Sabbatini’s decision to change citizenship pays off-wouldn’t qualify for SAfrica
In early 2019, Sabbatini changed his citizenship from South Africa to Slovakia, the home country of his wife and stepson. Sabbatini's wife's cousin is the vice president of the Slovak Golf Association. Initially, there was speculation that the move was made in order for Sabbatini to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, but he said it was to help grow the game in that country. The Olympics use the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) for qualification and the 201st-ranked Sabbatini would not have qualified for South Africa with ten others ahead of him. Sabbatini also has a UK passport and US citizenship.[17
Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini (born 2 April 1976) is a South African-born, Slovak professional golfer.Sabbatini won six times on the PGA Tour between 2000 and 2011 and was runner-up in the 2007 Masters. He spent 21 weeks in the world top-10 in late-2007 and early-2008, with a high of 8th.