Tavatanakit routed the field at Riyadh Golf Club, winning by seven shots.
Her three-year wait is over.
Patty Tavatanakit shot a final-round 65 on Sunday to win the 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International for her first individual victory since she won the 2021 Chevron Championship. She routed the field at Riyadh Golf Club, winning by seven shots.
Tavatanakit was part of the winning Team Thailand at the 2023 Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, where each team had four players but Sunday marks her first individual title since winning at Mission Hills Country Club, which closed the chapter on the long-standing women’s major in the California desert.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played this good,” Tavatanakit said. “It’s very emotional, I’m very emotional right now with how I have overcome that and looking back it was just one day at a time, keep working hard.”
Those emotions showed on the 18th hole after she putted out.
Esther Henseleit finished shot a 69 to earn solo second. Minami Katsu and Charley Hull tied for third.
Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Aramco event has a purse of $5 million, which is the same as the men’s Saudi International.
In addition to this event, the 2024 Ladies European Tour schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
If Tavatanakit holds on to win, it would be her first title in more than three years.
Patty Tavatanakit shot 3-under 69 on Saturday at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia, continuing to hold on to her lead at the 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
She has led after every round of the tournament, and sitting at 11 under following three rounds, she had a three-shot advantage heading to the final round.
“Overall, I was pleased with the mentality out there,” Tavatanakit said. “I feel like I had a really good mindset with how the round started. It was just kind of slow. I feel like I didn’t miss-hit a shot today. But on one hole, I went over the green, I just hit it too good.”
Germany’s Esther Henseleit is in second at 8 under after a stellar 7-under 65 on Saturday. The 25-year-old, who won the 2019 LET Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year titles, has improved each day after a round of 74 and 69 the first two days.
Charley Hull is in third at 7 under, tied with Emily Kristine Pedersen.
If Tavatanakit holds on to win, it would be her first title in more than three years.
The PIF-backed event has a purse of $5 million, which the same as the men’s Saudi International.
With the LPGA off for a third straight week, many of the top golfers in the women’s game are at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia for the 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Aramco event has a purse of $5 million, which is the same as the men’s Saudi International.
Patty Tavatanakit, whose last individual win came at the 2021 Chevron Championship, is in good position after two rounds with scores of 68 and 70. She is sitting at 8 under and holds a two-shot lead after 36 holes. She has 10 birdies and just two bogeys so far. Tavatanakit was part of the winning Team Thailand at the 2023 Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, where each team had four players.
Nicole Broch Estrup and Manon De Roey are tied for second at 6 under. Leona Maguire bounced back from an opening-round 76 with a second-round 64, the best score of the week so far by three shots.
Lexi Thompson is tied for 36th at 1 over. Defending tournament champ Lydia Ko is not in the field.
In addition to this event, the 2024 Ladies European Tour schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Lexi Thompson headlines next week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International field on the Ladies European Tour. The event, held this year at Riyadh Golf Club Feb. 15-18, offers a purse of $5 million, the same as the payout of the men’s PIF Saudi International.
The 28-year-old Thompson, whose last worldwide victory came at the 2022 Aramco Team Series event in New York, last teed it up at the LPGA Drive On event in January where she tied for 16th. She is not listed in the fields of the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing.
“The Aramco Saudi Ladies International signifies a significant step forward in advancing the sport,” Thompson said in a release, “not just in Saudi Arabia but on a global scale, and it’s a privilege to be part of an event that advocates for equal prize funds in golf.”
Defending champion Lydia Ko, who won the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions and lost the Drive On in a playoff to Nelly Korda, is not in the field in Saudi Arabia. Ko’s next event will be the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.
Korda, who went to Prague immediately after the Drive On to visit her grandparents, is in the midst of a seven-week break from competitive golf.
In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2024 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of those events last year include LPGA players Alison Lee, Xiyu Lin, Carlota Ciganda, Pauline Roussin, and Korda.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Here’s a list of noteworthy players in this year’s field:
A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.
India’s Aditi Ashok has already established herself as one of the hottest players in golf this season. After opening the Ladies European Tour season with a victory at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, Ashok finished third the next week in Morocco and now leads the Aramco Saudi Ladies International by two strokes.
Ashok’s head-turning back nine (her front nine) at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club included five birdies and an eagle. She followed that opening 29 with a 37 on a windy afternoon to shoot 66 and take the lead over World No. 1 Lydia Ko at 13 under par.
Ko followed her opening 64 with a 69 and sits tied with American Lilia Vu (66) at 11 under.
“I think it was just whenever I stepped to the ball, I just knew the ball was going in,” said Ashok of her clinic on the greens early one. “Just one of those days where everything works in your favor.”
A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.
As for this impressive early-year form, Ashok said she worked on her driving quite a bit in the offseason, trying to increase her swing speed. She finished last season 99th on the LPGA’s CME points list. The top 100 keep their cards.
“Just went to the gym a lot,” she said. “I guess after last year, I traveled so much I lost some weight, so I was trying to gain that weight back.
“I’m nowhere near what I want to be. It’s a work in progress.”
— Aramco Saudi Ladies International (@AramcoLadiesInt) February 17, 2023
Ko, who is playing in her first event as a newlywed, said the wind picked up so much that couldn’t widen her stance enough to stabilize her putter.
“I think on 16 I ended up making the putt,” she said, “but hit it so far off the middle of the club face there is probably no like control in that area. It’s just one of those days that you know it’s going to be tough. It’s tough for everyone.”
The Saudi Ladies International, a Ladies European Tour-sanctioned event, features 15 of the top 30 players in the Rolex Rankings. The $5 million prize fund now matches that of the men’s event in Saudi. It’s the largest purse in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($7 million).
The LET’s Saudi-backed events, which total six in 2023, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Former No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul tumbled down the board after a second-round 72 while Lexi Thompson rebounded with a 68 to move into a share of 22nd.
Hannah Green, Linn Grant, Gabriela Ruffels, Anne van Dam, Jeongeun Lee6 and Meghan MacLaren were among those who missed the cut.
The World No. 1 fired an 8-under 64 in the opening round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International to co-lead.
Lydia Ko picked up where she left off in 2022 – on top. The World No. 1 fired an 8-under 64 in the opening round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International to co-lead with Pajaree Anannarukarn.
“It’s cool to see I have an officially under par round as a Mrs.” said Ko, who closed the 2022 season with victory at the CME Group Tour Championship and a host of year-end accolades.
From there she married her sweetheart, Jun Chung, Dec. 30 at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.
“I had a few weeks to prepare. for this one, but I played a lot of golf, maybe a bit too much golf, on my honeymoon,” said Ko. “But my husband loves golf and that’s something that we can mutually do together, so we took advantage of that. And actually, thanks to him it made my transition into off-season practice a lot easier.
“Yeah, if somebody said, hey, you’re going to play eight rounds of golf over two weeks on your honeymoon I probably would’ve laughed at that person, but it became reality and I had so much fun.”
She even recorded an ace alongside Chung on her honeymoon.
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Ko, who won this event in 2021, recorded eight birdies on Thursday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in a bogey-free round, noting that she felt really confident with her putter. The Kiwi started the season with a new caddie, hiring veteran David Jones for the season.
“The wind is such a big factor on this golf course,” she said, “so when it’s playing to your advantage you kind of want to use that.”
Lydia Ko wins 2021 Aramco Saudi Ladies International (courtesy Aramco)
The Saudi Ladies International, a Ladies European Tour-sanctioned event, features 15 of the top 30 players in the Rolex Rankings. The $5 million prize fund now matches that of the men’s event in Saudi. It’s the largest purse in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($7 million).
The LET’s Saudi-backed events, which total six in 2023, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Last season’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, Atthaya Thitikul, is one stroke back along with recent LET winner Aditi Ashok and Jung Min Hong. Ashok won the Magical Kenya Ladies Open earlier this month and followed it with a third place last week in Morocco.
Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented By Public Investment Fund, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 16-19 February. Aditi Ashok of India during the first round. Credit: Tristan Jones/ LET
A total of 13 major champions are in this week’s field, including Lexi Thompson, who opened with an even-par 72 with bogeys on two of the par 5s. Three-time major winners In Gee Chun and Anna Nordqvist opened with a 70 and 75, respectively.
Nordqvist, one of several female professionals personally sponsored by Golf Saudi, recently told the Swedish news agency TT that she had ended her deal with the Saudis. Nordqvist wore an Aramco Team Series hat when she won the 2021 AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie and had the Golf Saudi logo on her sleeve.
Nordqvist said her decision to part ways had to do with the backlash she received from the partnership, and that she will continue to play in Aramco-sponsored events throughout the season.
“It didn’t really turn out the way I thought it would,” Nordqvist told TT in an interview.
“I need to think about myself and I haven’t felt good about this,” she said, adding: “I wasn’t really prepared to get such an incredible amount of hatred and mean comments from people who don’t even know me.”
The 2023 Ladies European Tour season begins this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, the first of 30 events on a schedule that boasts a record-setting 35 million euros (roughly $38 million) in prize money. Meghan MacLaren, a three-time winner on the LET, is grateful for the perspective of what tour life was like only a short time ago, when the schedule was half that size and it was possible to finish 20th on the money list and still lose money.
Players voted in late 2019 for the LPGA and LET to form a joint venture partnership, with the goal of using shared resources to strengthen the struggling tour, increasing playing opportunities in Europe in particular.
“If we hadn’t had that partnership when COVID hit,” said MacLaren, “I think a lot of us know that things would be drastically different now, and the tour might not be operating at all, and I don’t think that’s a stretch to say.”
Of course, something else happened around that time to strengthen the LET: the investment of Aramco and the Public Investment Fund.
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In addition to this month’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International on the LET, which features a $5 million purse, there are five stops around the world in the Aramco Team Series. Total prize money for all six Saudi-backed events on the LET is $10 million.
With two majors accounting for $13.8 million in prize money, Saudi money represents more than 40 percent of what remains.
The LET now finds itself in a position to attract more players to its tour, players to its tour, which stands in stark contrast to a short time ago, when many fled to what’s now the Epson Tour seeking opportunities.
The minimum purse on the LET this season is 300,000 euros. Last season, there were 11 events with purses below that mark. MacLaren looks at the La Sella Open in Spain and its $1 million purse as a strong sign of positive momentum given that a sponsor outside of Aramco put up a seven-figure purse.
What’s more, the schedule has a better logistical flow.
There are three years left on the LPGA-LET joint venture contract, and the possibility of the LPGA merging with the LET has been a point of conversation for many months now. It was expected that LET players would vote late last year on the merger, but that never happened.
The two sides, it would seem, are still working out the details of what a potential merger would look like.
“So at this point we didn’t ask for a vote on the merger. We went on a tour, a listening tour, to hear from the LET players and things that have worked well for them, things that they need, areas of investment that they still are looking for and then talked to our LPGA players,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, when asked about the matter last November at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“For us, we just want to make sure that there are clear pathways for women’s golf, and that the best players in the world can make a living and live their dreams through golf.”
Players on both tours are interested in understanding more about the long-term vision for both tours. It’s important to many LET players that their tour retains its identity. That its future potential with sponsors – like Aramco, for example – isn’t at all curtailed by the LPGA.
One veteran player said that after Marcoux Samaan and another tour official came over to speak with LET players in separate meetings last year, many had their minds eased about financial concerns. Some remain skeptical, she said, but it would seem that more would vote in favor of a merge.
An LPGA official said there’s nothing new to update on the matter since the CME; multiple requests by Golfweek to speak to LET officials went unanswered.
LET CEO Alexandra Armas (courtesy Aramco Team Series)
LPGA players want to know more details, such as the number of cards that would go to top LET players and where those players would they rank on the LPGA priority list compared to Epson Tour graduates.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai got her start on the LET and believes the competition on that tour now is as strong, if not stronger, than the Epson Tour.
“They’ve got to test themselves and still try to keep (their card) over here,” said Buhai. “That’s the hard part. But you’ve proven that you can play and compete at a high level; I don’t see why not.”
Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who is a member of both tours, said last November at the CME she believed both sides are looking for more communication.
“Until we know what it would mean,” she said, “it’s really hard to make up your mind.”
MacLaren looks at the fracturing that has taken place in men’s golf and feels it would make sense for the women’s tours to be more closely aligned.
“God help us if there’s a LIV women’s tour,” said Liz Young, an LET veteran and board member. “I just don’t think any tour is strong enough to fight that.”
Young would also like to see the LET and LPGA merge, citing that her No. 1 goal as a board member is to make it easier for players to make a living.
“Hopefully we can get to that point where we can be as one,” said Young. “Because I think that’s the best for golf.”
Of course, what’s squarely in the middle of all of this is the question marks that surround doing business with the Saudis. The Aramco events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
As it currently stands, the LPGA can somewhat distance itself from Aramco while being part of an alliance. But should the LET fall completely under the umbrella of the LPGA, some observers question if existing and future LPGA sponsors might choose to distance themselves from the LPGA because of Aramco’s large presence. And if so, how many?
On the other hand, LET players might wonder how much the LPGA could hold them back from bigger purses at Aramco events. Could the PIF pump so much money into the LET that it one day becomes the LPGA’s rival?
The flip side to that, of course, is that the LET becomes so dependent on Saudi money that it couldn’t survive without it. And there’s no telling how long the Saudis will want to remain so heavily invested in women’s golf.
It remains a time when there seem to be far more questions than answers, even from a philosophical standpoint.
“We’re constantly talking about hypotheticals,” said MacLaren.
Meghan MacLaren of England tees off on the 18th hole during the first round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics at Galgorm Castle Golf Club on August 11, 2022 in Galgorm, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The 28-year-old Englishwoman has become one of golf’s most thoughtful players. MacLaren took a hard stance early on, skipping Saudi events over sportswashing concerns. Playing in Saudi Arabia, she said, didn’t fit with her values.
Now, she has committed to playing in the big-money Aramco Saudi Ladies International later this month. MacLaren said she didn’t come to the decision lightly, but as Saudi Arabia continues to bolster its presence in golf and other sports, she had to take another look.
“At some point you have to reconcile,” said MacLaren, “this is my competitive nature and my profession versus how do I want to live my life? What do I want to stand up for?
“You have a voice to a certain point, but also, the better golfer I am and the more recognizable golfer I am, the louder I can use that voice.”
So while she’s still wrestling with tough questions, MacLaren has decided that staying in the game – playing in the big events – is the best way for her promote change.
“At the end of the day, money is power,” said MacLaren. “We live in a world where that is the truth, and you can’t get around that. How you choose to use that money will say a lot about who you are as a person.”
To this point, LET players competing for Saudi money have received far less attention and criticism than what male players who joined LIV have faced. MacLaren said her honest answer is that people don’t care as much. The profile of women’s golf is so much smaller compared to men’s golf, she continued, noting that there aren’t 15 journalists at press conferences asking tough questions.
“In terms of how golf is covered,” she said, “I don’t think the exposure is the same, and therefore, the criticism isn’t to the same level.”
Players will compete for a $5 million purse, with the winner earning $750,000.
The Aramco Saudi Ladies International has announced that 13 major winners will be included in this year’s field, highlighted by World No. 1 Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun, Danielle Kang and defending champ Georgia Hall.
The event, which is the presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, takes place Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and features an upgraded purse of $5 million. More LPGA stars are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The 120-player field will feature 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and a maximum of 10 sponsor invites. The winner will receive $750,000.
The tournament’s purse is up from $1 million last year and now matches the men’s event, the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will be held Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens.
“Equal pay in golf has been something that all of us in the women’s game have wanted for so long,” said Thompson in a release, “so seeing that huge prize purse increase at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF to match the men’s tournament was extremely heartening. For us, it’s always been about feeling equal and we are all focused on growing the game to leave in a much better place for future generation of female golfers.”
In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2023 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of those events last year include LPGA players Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Thompson.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
The 13 major winners in the Saudi Ladies International field boast 18 major titles between them.
Chun, a three-time major major winner, will make her first trip to Saudi Arabia later this month.
“I’m excited to finally visit Saudi Arabia,” Chun said in a release. “I’m also looking forward to an event that is expected to elevate women’s golf in all parts of the global community. It will definitely be a great early season challenge with a very strong field competing.”
Added Hall: “It’s a massive boost for the women’s game, and it also goes beyond golf as it’s what women in sport deserve. We are all thoroughly grateful to Golf Saudi for what it’s doing for women’s golf.
The Ladies European Tour begins its 2023 season this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
Here are the 13 major winners set to play later this month in Saudi Arabia (with world ranking):
The 120-player field in Saudi will feature 60 LET players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings.
The Aramco Saudi Ladies International has announced that Lydia Ko is confirmed for the field in mid-February. The World No. 1 and newlywed won the event in 2021, though this year’s field will compete for a substantially larger purse. The $5 million prize fund is the largest in Ladies European Tour history outside of the majors.
The 2023 LPGA season kicks off later this month with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona, where Ko has a home. The deadline to enter the TOC is 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 10, and so far, Ko, who is honeymooning, is not on the confirmed list.
The Saudi Ladies International will take place at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club from Feb. 16-19, ahead of the LPGA’s Asian swing featuring stops in Thailand, Singapore and China. There’s a one-month break on the LPGA schedule between the TOC and the Asian swing.
Lydia Ko poses for a photo with the Vare Trophy, the Rolex Player of the Year trophy and the CME Globe trophy after winning the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 20, 2022 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Ko won three times last season, including the CME Group Tour Championship in November, and rose to No. 1 once again after the season concluded. She married Jun Chung on Dec. 30 at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. It’s possible that the Saudi stop will be her first event in 2023.
“I remember my time at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International very fondly,” Ko said in a release, “having won the title here a few years back. I’m looking forward to returning to Saudi Arabia in a few months to build on my 2022.”
The 120-player field in Saudi will feature 60 LET players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and a maximum of 10 sponsor invites. The winner will receive $750,000.
“I’m thrilled to see golf is moving in the direction towards equal prize money,” Ko continued, “it is something I believe all the ladies on tour have been striving hard for. I’m grateful to those backing the women’s game who have believed in us and are committed to taking the sport to the next level. We’re moving in the right direction, and I believe it’s only going to get much better from here for women’s golf.”
In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2023 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of last year’s Aramco Team events include Manon De Roey, Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson. The final event in the series takes place in Saudi Arabia.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Will a country that continues to discriminate against women save some of that life-changing money for them?
NAPLES, Florida — Billions of dollars in startup money. $20 million purses. $4 million winners’ checks.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund showed it would spare nothing to make sure its controversial LIV Golf Series got a foothold.
Now the focus shifts to a possible women’s LIV Golf series and if a country that continues to discriminate against women will save some of that life-changing money for them.
CEO Greg Norman was asked by the Palm Beach Post in July if LIV Golf would venture into the women’s side.
“One hundred percent. Drop the mic on that,” he said. “We have discussed it internally, the opportunity is there.”
That comment got the attention of LPGA golfers. Some are sending out warning signals to the LPGA.
“I think a lot of women would go because it’s a big difference,” Spaniard Carlota Ciganda said this week from the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. “If they are asking you to go to Saudi and they are going to pay you $5 million, what would you do? Would you stay here? Would you go and take the money?
“I understand both points. I don’t think it’s right or wrong. You have some political ideas but at the same time this is our job and if you have an opportunity somewhere else why not take advantage and go.”
Madelene Sagstrom, a six-year LPGA veteran from Sweden, has noted the rivalry LIV created with PGA Tour and the friction between those who defected from the tour and those who have remained loyal.
Sagstrom is not sure the LPGA Tour could survive a similar conflict.
“I think the LPGA will have to handle it differently than the PGA Tour,” Sagstrom said. “We’re a little bit more vulnerable I would say.”
Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden looks on during the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield on Aug. 7, 2022, in Gullane, Scotland. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
Following the Palm Beach Post’s report in July, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan told the London Times “she would engage in a conversation” with LIV if it means promoting women’s golf, but added a there are “a lot of factors to consider” before the LPGA would do business with LIV Golf.
Marcoux Samaan declined to speculate further when asked this week about LIV entering the women’s golf business.
“As a steward of the game we’re just really listening and learning,” she said. “We don’t know what the intentions are. We’re really just focused on us.”
The golfers’ focus certainly has been on the LPGA and more specifically the $2 million check for this week’s winner. But the disparity in the money on the LPGA Tour compared to the PGA Tour and LIV gets the attention of most women on the tour.
LIV distributed $255 million in prize money and bonuses for eight events this year. That number will jump to $405 million for 14 events next year. The PGA Tour prize purses for a 47-event 2022-23 season will increase to $428.6 million.
The LPGA approached $90 million for 34 tournaments this season. Included is the $7 million purse for this week’s Tour Championship.
World No. 15 Charley Hull of England believes many of her peers would seriously consider a LIV invite if it included life-altering paychecks.
“I think maybe they would,” she said. “I think it would be a very hard one but if the LIV tour did come along and they did offer you something, you’d be mad not to have a look and consider it.”
LIV Golf, which will be rebranded as the LIV Golf League in 2023, has drawn heavy criticism because of Saudi Arabia’s repeated human rights violations. And not only are women repressed, women’s rights activists and political prisoners reportedly have been sexually assaulted, tortured, and killed in Saudi Arabian detention cells.
But unlike the men, women’s golf already has ties to Saudi Arabia. Aramco, the Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company, is in partnership with the Ladies European Tour. The Saudi-backed Aramco Team Series takes place across three continents. A team series aligns with LIV Golf’s team concept that has become the most popular feature of its men’s series.
The Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF is Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City and has a $5 million purse, up from $1 million in 2022.
Several LPGA golfers are sponsored by Aramco, some promoting Golf Saudi on shirts and hat. Georgia Hall, ranked 31st in the world, was last year’s winner of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International. She said this week “a lot of factors would matter” if LIV started a women’s league and she was pursued.
Lexi Thompson of the USA during the final round of the Aramco Series. (Contributed photo)
“Investors coming in like they are, putting a lot of money into golf in general is a good thing for women,” she said. “It’s definitely interesting to see if there will be a LIV women’s tour.”
The final Aramco Team Series event for the 2022 season was at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point in New York and won by Lexi Thompson. Thompson’s relationship with Donald Trump could be a factor if she had a decision to make.
Thompson, No. 7 in the world and from Delray Beach, is a longtime member at Trump International in West Palm Beach and golfed with Trump while he was president. Trump has aligned himself with LIV Golf and next year at least three LIV events will be held at his properties.
Thompson and current world No. 1 Nelly Korda of Sarasota were asked about a possible future union with LIV.
“No opportunities have been brought upon us or the tour,” Thompson said. “I know Mollie said that she would have conversations but that’s not in our control. We are just doing what we can on our tour.”
Korda won the individual title at the Aramco Team Series event at Sotogrande in Spain in August.
“My eyes are set on the LPGA,” she said. “That’s all speculation to me. I’m focusing on the LPGA Tour and what’s in front of me and with all the LIV stuff going on, that’s all speculation and I don’t focus on speculations.”
Now, all eyes and ears will be on what Norman and LIV Golf have in store for the women.
