LIV Golf boss to play in DP World Tour's Dunhill Links "under a pseudonym"
Report: Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will play in this week's Dunhill Links Championship under a completely different name!
LIV Golf boss and Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will play in this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship "under a pseudonym" claims a report in The Scotsman.
It is understood according to The Scotsman's Martin Dempster that the Newcastle United chairman and head of the Saudi PIF will tee it up at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns under the name 'Andrew Waterman'.
Al-Rumayyan has been invited by tournament sponsor Johann Rupert to compete in this week's iconic DP World Tour event at the Home of Golf.
He will be playing in the same group as R&A CEO Martin Slumbers.
Related: Committee probing PGA Tour-PIF/LIV Golf deal drop huge (!) bombshell
Al-Rumayyan's participation in the Pro-Am tournament Andrew Waterman's participation in the tournament comes four months after news emerged of a shock planned merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Saudi PIF (bankrollers of the LIV Golf League).
The LIV Golf boss was also recently asked to become a member of the R&A and Augusta National as part of the deal.
It is understood that the Saudi tycoon did not attend the Ryder Cup last week to avoid detracting from the biennial dust-up, which saw Team Europe defeat Team USA 16.5-11.5 at Marco Simone in Rome.
Rupert has also chosen to invite LIV Golf players Talor Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen, Peter Uihlein and Hudson Swafford.
Although the quartet of LIV Golf players are not DP World Tour members, they are permitted to compete in the three-venue tournament over 72 holes due to having each terminated their memberships prior to moving to the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022.
Oosthuizen has great memories of St Andrews having won The Open in 2010.
According to Sports Illustrated's interview with a DP World Tour spokesman, "all four players can play because they were either never a member of the DP World Tour or if they were a member, gave up that membership before playing in a LIV event."
Uihlein ended his DP World Tour membership back in 2020 as he attempted to earn his PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
All of the professionals compete alongside an amateur in the team event, while also competing in their own tournament like normal on the DP World Tour.
There is cut mark after three rounds.
The top 60 tournament pros qualify for the final round at St Andrews, as well as the top 20 teams.
Al-Rumayyan's tournament pro for the Dunhill Links Championship is Uihlein.
Slumbers will join up with Jordan Smith.
Ryan Fox is the defending champion and the prize fund this week is a record $4.1m.
Tommy Fleetwood is the tournament favourite off his impressive performance at the Ryder Cup.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre are also teeing it up in the tournament.
Rupert, the chairman of Dunhill’s parent company Richemont and also chairman of the event’s championship committee, told The Scotsman:
On top of his roles at LIV Golf and Newcastle United, Al-Rumayyan is also chairman of ol giant Aramco and Saudi Pro-League football club Al-Hilal.
He is also on the board at Uber, SoftBank and Reliance.
Al-Rumayyan is a fanatical golfer and it is reported that he plays off a 12-handicap.
