It’s a LIV Golf party in the Kingdom this week, and a few PGA Tour players have been invited.
After the opening 18 holes of the 2023 PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Abraham Ancer finds himself at the top of the leaderboard at 7 under, one shot clear of LIV’s latest reported player, Sebastian Munoz.
Cameron Young – one of the few PGA Tour players granted a release to play in the Asian Tour event sponsored by the Public Investment Fund, the same financial backer for LIV Golf – is T-3 at 5 under alongside LIV’s Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen. Other PGA Tour players in the field include Lucas Herbert (T-18) and Cameron Champ (T-30).
Of the 37 players under par after the first day of play, 24 play for LIV Golf.
The Saudi International was created in 2019 by the regime’s Public Investment Fund and offered lucrative appearance fees to attract PGA Tour stars like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, who all later jumped to LIV.
The tournament was originally a DP World Tour stop, but the European circuit is also now being sued by LIV, which invested more than $200 million in the Asian Tour last year.
