by The unknown invite walked off the final green after making his first birdie of the tournament – and then refused to speak.
At 27 over – courtesy of 87 and 82 – Ken Weyand is 37 shots behind the leader, Rory McIlroy, and it’s clear he had no issues to discuss.
Except apparently poor American golf – in relative terms, of course – wasn’t the problem. It was the criticism on social media on Thursday night after the 16-year-old’s first round of the £2 million Dubai Invitational, the opening tournament of the year on the DP World Tour.
But then, those barbs were inevitable. Weyand is a 54-year-old club pro with no world ranking, having never before played in a Tour event on either side of the Atlantic. Weyand is here – and guaranteed at least £6,500 even if he finishes last – simply because he is a friend and employee of basketball legend Michael Jordan.
The strange story was full of jokes and so it came to Eddie Pepperell, the multiple winner of the Tour with his juicy take. “Limited field of 60, and old Ken Weyand gets invited and does that,” Pepperell posted on X. “I don’t care if it’s Ken from Barbie – it shouldn’t happen.”
The comments inevitably escalated and it seems Weyand was not impressed. Hence the silence. But his playing partner of the first two days was happy to talk.
Somehow, Richard Mansell managed to shoot 70-69 to finish in the top 20, despite all this chaos going on around him. Not only did he have to contend with Weyand’s mish-mash of 16 pars, 11 bogeys, seven double-bogeys and a triple-bogey in 36 holes, but in this case there are also amateur partners in the fourball.
Although Mansell, sometimes it must be hard to tell which was which.
“Yeah, it’s been a tough few days and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t distracting,” Mansell said. “Look, I saw what Eddie posted and I’ve read a few other comments and I understand where they’re coming from. But the way I look at it is that this competition doesn’t happen without the sponsor. So their special invitation, or whatever they got this week, they can invite the people they want, I guess. That’s golf. I feel for Matty Jordan, though.”
Jordan – the Liverpudlian who made such a splash at last year’s Open – was the first reserve. The 27-year-old will take comfort in the knowledge that Weyand is hardly the first wacky invitation – and in a sport with more sponsors than any other, it certainly won’t be the last.
Stefan Langer, Berhand’s son, famously played in the Dutch Open in 2011 and shot a 98. In fact, unworthy invitational tours have a rich history and usually, they are famous sportsmen.
At the 1974 Tallahassee Open, Mike Reasor carded one of golf’s four highest totals ever in a professional event after being forced to play one hand for his final round.
The professional was left with torn rib cartilage, damaged knee ligaments, and a dislocated left shoulder after falling from a horse during a ride between the second and third rounds. In today’s era, Reasor would have withdrawn but back then players had to complete all four rounds to be able to skip a pre-qualifier for next week’s Tour event so Reasor put his hand in in his belt and proceeded to hack it around one arm. in which he only hit a five iron, two wedges and a putter throughout the two rounds. Card 123 and 114 that finished dead last at 93 over but missed the next event anyway due to not recovering from his injuries in time.
But this may be the first time a legend’s friend has received the nod. Earlier in the week, a Tour source told Telegraph Sport that Weyland initially got the golden ticket because Jordan – he of The Last Dance – had agreed to play and wanted the PGA pro who runs his exclusive Grove XXIII course in South Florida. a chance
Alas, Jordan was unable to make it. But Weyand’s invitation was honored, because Abdullah Naboodah, the head of the sponsors, is also a friend of this mysterious character who finished 9th in the Utah PGA Spring Championship in 2011.
Undoubtedly, Weyand has more telling entries on his CV, but if he doesn’t talk we might never know. And he still has two rounds to face the microphone.
There is no cut here, so Weyand will have to go again on Saturday. This time he is partnered with Jens Dantop, Sweden’s runner-up. Weyand has 17 shots to make up for his rival.
To be fair, McIlroy – who incidentally, as a resident of Jupiter, is a member of Grove XXIII – is probably out of sight at 10 under. And if not for a four-time bogey on the eighth in his 70, it would still be clear. He is two ahead of Dane Jeff Winther and German Yannick Paul, with his Ryder Cup partner Tommy Fleetwood another group one behind him.
