Things could get a little awkward next month.
During the week of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is the Saudi International in Saudi Arabia, an Asian Tour event sponsored by the Public Investment Fund. Alas, the same folks backing the LIV Golf series, which is in numerous lawsuits against the Tour, have created a rift in the golf community over the past year.
And, according to a report from Golf Channel, a ‘few’ PGA Tour players have asked and been granted releases to play in the Saudi International, which is scheduled from Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
The report didn’t specify exactly how many players were granted conflicting-event and media releases. The event used to be a DP World Tour stop until the emergence of LIV Golf.
Earlier this week, world No. 3 Cameron Smith and 2022 champion Harold Varner III were announced in the field, along with the top-30 ranked players on the Asian Tour.
PGA Tour players and LIV golfers were going to cross paths at points this year, including at Augusta National in three months for the Masters, but they’ll be playing against one another a lot sooner than that.
