Ken Weyand is a name you may not have heard unless you watched the DP World Tour 2024 opening, or if you played Michael Jordan’s exclusive golf course, Grove XXIII, in Hobe Sound.
Weyand is listed online as the President/GM/Director of Golf for Grove XXIII and has served in that position since November 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. He played as a sponsored invite in the 2024 Dubai Invitational, a 60 player no-cut tournament. This event was held this week and he made a name for himself. The 54-year old club pro did about as well against professionals as you could expect. He shot rounds of 87-82-82-886 to finish dead last with 53 over. That’s 72 strokes behind the winner Tommy Fleetwood. Jens Dantorp, a Swede who finished 59th with 14 over par and 39 shots ahead of Weyand at the bottom. He only made two birdies in the entire week.
Eddie Pepperell, who is not afraid to express his opinion, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure at the performance of the sponsor choice. He wrote “I don’t mind if it’s Ken, but this shouldn’t be happening.”
Ken Weyand, an old man who has been invited to play in a limited-man field, does what he did. It shouldn’t be allowed. I don’t even care if it’s Ken the Barbie character.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) January 11, 2024
Richard Mansell, Weyand’s playing partner, revealed what it was like to play with this struggling invitee.
Mansell replied: “Yeah it has been a difficult few days, and I would be lying if i said it was not distracting.” “Look, Eddie posted it and I read some more comments. I understand their point of view. This tournament would not exist without the sponsor. They can invite whoever they like for their two special invites or whatever they get this week. That’s golf. “I do feel for Matty, though.”
Mansell was referring to Matthew Jordan, a home club kid from Liverpool who had a great performance at the Open Championship last year at Royal Liverpool and was the first name on the Dubai Invitational reserve list.
