Unless you were diligently watching the DP World Tour’s 2024 opener or you’ve played Michael Jordan’s exclusive golf club, Grove XXIII in Hobe Sound, Florida, chances are you’ve never heard of Ken Weyand.
Weyand is listed online as the President/GM/Director of Golf for Grove XXIII and has served in that position since November 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. This week he played in the 2024 Dubai Invitational – a 60-player, no-cut event – as a sponsor invite and made quite the name for himself. The 54-year-old club pro faired about as well as one can expect against a field of professionals and shot rounds of 87-82-82-86 to finish in dead last at 53 over, a whopping 72 strokes behind winner Tommy Fleetwood. Sweden’s Jens Dantorp finished 59th at 14 over, 39 shots clear of Weyand in last. He made just two birdies all week.
Never afraid to share his mind, Eddie Pepperell took to social media to share his displeasure with the sponsor selection’s performance, writing “I don’t care if he’s Ken from Barbie, it shouldn’t happen.”
Limited man field, and old Ken Weyand gets an invite and then does this. I don’t care if he’s Ken from Barbie, it shouldn’t happen.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) January 11, 2024
Earlier in the week, Weyand’s playing partner Richard Mansell dished on what it was like to play with the struggling invitee.
“Yeah, it’s been a tricky few days and I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t distracting,” Mansell said. “Look, I saw what Eddie posted and I’ve read a few more comments and I can understand where they’re coming from. But the way I look at it is that without the sponsor, this tournament doesn’t happen. So for their special two invites, or whatever they got this week, they can invite who they want, I suppose. That’s golf. I do feel for Matty Jordan, though.”
Mansell was referencing Matthew Jordan, the home club kid who put on a show at last year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, who was first on the reserve list for the Dubai Invitational.