Newcastle United chairman set to take on Rory McIlroy in Dunhill Links Championship

Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rummayan is set to go head-to-head with four-time major winner Rory McIlroy at the Dunhill Links Championship - but the pre-tournament talk has been of another meeting for the Magpies supremo.

Al-Rummayan will partner South African LIV golf player Dean Burmester in a fourball with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Billy Horschel at the Carnoustie course on Thursday before heading to St Andrews to face McIlory and his father Gerry just 48 hours later. However, it is the former of those two rounds that has provoked much discussion after the PGA and the PIF-led LIV Tour seemed to be at loggerheads in recent years.

Al-Rummayan and Monahan were at the centre of a ‘framework agreement’ between the two bodies last year and that brought an end to the threat of legal action ripping apart the world of golf. Negotiations over a more long-term agreement are yet to be concluded - but McIlroy is hopeful the presence of both men and the fact they are playing together will be ‘a step in the right direction.

Ahead of the championship, McIlroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland: "There’s no better place than the home of golf to try and get everyone together and talking. I think it’s a great thing and good sign that Jay and Yasir are going to play together. And obviously you’ve got quite a big contingent over from LIV that are playing in this event. I think what Johann Rupert the man who runs this event is trying to do is just bring the golf world back together a little bit. If we need to be forced together in some way, he’s trying to do that. I think it will be good. It’s certainly a step in the right direction."

The formation of the PIF-led LIV Golf saw the likes of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson join the new tour and initially brought about a split across the golfing world. However, PGA Tour commissioner Monahan revealed earlier this year ‘constructive’ talks had been held between a number of potential investors including Al-Rumayyan and PIF.

“This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group,” Monahan said in March. “During the session, Yasir had a chance to introduce himself to our player directors and talk through his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf. As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand that we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time."