The Saudi Arabian backers of the LIV golf circuit are stepping up plans for an audacious bid to buy Wentworth Golf Club.
Mail Sport has learned that the kingdom’s £700 billion sovereign wealth fund remains undeterred by the resistance of the owners of the prestigious 103-year-old Surrey club as they aim to establish a presence in British golf.
If successful, this move would have a significant impact on the sport, particularly because Wentworth is where the DP World Tour is headquartered and where they hold their main event, the BMW PGA Championship, annually.
The Chinese owners of Wentworth, the Reignwood Group, have stated emphatically that the club is not up for sale and have informed Mail Sport that there have been no discussions with the Saudis.
A spokesperson said: ‘Wentworth Club has previously commented that they are not in conversation with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund in relation to the sale of the Club and that remains the case.
‘Reignwood Group is committed to its long-term vision for Wentworth and continues to invest into the club facility.’
Saudi Arabia’s PIF are stepping up plans for an audacious bid to buy Wentworth Golf Club
Wentworth, located in Virginia Water in Surrey, hosts the BMW PGA Championship each year
Yasir Al-Rumayyan (right), pictured with Rory McIlroy, is the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and chairman of the rival LIV Golf circuit
It is unclear how far the Saudis would be willing to go to land the club, which Beijing-based Reignwood Investments purchased for £135million in 2014.
The Saudis are also understood to be considering a lower-profile acquisition of Centurion Golf Club in Hemel Hempstead, where they launched the rebel LIV league to huge controversy in 2022 and returned in 2023, before switching their UK stop to JCB Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire.
Manoeuvres by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Newcastle United, are being monitored closely at the elite end of golf on both sides of the Atlantic at a critical point in negotiations over a reunification deal.
Those talks between the PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour) have dragged on for 21 months since the shock announcement of a potential merger in June 2023. Tiger Woods, who has been part of the discussions, gave an optimistic update in February that indicated a deal was close, with Donald Trump having become involved in efforts to broker an agreement.
But a meeting at the White House last month between a PGA Tour delegation and PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Newcastle United chairman, left the impression that the parties remain far apart.
Trump had previously boasted in a pre-election pledge of being able to resolve the stand-off within ’15 minutes’, which was taken as a sign he could smooth concerns held by the US Department of Justice that a deal would breach antitrust laws.
Even with that assistance, Rory McIlroy disclosed recently that a merger ‘doesn’t feel like it’s any closer’, owing to a vast array of other complications. They include the thorny question of what would happen to LIV in its existing form in the event of a reunification and the freedom of movement across tours from LIV’s star defectors, such as Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
All of which has created an intriguing situation for the DP World Tour. They are tied to the PGA Tour by a controversial ‘strategic alliance’ and have regularly stated their desire to see the merger go through as a top priority, but also have left the door open to conversations with the Saudis in the event an agreement cannot be reached.
The Saudis are also understood to be considering a lower-profile acquisition of Centurion Golf Club in Hemel Hempstead
Talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf over a reunification deal remain ongoing
The latter would no doubt displease the Americans and is currently seen as a far less likely possibility.
Insiders have interpreted the Saudi interest in Wentworth as a negotiating ploy to pressure the PGA Tour into a deal, owing to the implications of a separate arrangement between LIV and the DP World Tour.
In November 2024, English professional golfer Eddie Pepperell sparked a frenzy of speculation by claiming: ‘I was told this week by someone who would know that they are buying Wentworth. The PIF are buying Wentworth, for sure. That’s what I was told.’
Wentworth issued a robust denial at the time, but multiple sources in the US and Europe have indicated the Saudi interest has not gone away.
However, there is plenty of scepticism over the Saudi willingness to pay a nine-figure fee to make the acquisition when Al-Rumayyan LIV’s project is running at huge losses. While immensely disruptive to the golf landscape, the breakaway league has so far cost in the region of £4bn since the start of 2022.
The PIF have been contacted for comment.
