Rick Shiels turned plenty of heads with his LIV Golf deal, having last month announced a strategic partnership with the Saudi-backed tour.
Shiels was previously critical of LIV Golf, but the YouTuber will now be taking on many of the same challenges that its players face this season.
LIV Golf Adelaide is next up in the schedule, with Adrian Meronk having triumphed at LIV Golf Riyadh in their 2025 season opener.
The all-Australian Ripper GC team won on home soil in Adelaide last time out, before going on to win the team championship.
Captain Cameron Smith and his team will be out for more glory this time around, having finished second to Legion XIII in Riyadh last week.
LIV Golf ambassador Rick Shiels praises ‘unbelievable’ Min Woo Lee
Shiels meanwhile signed a deal that marked the first official collaboration with a major content creator in LIV Golf history, but it was a PGA Tour player he opted for when asked which player he thinks hits the ball the best.
“I think Min Woo Lee hits it the best,” Shiels said on Tee It Up Golf. “He absolutely rips it. He is unbelievable. And I hit with him a few years ago, so he has probably got even better now.
READ MORE: How fast Bryson DeChambeau was swinging his driver in training prior to LIV Golf Adelaide starting
“When I get the opportunity to play with these tour pros and they will hit a shot – apart from Bryson [DeChambeau] maybe hitting a drive – but most of the guys hit a shot and I think to myself that was spectacular, give me 50 attempts and I could probably hit that shot.
“It’s in there somewhere, I just can’t do it on demand like you have just done. The shots that Min Woo Lee was hitting, you could give me 1,000 shots and I couldn’t hit that shot.
“The sound, the windows, the speed, the creativity, the short game. I was like it doesn’t matter, you can give me a bucket of balls and all day, and I can’t do that shot. He was probably the only one who has made me feel like that.”
Ryder Cup ‘hero’ Sergio Garcia leaves Rick Shiels starstruck
Woo Lee is yet to win on the PGA Tour, but managed to particularly impress with his T5 finish at the 2023 US Open.
Fellow Australian Cam Smith finished fourth as Wyndham Clark clinched the title, with the former having since joined LIV Golf.
While Smith is back home for LIV Golf Adelaide, his compatriot continues his 2025 PGA Tour season this week at the Genesis Invitational.
Tournament host Tiger Woods is not involved, with Shiels perhaps unsurprisingly referencing the legendary figure when asked about the most starstruck he has ever been with a professional golfer.
“I was probably the most starstruck by Sergio Garcia,” he said. “Through my era of playing golf – apart from maybe Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger – Sergio was like someone who I have literally lived growing up watching.
“Certainly European, he is our Ryder Cup hero. He is the most decorated Ryder Cup player ever. I went to his house and had dinner and we went and played. It was like is this real life?”
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