The most closely watched golf tournament in the world this week is a pro-am. Off in Scotland at the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the two leaders in golf’s ongoing civil war are paired in the first round Thursday: PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
The Dunhill Links is a pro-am event in which each professional plays with one amateur, with each pair playing three different revered Scottish courses the first three days before a 54-hole cut and a final round Sunday at St. Andrews’ Old Course.
Monahan is playing with PGA Tour pro Billy Horschel, and the duo was grouped with Al-Rumayyan and LIV golfer Dean Burmester at Carnoustie. Kingsbarns is the third course used for the tournament.
This round of golf comes right as talks continue without a deadline between PGA Tour Enterprises and PIF, the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund that owns and operates rebel league LIV Golf. These negotiations have had stops and starts since the shocking July 6, 2023 framework agreement announcement to end litigation and potentially join forces in some fashion. The PGA Tour added $3 billion in investment from the consortium of professional sports team owners known as Strategic Sports Group, while LIV poached stars such as two-time major winner Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton before this season.
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy said last month that the U.S. Department of Justice is a key factor delaying the deal, in addition to specifics of what a joint venture would look like. While many top players like McIlroy and LIV star Bryson DeChambeau have called for unification, tensions remain between some players on both sides, and it remains unclear what bringing the players back together would look like.
The DP World Tour pairing these two groups together is surely no accident — Al-Rumayyan participated in the event a year ago, paired with then-R&A head Martin Slumbers. Many key figures in the negotiations will also be at the event, including DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings, McIlroy, Rahm and Brooks Koepka.
McIlroy has strong relationships with many investors involved in a potential deal, and he’s been one of the most prominent voices in golf’s ongoing rift in various roles as a former PGA Tour board member and a current member of the negotiating committee. McIlroy and his father, Gerry, play in the second round with Monahan and Horschel before playing the third round with Al-Rumayyan and Burmester.
(Top photos of Al-Rumayyan, left, and Monahan: Richard Heathcote, Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
