LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan to stay away from Ryder Cup ahead of PGA Tour merger discussions

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and chairman of LIV Golf, has opted to stay away from the Ryder Cup here, with merger negotiations with the PGA Tour to be started in earnest as soon as the biennial dust-up is over.

Al-Rumayyan who is also chairman of Newcastle United, has clearly decided it makes political sense to skip the biggest week in professional male golf, despite the sport’s other major power-brokers due here at Marco Simone Golf Club.

LIV is not expected to send anyone in an official capacity, which may be considered a surprise, considering the fact Brooks Koepka is representing the breakaway league in the US team.

Telegraph Sport understands that, as well as the bodies who run the four majors, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will also be here at Marco Simone, making his first overseas trip since stress-related illness forced him to take a month-long leave of absence in the wake of the controversial truce with the LIV backers.

With several of the Ryder Cup sponsors linked to the Saudis, Al-Rumayyan would, of course, have been greeted with open arms in the most privileged of hospitality boxes at the Marco Simone Golf Club.

The same was true at The Open Championship at Hoylake two months where he and Amanda Staveley – the PIF consultant who engineered the purchase of Newcastle – were entertained by banking giant HSBC.

Telegraph Sport revealed that the PIF duo met with R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers as the British major was unfolding at Royal Liverpool and although it was an informal get together it nevertheless highlighted that Al-Rumayyan, and more pertinently the billions he controls, are now welcome in the game’s inner sanctums.

Yet with tensions among the rank and file on the Tours still running high, the thought of Al-Rumayyan pressing flesh with Monahan and DP World Tour Keith Pelley is an image too far, especially as the complex and inevitably contentious nitty gritty of the potential deal is about to hammered out before the Dec 31 deadline.

Going into the match, which starts on Friday, Europe captain Luke Donald has stressed the need for the Ryder Cup to stay above the bartering and horse-trading. With the likes of Sergío Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter excluded because of their multi-million dollar contracts with LIV, it might have been an incongruous sight, seeing the PIF overlords mixing with the establishment.

“The Ryder Cup has always been bigger than stuff like that,” Donald said when asked about the importance of the Ryder Cup players not being paid. “Certainly nothing to do with personal interests is it? I mean, it’s the complete opposite. It’s just always been about playing for something more than just yourself. It’s pure, pure sport. And I think with all that other stuff kind of taken out, the Ryder Cup will always be above all that.”