eBusiness Weekly
Afield that already included world No. 3 Dustin Johnson, No. 5 Bryson DeCham- beau and sixth-ranked Xander Schauffele added six more players from the top 50 in the world ranking.
Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, and Lucas Herbert are now commit- ted to play in the Saudi International, according to an announcement made Monday by tournament officials, making the event the strongest field ever on the Asian Tour.
The PGA Tour was slow to grant its members competing-event releases to compete in the Saudi event, which will be held February 3-6, but eventually approved the release based on stipulations that require the players to add the AT &T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which will be played the same week as the Asian Tour tournament, to their schedules in future seasons.
Officials also announced that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will become the event’s title sponsor, adding to speculation that the P.I.F. is poised to back a rival super league.
The P.I.F. is backing LIV Golf Investments, which is led by Greg Norman and is the driving force behind the proposed super league. Last year, LIV Golf made a $200 million, 10-year investment in the Asian Tour. — golf- channel.com
