LIV Golf chief to play pro-am at PGA Tour-sanctioned event 

LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan will tee it up in a pro-am at a tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour as negotiations to unify golf continue.

Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) bankrolling LIV, has been attempting to broker a deal with the PGA Tour ever since the announcement of a shock framework agreement between the warring factions last June.

PIF’s involvement in golf’s new landscape has come into question in recent weeks after a group of US billionaires known as the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) invested $3billion into the PGA Tour’s new for-profit company named PGA Tour Enterprises.

Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, who both sit on the Tour’s Policy Board, have claimed their circuit could now manage without Saudi money after the landmark backing of SSG.

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But the PGA Tour confirmed after the SSG deal that it had made “progress in its ongoing negotiations with PIF on a potential future investment and both parties are working towards an ultimate agreement.”

And the involvement of the sovereign wealth fund’s governor at a PGA Tour Champions event this week is a sign that tensions have eased between the two parties.

Al-Rumayyan has been listed to play in the Trophy Hassan II pro-am at Royal Golf Dar es Salam in Morocco alongside Indian veteran Arjun Atwal.

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He is down as a 12-handicapper for the pro-am, which will also feature former Masters champion Angel Cabrera, who is making his tour comeback after being released from prison.

This isn’t the first time Al-Rumayyan’s inclusion in a pro-am has raised eyebrows. The LIV chief competed under the pseudonym ‘Andrew Waterman’ at last year’s Alfred Dunhill Links showpiece after an invite from sponsor Johann Rupert.

He played alongside outgoing R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers and Official World Golf Ranking chairman Peter Dawson in the weather-affected tournament in Fife.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.