Tag: PIF

Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang and In Gee Chun among 13 major winners in upcoming Saudi Ladies International field

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):

World No. 3 Cameron Smith to highlight field at 2023 PIF Saudi International

Past champs include Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell and Harold Varner, all part of LIV Golf.

World No. 3 Cameron Smith will highlight the field for the fifth playing of the PIF Saudi International next month in the Kingdom.

Smith is set to join defending champion Harold Varner III and the top-30 ranked players on the Asian Tour at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Feb. 2-5, with more players to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

“It’s always good to play in a world-class field, I am looking forward to taking on some familiar faces and also competing with the best that the Asian Tour has to offer,” said Smith via a release. The event offers a $5 million purse and is sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as well as SoftBank Investment Advisers, a growth equity firm.

Past champions of the Golf Saudi event include Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell and Varner, three players who have all joined LIV Golf.

The event will be the same week as the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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Report: LIV Golf planned for all-star board members such as Michael Jordan, Condoleezza Rice and top-level business executives

The New York Times report analyzed hundreds of confidential documents from a proposal conducted for the PIF.

LIV Golf doesn’t just want big names on the course.

According to a New York Times report, the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit “considered assembling an all-star board of business, sports, legal and political titans” including the likes of NBA legend Michael Jordan, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as business executives Ginni Rometty (former IBM chief executive), Randall Stephenson (former AT&T chairman) and Mark Parker (Nike executive chairman).

“I didn’t know I was on the list, and I have never been approached,” Stephenson said to the Times. A board member for the PGA Tour, Stephenson said he’d decline if LIV asked, noting that “it would be a quick conversation.”

A player handbook said a LIV board would include 10 members, but the Times reported nine of those identified as targets had never been approached.

The findings came from a larger Times article that analyzed hundreds of confidential documents from Project Wedge, a proposal conducted for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The PIF is governed by Yasir al-Rumayyan, who also serves as chairman of the Saudi Arabian Golf Federation, English Premier League team Newcastle United and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned petroleum company which serves as a sponsor for the Ladies European Tour.

With the PIF as its monetary backer, LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Not to mention, members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

Experts told the Times that Saudi Arabia’s $2 billion investment shows the Kingdom “has aspirations beyond the financial.”

“The margins might be thin, but that doesn’t really matter,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris, said to the Times. “Because subsequently you’re establishing the legitimacy of Saudi Arabia — not just as an event host or a sporting powerhouse, but legitimate in the eyes of decision makers and governments around the world.”

McKinsey & Company, a longtime Saudi adviser dating back to the 1970s, analyzed the finances of a new golf league and deemed LIV to be “a high-risk high-reward endeavor.” The Times also reported a McKinsey document that detailed 12 top players targeted by LIV. Only four – Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson – have signed so far.

A day after Tiger Woods unloaded on LIV’s leadership and called for CEO Greg Norman to lose his job, LIV recently announced part of its schedule for 2023, where 12 teams and 48 individuals will compete for a total of $405 million in prize purses. Rosters for the new season, the first as the re-branded LIV Golf League, have yet to be finalized.

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Public Investment Fund named new title sponsor of controversial Saudi International, which features four of world’s top 15 players

A few more big names were added to the field for next month’s event.

The controversial Saudi International has a new title sponsor and an even stronger field set to compete next month.

On Monday the Public Investment Fund, which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was announced as the new title sponsor of the event Feb. 3-6 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

A few more names were added to the field, including Patrick Reed – who has played in each Saudi International since its debut in 2019 – and last year’s runner-up, Tony Finau. Matthew Wolff, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Victor Perez will make their debuts.

The Saudi International is the same week as the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. That long-running event at one of the best sites on Tour each year will see a diminished field because so many players committed to play in Saudi Arabia.

Previously announced players for the Saudi International include 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson, two-time Saudi International champion Dustin Johnson, 2020 champion Graeme McDowell as well as Abraham Ancer, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, Adri Arnaus, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Paul Casey, Jason Dufner, Shane Lowry, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Harold Varner III, Jhonattan Vegas and Bubba Watson.

“We have a truly world-class international field assembling for the 2022 edition of the Saudi International. The mix of the world’s best players from across the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific will make this year our most anticipated yet,” said Majed Al-Sorour, CEO and Deputy Chairman of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation via a release. “Bringing together strong fields for our international men’s and women’s events has shown to play a vital role in driving participation and engagement in the sport in Saudi Arabia.

“The commitment from our long-term partners at the PIF to take the title position on the event has provided further recognition that the event has reached a level of strategic importance for Saudi Arabia, impacting our schools and grassroots programs as well as our rapidly improving national teams as part of the long journey we’re on in Saudi Arabia.”

More from the release: “A particular focus of PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers will be enhancing the event’s current work on sustainability, innovation, women and youth. A key goal will be to further accelerate the transformation of the Saudi International and be a leading example for golf events globally.”

Since the inaugural Saudi International in 2019, the tournament has been widely criticized as part of the Saudi government’s effort to “sportswash” its human rights abuses, same with LIV Golf Investments, the new golf venture led by Greg Norman that’s also backed by the PIF. The fund’s chairman is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s king.

In its first year as part of the Asian Tour schedule, the 2022 Saudi International features the strongest field in the history of the tour.  In 2021 the Saudis made a $100 million investment in the Asian Tour.

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