Newcastle United chairman, His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan, in pro-am field as Alfred Dunhill Links Championship tees off in Fife

Yasir Al-Rumayyan takes part in pro-am of LIV Golf Invitational Series event at The Centurion Clubnear London in 2022. (Pic Adrian Dennis/Getty Images)

His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), is teeing up under a pseudonym in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Fife.

Having been invited by Johann Rupert, the driving force behind the popular pro am at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews, the 53-year-old is teaming up with LIV Golf player Peter Uihlein.

Al-Rumayyan, who is listed on the draw as Andrew Waterman, will play his opening round of the $5 million event today (Thursday), when he will be in the same group as R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.

“Sport is supposed to unite people, not divide,” Rupert, the chairman of Dunhill’s parent company Richemont and also chairman of the event’s championship committee, told The Scotsman. “We need to get peace.”

Al-Rumayyan, who is the Newcastle United chairman, headed to Scotland after watching Eddie Howe’s team take on Paris St Germain in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Wednesday night.

In addition to holding the PIF purse strings, Al-Rumayyan is also the chairman of Saudi Aramco, which is the most valuable company in the world at $1.7 trillion.

A keen golfer himself, he’s been the driving force behind the Saudis getting heavily involved in golf, initially through the Saudi International, which was held for three years on the DP World Tour before becoming part of the Asian Tour over the past two years.

As its mastermind, Al-Rumayyan is the boss of Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s CEO and commissioner, and played in the pro-am ahead of the breakaway circuit’s inaugural event at Centurion Club near St Albans last year.

He was also the man who asked for a peace meeting with the PGA Tour that led to a ‘framework’ agreement that is currently being worked on by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF.

This week's field in Fife, teeing it up with celebrities, includes three of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning heroes, Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick – the highest ranked player taking part – and fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who sealed the winning point for Europe against the Americans in Rome.