Anne Heche is fighting for life after her horror car crash.
The US actress’ representative told foxnewsthat she is “in an extreme critical condition” following the fiery collision on Friday, local time.
“She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention,” the rep said.
“She is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident.”
thenew york postreported that the Los Angeles Police Department had received a warrant to test the vanished actress’ blood to determine whether she was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of the accident.
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Officers believe Heche, 53, may have been intoxicated when she ploughed her blue Mini Cooper into an LA home, igniting a massive fire that torched her and her car.
“The info we received this morning was a warrant that was obtained the same day as the traffic collision, which was August 5. The warrant was to draw blood, and an investigation is ongoing pending the blood test results,” a rep for the LAPD said.
“If found intoxicated, [Heche] could be charged with misdemeanor DUI hit and run. No arrests have been made so far.”
A red-capped bottle could be seen in Heche’s car’s cupholder in a photo TMZ reports was taken before the accident.
According to eyewitnesses, the actress first crashed into the garage of a nearby apartment complex but backed up and sped off before residents could help her.
Officials with the LAPD West Traffic Division have confirmed she hit another vehicle before slamming into the house that went up in flames.
Photos from the scene captured Heche being put on a stretcher and showed serious injuries to her back, while aerial shots documented smoke billowing out of the house into which she drove as well as numerous fire trucks surrounding the area.
Heche, also known for a high-profile romance with Ellen DeGeneres in the 1990s, has been open about her struggles with substance abuse.
“I drink. I smoked. I did drugs. I had sex with people. I did anything I could to get the shame out of my life, ”she told ABC News in 2020, explaining that she spent much of her childhood getting sexually abused by her father.
“I’m not crazy,” the Six Days Seven Nights star said at the time.
“But it’s a crazy life. I was raised in a crazy family. And it took 31 years to get the crazy out of me.”
This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission
NRL rising star Manase Fainu did not start a bloody brawl in a church parking lot but he “ended it” when he plunged a steak knife into the back of a youth leader, a court has been told.
Mr Fainu, 24, is fighting allegations that he stabbed Faamanu Levi in the back during a brawl outside a Mormon church dance nearly three years ago.
The Manly Sea Eagles hooker has pleaded not guilty to wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after Mr Levi was stabbed in the back near his shoulder blade and cut above his right eye.
Mr Fainu’s trial has entered its final stages, with Crown prosecutor Emma Curran using closing submissions on Tuesday to point to the evidence of one eyewitness who told the court that he had seen Mr Fainu stab Mr Levi.
Mr Fainu during his evidence said he played no part in the brawl, which took place between two parked cars in a parking lot at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Wattle Grove in Sydney’s southwest.
During his evidence on Monday, Mr Fainu said he was approximately 10 to 12m from the fight between his friends and another group of men when he heard someone yell “knife, knife”.
He had undergone shoulder surgery a month earlier and on October 25, 2019, he had his left arm in a sling.
Tony Quach said he saw Mr Fainu stab his friend Mr Levi and was able to identify him by his sling.
During his evidence, Mr Quach said Mr Fainu had not started the fight but “he ended it” by stabbing Mr Levi.
“Manase Fainu jumped over a fence into the grounds of the church, he was with four of his friends and the group of them approached Mr Levi and his friends,” Ms Curran said.
“A brawl broke out and when things looked like they were getting out of hand, Mr Fainu pulled out a knife and plunged it into the back of Mr Levi, causing a wound that punctured his lung and caused internal bleeding.”
Mr Quach said he saw Mr Fainu with an angry look on his face and a knife in his right hand and his arm bent at a 90-degree angle.
It is not an issue that Mr Fainu was in the car park, his left arm was in a sling, and there was a brawl during which Mr Levi was stabbed before Mr Fainu scaled the wall once again and ran to his car.
However, the identity of Mr Levi’s attacker is in dispute.
Ms Curran said another man, Kupi Toilalo, said he saw a man approach him and his friends with his left arm in a sling holding a knife.
“When Kupi saw this, he was at arm’s length away from the person holding the knife, nothing obstructing his view,” Ms Curran said
Mr Fainu told the jury on Monday that he was “scared” because he knew he could not defend himself if he became involved in the fight.
He denied brandishing a 10cm steak knife that was used to stab Mr Levi, saying he did not see any of his friends with a weapon on the night.
Mr Levi underwent surgery after the stab wound punctured his lung and caused internal bleeding.
Mr Fainu said he went to the church because his friend Uona “Big Buck” Faingaa was seeking to recover money owed to him by a man.
The court was told that before the brawl, two of Mr Fainu’s friends were involved in an altercation on the dance floor and were asked to leave.
Mr Fainu said he left the church grounds as his mates were being escorted out, apologizing to a security guard on the way out.
CCTV footage showed Mr Fainu and four of his friends shortly afterwards jumping a fence from a Coles carpark back onto the church grounds.
Mr Fainu testified that he had told his friends that he would go inside to collect Mr Faingaa’s money by himself; however, they followed him over.
Defense barrister Margaret Cunneen SC said Mr Fainu had been identified as being present during the brawl because of the distinguishing nature of his sling, but all of the eyewitnesses were mistaken about him being the stabber.
“Mr Manase Fainu is a man who was never before in trouble for any violence whatsoever,” Ms Cunneen said.
“He did not stab Mr Levi. No one condom what happened to Mr Levi, it’s appalling.”
The jury will withdraw to consider its verdict after Ms Cunneen’s closing submissions.
The trial before Judge Nanette Williams continues.
The New South Wales government is resisting growing calls to scrap tens of thousands of COVID fines, which lawyers say were unjustly issued, including to a teenager with an intellectual disability.
Key points:
The Redfern Legal Center hopes a legal challenge will quash 45,000 COVID ends in NSW
A total of 3,840 children between 13 and 17 years of age were fined between $40 and $5,000 in NSW
Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay wants to see all ends suspended nationally
The question of whether the government and NSW Police were heavy-handed in their pandemic response will be argued in a test case before the NSW Supreme Court.
The Redfern Legal Center hopes its legal challenge will quash 45,000 fines, which it says failed to properly outline the offense committed.
“The process was unjust, messy, and the rule of law was not followed,” the center’s Samantha Lee told 7.30.
The agency responsible for COVID penalties, Revenue NSW, said that of the 62,035 fines issued since early 2020, more than half, or 38,372 remained unpaid in full.
While the majority of these are being paid in some form of repayment plan, many have gone unanswered.
In total, 3,840 children between 13 and 17 years of age were fined between $40 and $5,000, which lawyers say should be waived as cautions.
Revenue NSW said 17 fines issued to children totaling $45,000 remain unresolved.
Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay says the ends disproportionately affected poorer communities.(abcnews)
“This is a form of unjust treatment to children,” Ms Lee said. “These children have been fined for $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000.
“One child who has an intellectual disability was given three $1,000 fines for being out of his house. I’m of the view that he should never have been issued a fine.
“Under the fine acts, someone who has an intellectual disability should not have been issued a fine.”
The Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told 7.30 a.m. she wants to see all fines suspended nationally given the system disproportionately affected poorer communities in NSW and Victoria.
“It’s actually a nationwide issue, and what we really need to do is firstly, in respect to the fines, pause enforcement until they can be properly reviewed so that the public can have confidence that the fine system is lawful and working fairly,” she said.
“But secondly, we actually need to have a broader review into the pandemic response.”
Children volunteer to pay off fines through government program
Bronwyn O’Brien, a case worker at SydWest Multicultural Services.(ABC News: Jason Om)
Some people penalized in NSW have chosen to pay off the fines through a program known as a Work and Development Order (WDO).
It allows people on low incomes to pay down the fine through unpaid work or activities such as a life skills course, counselling, drug and alcohol treatment and mentoring.
About 140 children have taken part in WDOs, including some at SydWest Multicultural Services in Blacktown, which was among the suburbs that suffered harsher restrictions than the rest of Sydney.
Case worker Bronwyn O’Brien told 7.30 that NSW Police had been unforgiving to residents, particularly if they were multilingual.
She cited a case of a father and a son who had gone out to get groceries and tried to explain themselves to the police, but were ignored.
“Any opportunity for them to explain was shut down and they were immediately given a $1,000 fine each,” Ms O’Brien said.
She said it took weeks for people in the WDO program to pay off their ends.
“They were like $500, or $1,000 per fine. For the clients we’re working with that could be their weekly or fortnightly pay, if they’re receiving Centrelink it’s even worse.”
“Some people, they have to spend months and months to engage in activities just to get the fine down just a bit.”
Connor Jago was 17 when he was fined for not wearing a mask on a train.(ABC News: Jason Om)
Connor Jago was 17 when police issued him with two COVID fines for not wearing a mask on a train, and a separate transport fine, totaling $680.
“That was more than I make in two weeks almost,” he told 7.30.
The second $80 COVID fine was because he was wearing a mask below his nose after putting it on, Mr Jago told 7.30.
He threatened to take the government to court, arguing he was complying with police directions before Revenue NSW dropped one of the COVID fines of $500.
Fines commissioner says repayment system beneficial
NSW chief commissioner of state revenue, Scott Johnston.(ABC News: Tom Hancock)
In a rare interview with 7.30am, the head of Revenue NSW defended the organisation, and welcomed any review of individual cases.
The chief commissioner of state revenue, Scott Johnston, would not be drawn on whether it was appropriate for police to fine children as young as 13, and said the WDO program had had “powerful” outcomes.
“Some of the criticism or challenge on the way that we’ve done that, about imposing unfair penalties on people and youths, I think is not really reflective on the experience that the people who received these fines have had,” he said.
“I understand completely that a fine affects people differently. Some people can’t afford to pay that commitment and the genuine commitment from my organisation, and [me]is to have a conversation with people where they need help and support.”
Mr Johnston said the agency had resolved the cases of 500 children under 15 who were fined $40 for not wearing a mask.
NSW Police declined to comment at 7.30, while the Victorian Government told 7.30 its penalty system protected citizens from the pandemic and that there are options available if people are struggling to pay off fines.
Lawmakers are racing toward the August recess, as President Biden prepares to sign a bill Tuesday that invests nearly $52 billion into the semiconductor chip manufacturing sector.
Meanwhile, the House is expected to vote this week on a roughly $430 billion spending package aimed at improving health care, addressing climate change, and making corporations pay their fair share of taxes. The Senate approved the measure over the weekend.
We’re also slated to see new inflation data on Wednesday, as US Rep. Liz Cheney makes a final sprint in her campaign to retain her Republican seat in a race against a Donald Trump-backed opponent.
Here’s more on the three big politics stories we’re watching this week:
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT
The House is expected to vote Friday on a massive spending package that Democrats say will help to curb inflation. It comes after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on Sunday in a party-line 51-50 vote. The package — brokered by centrist Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — is one of the most significant spending bills to move through the upper chamber since the start of the pandemic.
The bill includes $390 billion to combat climate change, while encouraging consumers to transition to electric vehicles. Democrats say the legislation will reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. The legislation also sets the corporate minimum tax rate at 15% for companies that book profits of more than $1 billion but use various deductions to pay less than the legal corporate tax rate of twenty-one%. The bill authorizes roughly $430 billion in new spending, and its proponents say it will create $740 in revenue.
INFLATION DATA
President Biden is facing low approval ratings for his handling of the economy, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday. Only 29% of polled voters approve of Biden’s handling of inflation, and 69% think the economy is getting worse.
The government is set to release new data on the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday, potentially hurting Biden’s approval rating if it shows inflation is still creeping up. Inflation hit 9.1 in the month of June, a new 40-year high. The report comes as the White House is trying to seize on momentum from Friday’s massive jobs report — a whopping 528,000 jobs that were added to the US economy in the month of July.
JACKSON, WY – JUNE 14: Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming. Hageman, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the August 16 GOP primary. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
FINAL SPRINT FOR CHENEY PRIMARY
It’s the final sprint to the primary for US Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who faces her primary challenger Trump-backed Harriet Hageman next week. A Casper-Star Tribune poll performed from July 7 through July 11 has Hageman, an energy attorney, beating Cheney 52% to 30%.
Former-Vice President Dick Cheney recorded an ad for his daughter, who has built a national profile for herself given her position on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. A loss for Cheney would be a victory for Trump’s political machine, as it would unseat one of the most prominent Republicans in Congress. The primary is on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Kevin Cirilli is a contributor to Yahoo Finance and a visiting media fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevcirilli
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Hatted Collingwood restaurant Congress will serve its last pig’s head sanga on September 3. The slick brutalist-inspired wine bar opened by brother-sister duo Katie and Michael McCormack in 2017 is closing to make way for a fresh new restaurant whose identity is yet to be determined.
Front-of-house pro Katie McCormack, who managed Congress and helped build its reputation as one of Melbourne’s best new-wave wine bars, passed away in February aged 39 from cancer. Following that tragedy and Katie’s inextricable influence on Congress’s identity, Michael feels it’s time for a fresh start.
“It’s been a tough decision for me, to be honest,” he says. “Do we take a break, have a breath and then continue on with the name and same concept? We just thought we loved what Congress was and we don’t want to dilute that.”
Congress was the ground-floor magnet of a Collingwood apartment building, in a novel new business model that brought together restaurants and developers. Photo: Dan Hocking
Michael says he is already in talks with a number of (unnamed) Melbourne hospitality groups to operate the space but is also considering his business, Milieu Hospitality, installing something fresh there. He says the beauty of Congress’s minimalist, concrete-forward fit-out is that it lends itself to lots of different ideas.
“If we were to partner with someone, we’d be looking to give someone an opportunity,” he says, adding that it’s a dream scenario for first-time operators who won’t need to spend a cent on the fit-out.
Collingwood locals will have to be patient, though, as Michael doesn’t anticipate the new venue will open until early next year. Current head chef Zach Tinsley will not be part of the next chapter. His desire for him to pursue his own projects was “part of the decision making process,” Michael says.
Siblings Katie and Michael McCormack at their Fitzroy North restaurant Lagotto in 2019. Photo: Jason South
Congress was the first Milieu Hospitality restaurant; Richmond’s Future Future and Fitzroy North’s Lagotto followed.
The two McCormack siblings created a unique model where Michael’s property development business Milieu would build well-designed apartments in desirable locations, while Katie created restaurants at ground-level that added extra pulling power.
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Milieu is working on several developments around Melbourne with Brunswick East’s Lygon Street build its next major hospitality project.
For its final month, Congress will serve a menu of greatest hits, such as the kangaroo pastrami, Dutch spice cake and, yes, the pig’s head sanga. Run, don’t walk.
The NRL has handed down the first ever suspension to a coach, slapping Ricky Stuart with a one-game ban.
Stuart will be forced to sit out this week’s round 22 clash with St George Illawarra, and will be unable to communicate with his team.
He has also been fined $25,000. He has five business days to respond to the breach notice, but the Raiders announced he and the club accept the sanctions.
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The punishment is for the coach labeling Penrith playmaker Jaeman Salmon a “weak gutted dog person” in his post-match press conference on Saturday.
The one-week suspension means as of Tuesday afternoon until next Wednesday, Stuart is not allowed to enter Raiders facilities, attend any type of training session or provide any coaching.
Those duties will be handed over to his three assistants.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart. (Getty)
He will not be allowed to communicate with his staff or players until Wednesday week.
Stuart used his public press conference to launch a stunning personal attack on 23-year-old Salmon, with whom it was later revealed the Raiders coach has personal history dating back to 2010.
“Leaders need to set the standard in the game. The comments are completely unacceptable from any individual let alone an official of such experience and standing.” NRL chief Andrew Abdo said.
“This is a highly unusual case, and we have taken the significant step of proposing a suspension from his duties for one week. This will be a full suspension precluding Ricky from having any involvement with any club activity either in person or remotely. Furthermore, the fine must not be paid by the club but by Ricky himself.”
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The backstories and controversies that have ignited feuds involving athletes
A spokesman for former President Donald Trump has denied that he tried to dispose of White House documents by flushing them down toilets after Axios published two images of paper allegedly bearing Trump’s handwriting at the bottom of commodes.
“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” Taylor Budowich told the site, which published the images after they were obtained by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman ahead of the October publication of her book “Confidence Man.”
Budowich then added that “there’s enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class — a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it anti-Trump.”
One photo, purportedly taken in the White House, shows a ripped note with the word “where” written on it at the bottom of a toilet.
The second photo, which was allegedly taken while Trump was on an overseas trip, featured a torn piece of paper bearing the names “Rogers” and “Stefanik” – presumably referring to upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) – in the toilet .
Haberman, who initially reported that Trump liked flushing his notes in February of this year, stood by her reporting during an appearance on CNN Monday.
The paper allegedly bears former President Donald Trump’s handwriting.Maggie Haberman via Axios
“People are going to make all kinds of jokes about toilets and so forth,” she said. “It would still be a story if it was a fireplace. And the point is about the destruction of records which are supposed to be preserved under the Presidential Records Act, which is a Watergate-era creation.”
“We knew that Trump had a habit of ripping up paper and that people had to tape it back together,” Haberman added. ” … And so what was happening was White House residence staff were finding pipes were clogged with paper that they believed he had flushed … I’d had additional reporting afterwards from people confirming that Trump had indeed done this and that it happened on at least two foreign trips and in the White House throughout his presidency.”
“Again, it’s important because who knows what this paper was. Only he would know and presumably whoever was dealing with it. But the important point is about the records.”
Since leaving office, several reports have depicted former President Donald Trump as a notorious destroyer of records.Maggie Haberman via Axios
The former president swiftly blasted the accusation back in February, calling it “another fake story,” “categorically untrue,” and “simply made up” by Haberman to distract Americans from “how horribly our Country is doing under the Biden Administration.”
Since leaving office, several reports have depicted Trump as a notorious destroyer of records – sensitive or not.
The images were obtained by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman ahead of the October publication of her book “Confidence Man.”Amazon/Penguin Press
CNN reported Monday that Trump would instruct aides to carry boxes of unread memoirs, articles, and potential tweets aboard Air Force One, which he would then review and tear up.
One former senior administration official told the outlet that a deputy from the Office of Staff Secretary would pull things out of Trump’s trash or remove items from his desk after the president left the room to comply with federal recordkeeping laws.
Trump has also been accused of keeping boxes of White House documents — some of which contained classified material — at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The National Archives retrieved the boxes in January.
That caught the attention of the House Oversight Committee, which quickly launched an investigation into what it called “Potential Serious Violations” of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
Federal investigators have also reportedly issued a subpoena for the documents as part of their own investigation into the matter.
Splatoon 3 will get its own Nintendo Direct broadcast this week and, as always, we’ve got the details on when and where to catch it in Australian times.
Similar to the Pokemon Direct last week, this next Nintendo Direct broadcast will focus on Splatoon 3 entirely and will run for around 30 minutes. Though Nintendo is currently staying tight-lipped about the contents of the show, it has said fans can expect fresh squid news and updates.
Splatoon 3 is the latest in Nintendo’s series of third-person multiplayer shooters, a genre few could have seen Nintendo wading into a decade ago. Since its launch on the Wii U in 2015, splatoon has become one of Nintendo’s most popular new IPs. Its unique paintball-inspired take on territory control has won it legions of fans and opened the door to younger players as well. It’s a very Nintendo take on the multiplayer shooter, turning the genre on its ear to center teamwork over violence, without losing the competitive edge that keeps players coming back. Remove the balancing act.
Splatoon 3 will launch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on September 9, 2022.
Tune in on August 10 at 6 am PT for a livestreamed #Splatoon3 Directpresentation. Join us in the Splatlands for roughly 30 minutes of updates! pic.twitter.com/iFfaU3V6vM
When can I see the Splatoon 3 Direct in Australia and New Zealand?
The Splatoon 3 Nintendo Direct will air on Wednesday, August 10, and you can find kick-off times across Australian and New Zealand timezones listed below.
Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher has declared he is “lucky to be alive” after he was diagnosed with a rare form of vasculitis almost two years ago.
The Two and a Half Men star revealed the auto-immue disorder left him without the ability to see, hear or walk, and took him almost a full year to recover.
“Like two years ago I had a weird, super-rare form of vasculitis that knocked out my vision, knocked out my hearing and knocked out all my equilibrium,” he revealed on a new episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge.
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“It took me like a year to build it all back up again. You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone, until you go, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to see again; I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to hear again; I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to walk again’.”
Kutcher added he is “lucky to be alive.”
“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?” he said.
“You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”
The 44-year-old enjoyed some quality beach time with his wife Mila Kunis, 38, over the weekend – just days before the clip where he spoke publicly about his health battle was released.
Kutcher was pictured shirtless and wearing a white baseball cap while Kunis sported a black hat along with a white t-shirt and denim shorts.
Vasculitis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of blood vessels, which means the immune system attacks the body’s own cells, tissues and organs.
The disease is “relatively rare” and can affect people of all ages, according to the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy.
The Australian Open has added some extra star-power for its return edition this summer with major winner Hannah Green committing to play.
Green, fresh from contending at this month’s Women’s Open, was unveiled in Melbourne on Monday as the event’s latest coup.
The 25-year-old is one of only four Australian women to have won a major, after claiming the 2019 PGA Championship, and returns home after a strong year, albeit with the disappointment of a weekend fadeout at the Women’s Open.
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Green has six top-10 finishes this year, including a top-five at the women’s PGA Championship, while she was also on track for a strong result in at Muirfield until she was derailed by a seven-over final two rounds.
With the major final of the season in the books, the Australian is looking to the months ahead, which will include returning home for a historic edition of the Australian Open.
Green is fresh from contending deep at this month’s Women’s Open.Source: Getty Images
Having not been held in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the showpiece event returns with the men, women, and all-abilities tournaments being held concurrently.
It is the first national Open worldwide to combine men’s and women’s fields, while the prize money for the two events is the same; $1.7 million AUD each.
“When I heard that the men’s and women’s Opens were coming together for the first time, I knew that I wanted to be there,” said Green, who won the mixed gender TPS Murray River, and the Vic Open, on her last visit.
“We’ve experienced this kind of concept with men and women playing together on the same courses at the same time … and to have it in place for the first time at a national Open is going to be something special.”
High profile Australians committing to return for the summer are increasing by the week after Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee recently confirmed they would also be playing.
World No.49 Herbert is down to play both the Australian Open, held at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath on December 1-4, and the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland the week prior.
Lee – now ranked 66th in the world and with top-30 finishes at three of this year’s majors – will play at the latter, which is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour.
Meanwhile, Aussie golf fans are still waiting to hear if reigning Open Championship winner Cameron Smith will also return, having not played competitively in his home country since December 2019.
Aussie golf fans are still waiting to hear if reigning Open Championship winner Cameron Smith will also return.Source: Getty Images
Smith confirmed last month that he will have an extended stay in Australia this summer to spend time with his family and friends after three years of separation.
But whether that stay will include playing at either the Australian Open, or the Australian PGA Championship – he’s previously won the latter twice – is unclear.
Also unclear is his next career moves after the FedEx Cup playoffs, having been linked to Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV Golf series — claims that he hasn’t denied.
smith told Fox Sports after winning the Claret Jug that his plan is to play in both Australian events, but it is not his priority.
“I think my priority during those weeks is going to be to catch up with family and friends. I’ll probably stay a little bit after into Christmas and just really have a good time,” he told Fox Sports.
“I’m looking forward to that. You really have no idea. It’s been three years since I’ve been at home and just to see some familiar faces will be so nice.”
Meanwhile, another big-name Aussie, Marc Leishman, confirmed to foxsports.com.au last month that he was also eager to return to these shores, although no deal has been confirmed.
