that when you believe what you're saying are the right things, you're happy to stick your neck out on the line.

To that end, McIlroy and Tiger Woods have spearheaded a significant revamping of the PGA Tour, which includes several elevated events with massive purse and winner's share increases — a move clearly aimed at LIV's innovations and massive price tags associated with players.

The end result may be a revamped PGA Tour, but it's clear bridges have been burnt with the onset of LIV Golf.

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Zac Al-Khateeb is a content producer for The Sporting News.