Victorious and laden with millions of dollars, Elvis Smylie is returning home to Australia for his second LIV event this week with the country's most illustrious golfer hailing him as a future world No.1.
Cameron Smith watched young teammate Smylie win on his LIV Golf debut in Saudi Arabia on Saturday and was awed by what he saw.
The 23-year-old held off the very best that mighty Jon Rahm could throw at him to prevail by a stroke and scoop a $US4.75million ($A6.77 million) combined jackpot for his individual and team wins.
Smith, his captain on the all-Australian Ripper GC team, was in all but name the world's best player in 2022 when he won the British Open, the Players' Championship and three other events worldwide.
His best official ranking ended up as No.2 as he sped off to join the LIV circuit and he's since never rediscovered that peak -- but Smith thinks he's seen someone who could surpass his best-ever ranking.
“I think Elvis has already decided; he wants to be one of the best golfers in the world and he proved it this week," said Smith, who watched Smylie reel off rounds of 66, 69, 65 and 64 to win under the floodlights at the Riyadh Golf Club..
"And the crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week.
""So I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade.
"He's got the mentality, he's got the grit - he's a Queenslander, so that comes with it - so he has to decide where he goes from here and I think he can only go one way, and it's to get better."
Smylie is now jetting off to Adelaide for the Saudi-backed league's Australian leg, already a history-maker by becoming the first man on the circuit to both win in its new four-round format and earn Official World Golf Ranking points. His 24-under total was the lowest in LIV history, thanks largely to the move from 54 to 72 holes.
The Australian 'Rippers' team of Smith, Smylie, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman will head to Adelaide as favourites, with the skipper believing the decision to drop veteran dual Australian Open winner Matt Jones in December and replace him with Smylie was now justified.
"It was an extremely tough decision," admitted captain Smith. "Jonesy's turned into one of my best mates over the last four years out here. He's a great guy. He's a legend. I still love him.
"The win does make it feel a little bit better, but it's still one of the hardest things I think I've ever had to do. Yeah, it was pretty brutal."
Leishman chipped in: "Obviously, it was a tough decision for Cam ... but teams progress, and with all respect to Jonesy, it's progressing in a good way. Elvis proved himself this week, and hopefully we can continue to do that."
