Another LIV Golf and PGA Tour duel played out on Sunday, this time on the Asian Tour and with a little less hostility.
The field at this week’s PIF Saudi International featured a heavy dose of LIV Golf, as well as a few PGA Tour players who were granted releases to play. Cameron Young – who has expressed his interest in LIV in the past – gave chase in the final round but came up short of LIV’s Abraham Ancer, who won wire-to-wire by two shots at 19 under. Lucas Herbert, also a player on Tour, finished third at 15 under.
Ancer, 31, shot 64-68 on the weekend at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City for his fourth professional win. The Mexican-American previously claimed the PGA Tour’s 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational as well as the PGA Tour of Australasia’s 2019 Emirates Australian Open and 2015 Nova Scotia Open on the Korn Ferry Tour before he joined LIV Golf last year. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is LIV’s financial backer, as well as the title sponsor of the Saudi International.
Congratulations to @Abraham_Ancer on winning the 2023 PIF @SaudiIntlGolf powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers!
He has become the first player to win wire-to-wire in the tournament and the second Mexican
to win on the Asian Tour since 1995.
#PIF_SaudiIntlGolf pic.twitter.com/5GLkBnlbTu
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) February 5, 2023
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, like the Tour, is also now being sued by LIV, which invested more than $200 million in the Asian Tour last year.
The LIV Golf League makes its 2023 season debut later this month at Mayakoba in Mexico while the Asian Tour returns to play next week with the International Series Oman.