There was some sort of exhale eight months ago by the people who orchestrate the biggest golf tournaments across the Atlantic Ocean. The kick-start of the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, just two weeks after the DP World Tour finished the last of four consecutive tournaments in the region.
The United Arab Emirates and its transit and economic hub of the Middle East, Dubai, was one of the areas attacked, roughly one month after many of the best golfers in the world competed in the Dubai Desert Classic. Most of them had moved back to the United States, or elsewhere in Europe, but plenty were stuck in place. Due to a flight stoppage out of the country, LIV golfers struggled to travel to their next event in early March. Tommy Fleetwood, who lives in Dubai, was unable to see his family for over a month. But in the end, tensions subsided and life for many returned to a sense of normalcy.
But now, as the golf calendar does annually, some of the best in the world return to the Middle East. And they’re finding that unrest still exists.
The PIF Saudi International, for starters, has been postponed from its Nov. 18-21 dates. The Asian Tour event, which has long been an offseason landing spot for LIV golfers, issued a press release Thursday, calling “organizational and logistical challenges” the reason it could not be held in Riyadh, the Saudi capital that just saw its international airport attacked last week. No future dates have been decided for hosting it down the road.
Those November dates are one week after the closing tournament of the DP World Tour, routinely held at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. The conversation has bubbled up in recent weeks as players have raised concerns about traveling through the area. While there was initial conjecture the event could be moved away from the Arabian Gulf region, DPWT CEO Guy Kinnings told SkySports that the league intends to host the events as scheduled in the UAE.
“A lot of people are asking and it’s an obvious question,” Kinnings told Sky. “The reality is we expect every intention to be playing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
“Work has started and we’re building stuff at Yas Links and at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, so our intention is to go ahead.
“We clearly need to keep in touch with travel advisors and other people who help with us, but our plan is definitely to play the playoffs in the UAE.”
Plenty can change in a few weeks time, Kinnings knows that. The entire golf world knows it. In many ways, 2026 will be remembered for how pro golf was impacted by this war, if only in roundabout ways. It was not long after the initial strikes that the Saudi PIF adjusted its future plans, extinguishing its funding for LIV Golf.
The trickle down effect of that continues to this week, where bankruptcy filings call for Jon Rahm to be freed of his contracts with LIV, and for the Saudis to be freed from obligations in any future of the league and its various vendors. The first start he plans to make in his post-LIV life will be back in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi, in just three weeks.
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