Arab hands on the cradle of European golf. The Saudi fund PIF (financier of the LIV Golf Tour and owner of Newcastle in the Premier League) has set its sights on Wentworth Golf Club, a historic English golf club. The first assault was repelled but the relaunch is only a matter of time.
Pif, Wentworth Club
Wentworth Golf Club is one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. It is the home of British and continental golf with a history that now exceeds a century of life. Located in Surrey, the club has three iconic courses, starting with the West Course, designed by Harry Colt and later modified by Ernie Els.
Wentworth is also the heart of the DP World Tour, the second (or third?) world golf circuit. The BMW PGA Championship is played there, considered for many years the fifth Major of the season. The Surrey club also hosted the first edition of the Ryder Cup, way back in 1926.
The club is also an emblem of a certain type of golf, with a long tradition of high-level members including celebrities and important entrepreneurs.
The club is owned by the Reignwood Group, a Chinese investment company founded 40 years ago by Chanchai Ruayrungruang. Also known as Yan Bin, Ruayrungruang is a Chinese entrepreneur naturalized in Thailand. His company is based in Hong Kong and has offices in several countries around the world, including Singapore, Thailand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to the Daily Mail, Yan Bin responded with a firm ‘no, thanks’ to the first offer. The newspaper has a clear stance. “Wentworth has already stated that it is not in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund – it reads – and the position remains unchanged. Reignwood Group is committed to Wentworth for the long term and continues to invest”.
Investing also means looking for allies (perhaps the PGA Tour itself) to resist the temptation to cash in. The Saudi check has an unspecified number of zeros. In the background there is always the war between “Western” golf and Arab golf. For quite some time the DP World Tour has borrowed the almost zero tolerance imposed by the Americans towards Rahm, DeChambeau and company golfers. Then the pairing began to creak. Some players on the PIF payroll have set foot in European tournaments (see Patrick Reed at the 2024 Italian Open). It is too early to talk about a cracked axis and another emerging axis but by now we have seen all sorts of things…
In the meantime, according to the Mail’s sources, the Saudis also have a mulligan ready, a plan B. Faced with a possible Chinese wall around Wentworth, the PIF would turn to the Centurion Golf Club in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. It is a beautiful course but without the historical charm and strategic weight of the one in Surrey. At Centurion, in 2022 the Arab Super League of golf was officially born and hosted the English leg of the tour until 2023.
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