LIV Golf Saudi boss plays in PGA Tour Champions Pro-Am event

The PGA Tour Champions is in Morocco this week for the Trophy Hassan. Of note, the Pro-Am at Royal Golf Dar Salam in Rabat Wednesday had an interesting name in the field.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) governor, Yassir Al-Rumayyan, competed in the Pro-Am as a 12-handicap amateur, per Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. He played alongside Arjun Atwal, an Indian professional.

The Saudi PIF is of course the benefactor of LIV Golf, having financed the upstart league.

Al-Rumayyan is no stranger around a golf course. He is an avid player who reportedly loves the game. He made an appearance in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews last year.

LIV Golf’s Peter Uihlein and R&A CEO Martin Slumbers were paired with him. However, the most interesting part of that week was that Al-Rumayyan played under the name Andrew Waterman instead of his own.

That raised a lot of eyebrows.

He has also participated in some of LIV Golf’s Pro-Ams. Last year, Al-Ryumayyan hit the ceremonial tee shot at the PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

There is still a lot of tension between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. The original deadline for a deal was this past December, but both parties pushed that to April.

Since then, the PGA Tour signed a $3 billion investment deal with the Strategic Sports Group. That has left questions to whether or not the Tour even needs the Saudi money any longer. Jordan Spieth certainly doesn’t think so.

Yet, discussions continue. What will the future of professional golf look like in a year? It’s impossible to know.

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.