Stars line up for $25m Saudi tour

Almost 40 players are understood to have submitted requests to appear in the first event of the rebel Saudi tour in St Albans next month.

That is even more than feared and includes Europe Ryder Cup heroes Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Martin Kaymer, as well as world No15 Louis Oosthuizen. Today is the deadline for requests to appear in the $25 million (£20.2million) LIV Golf Invitational event in Hertfordshire.

“We didn’t expect as many rankand-file pros to ask, although with $4 million for first place and $120,000 for last, perhaps it should have been expected,” an insider said.