Fred Biondi, Schniederjans brothers part of LIV Promotions field
Several Americans have made the trip to Saudi Arabia for LIV Golf’s Promotions event, which will be played Thursday-Saturday at Riyadh Golf Club.
While three LIV Golf cards were handed out at the inaugural qualifying tournament last year, the Saudi-backed league reduced the number of spots available for next season to just one.
Still, 2023 NCAA individual champion Fred Biondi, last year’s Latin America Amateur champion Santiago de le Fuente and brothers Ollie and Luke Schniederjans, both Georgia Tech products, will be among the notables teeing it up in the 72-hole event.
Biondi, who turned pro two summers ago after also leading Florida to the NCAA team title, had just two top-25s in 22 starts of the Korn Ferry Tour this season. He finished No. 117 in points.
De la Fuente graduated from Houston earlier this year and was among a slew of players in this Promotions field who failed to get out of the first second-stage site for PGA Tour Q-School, which took place before Thanksgiving.
Ollie Schniederjans played three seasons on the PGA Tour before losing his card in 2019, and he has battled numerous injuries in recent years. He had surgeries on both hips, three months apart, in 2022 and missed over a year of action. He returned last year, making eight starts, and in 14 starts this year, he notched one top-10 and ended up No. 100 in KFT points, losing full status. Luke Schniederjans, who at 26 years old is five years younger than Ollie, has only logged nine career starts between the PGA Tour and KFT.
Five LIV members from this past season are playing – Hudson Swafford, Kieran Vincent, Scott Vincent, Branden Grace and Kalle Samooja – and will be among those exempt through to the second round. The top 20 and ties after Round 1 advance before scores are reset. The top 20 players then advance to the final 36 holes, before which scores are reset again.
The winner of the Promotions event won’t necessarily compete on a LIV team next season, as that player could instead play the season as a wild-card member.
Other notables in the Promotions field include Spain’s Luis Masaveu, who advanced to the semifinals of this summer’s U.S. Amateur; Logan McAllister, who has played on the KFT since graduating from Oklahoma in 2022 and finished No. 92 in points this season; several GB&I Walker Cuppers, including mid-amateur Matt McClean, Wake Forest alum Mark Power and Stanford product Barclay Brown; three-time DPWT winner and former Ryder Cupper Chris Wood; two-time DPWT winner Renato Paratore; former PGA Tour winner Martin Trainer; American journeyman Spencer Levin: and LIV reserve John Catlin.
Here is a look at the full field:
ROUND 1
a-Matt McClean
a-Ziqin Zhou
Adri Arnaus
Alex Maguire
Barclay Brown
Ben van Wyk
Bjorn Hellgren
Bo Hoag
Borja Virto
Brett Rankin
Bryce Easton
Chang Wei-Iun
Chase Hanna
Chris Wood
Christofer Blomstrand
David Horsey
Denwit Boriboonsub
Fred Biondi
Gaganjeet Bhullar
Gunn Charoenkul
Hurly Long
Ian Snyman
Jack Lundin
Jak Carter
James Ashfield
Jazz Janewattananond
Jean Bekirian
Jed Morgan
Jeunghun Wang
Joe Sullivan
Jose Islas
Junghwan Lee
Kazuki Higa
Khalid Attieh
Kota Kaneko
Liam Nolan
Logan McAllister
Luis Carrera
Luis Masaveu
Luke Schniederjans
Mark Power
Martin Simonsen
Martin Trainer
Matthis Besard
Maverick Antcliff
Max Kennedy
Max Rottluff
Miguel Tabuena
Nick Voke
Ollie Schniederjans
Phachara Khongwatmai
Renato Paratore
Ross McGowan
Sadom Kaewkanjana
Sampson Zheng
Santiago de la Fuente
Spencer Levin
Stefano Mazzoli
Taichi Kho
Tatsunori Shogenji
Tom Lewis
Travis Smyth
Turk Pettit
Wase Ormsby
EXEMPT INTO ROUND 2
Ben Campbell
Branden Grace
Brett Coletta
Chanwoo Kim
Daihan Lee
Daniel Gale
Dongmin Lee
Hongtaek Kim
Hudson Swafford
Inhoi Hur
Jack Buchanan
Jbe Kruger
Jeongwoo Ham
John Catlin
Kalle Samooja
Kieran Vincent
Lee Chieh-Po
Matthew Griffin
Michael Maguire
Phoenix Campbell
Rattanon Wannasrichan
Richard T. Lee
Ryosuke Kinoshita
Scott Vincent
Soomin Lee
Steve Lewton
Suteepat Prateeptienchai
William Bruyeres
Wooyoung Cho