The Asian Tour’s International Series came to an underwhelming end at the PIF Saudi International on Saturday, after none of the circuit’s players were promoted to LIV Golf.
The leading player from the circuit’s Order of Merit at the end of the year was set to be promoted to the LIV circuit for 2025. However, the season-long race led to no promotion in the Middle East, after LIV member Peter Uihlein ended the campaign on top.
There had been previous calls for the next-best finisher to be promoted to the Saudi-funded circuit if a scenario arose where a current LIV player ended the year on top of the Order of Merit.
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This however has proven to not be the case, ensuring no new names will be heading to the LIV roster from the International Series. The Order of Merit had been dominated by American John Catlin for the majority of 2024, however an increase in points across the two final events of the season saw him slip up.
This allowed Uihlein to capitalize, who stole top spot after victory in Qatar last week. He then followed this up with a tied-29th finish in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to ensure he finished the campaign above the rest. His closest competitor proved to be Ben Campbell, who had spent the large part of 2024 chasing down Catlin.
A late surge in Saturday’s final round appeared to give Campbell a chance to book himself a LIV spot in 2025, with the New Zealander needing to finish the tournament tied third or better following Uihlein’s finish. He fell agonizingly short though, ending the tournament in fourth.
Campbell carded a bogey-free seven-under-par 64 on Saturday, but even a birdie at the last was not enough to see him overthrow Uihlein in the Order of Merit list. Alongside Campbell, Catlin too will no doubt feel hard done by, having dominated the race for so long.
The former DP World Tour star – who has featured regularly on the LIV setup in 2024 as an injury reserve – spoke earlier in the week in Saudi Arabia about the heavy waiting for the final two events of the campaign. It was always going to come down to Saudi and who plays well there with two-and-a-half times the points, claimed Catlin.
“I would have liked to have had a head start, but the winner of next weeks tournament could only have 200 points (coming into it) and win the whole International Series. You show up, you give it your all, try to finish as high as you can, and see where the chips fall. Catlin failed to find his best in the final event of the campaign, finishing in a tie for 34th. the event was won by Joaquin Niemann, who defeated Cam Smith and Caleb Surratt in a playoff.
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