Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images
Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s psuudonym, Andrew Waterman, was revealed to be the Saudi PIF Governor who will play this weekend at St. Andrews.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Saudi PIF Governor responsible for LIV Golf’s emergence, is teeing it up this week on the DP World Tour at St. Andrews for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Interestingly, his roster spot was initially listed under the pseudonym Andrew Waterman. However, Wednesday afternoon it was revealed to be Al-Rumayyan himself.
He will be joining LIV Golf’s Peter Uihlein, and will also be grouped with R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.
Of course, it was Slumbers who previously invited Al-Rumayyan to attend the 151st Open Championship this past July. It was there Slumbers and Al-Rumayyan met and spoke about the potential for the Saudi’s PIF (and it’s $7 billion) being pumped into the world’s oldest major. However, Slumbers stated that it would not be as a title sponsor.
Photo by Aitor Alcalde/LIV Golf/Getty Images
The Saudi Governor received an invitation for this tournament from Johann Rupert, the chairman of Dunhill’s parent company Richemont.
“Sport is supposed to unite people, not divide,” Rupert told The Scotsman. “We need to get peace.”
“It was suggested to me a while ago that I should extend an invitation to His Excellency, but I only got confirmation last week to say he would be playing,” added Rupert. “If I am asked by anyone what we will discuss, I will be saying it will be support for amateur golf worldwide.”
That’s a very curious choice of words that could lead some to ponder hidden motives. Whether that was a slip of the tongue or over-examination, there is certainly plenty of money to make false narratives look true either way.
“What is happening in golf just now is not growing the golf. It’s only making the top 100 players a lot wealthier. We have just launched the African Amateur Championship, for example, and we need support to expand the credibility of that,” Rupert said.
There is no argument that growing the game of golf is part of Al-Rumayyan’s plan. That’s been made very clear with the creation of PGA Tour’s rival league, LIV Golf.
But it is the underlying sportswashing issue of Saudi Arabia, absolving their sins by pumping money into sports that is the problem. The Saudi Prince himself acknowledged their intentions and there are no plans to stop.
Large sums of money have been invested into soccer, F1 racing, and now golf.
The fact that Al-Rumayyan is now getting invited to play in DP World Tour events means this is only the beginning.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor/Site Manager of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf content, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms.
