JEDDAH: Golfers and officials expect the maiden European Tour event to be staged in the Kingdom next year to help promote and grow the game in Saudi Arabia.
It was announced last month that the professional golf event will take place Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City and will form part of the Tour’s early-season Desert Swing in the beginning of 2019.
Broadcast to 150 countries, the four-day event will raise the profile of Saudi Arabia and establish it on the sporting map, as well as nourishing the game at grassroots level.
“The event will bring Saudi Arabian golf to the world’s attention,” said Khaled Abunayyan, the former president of Saudi Golf Federation. “With our new young leadership, golf will prosper especially with the intention of building more golf courses to make it accessible to the public. The event will encourage, I hope, more Saudis to take up the game, especially due to the TV and media coverage of the European Tour. I am looking forward to attending this event.”
While it hosted the Pan Arab Golf Championship for the first time in 2008, won the team and individual title at the Pan Arab Golf Championship in 2016 in Muscat and also hosted three MENA Tour events, Saudi Arabia’s is not a rich golfing history. The prospect of joining Gulf neighbors UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar in hosting a Tour event had remained a pipe dream.
“It’s something, to be honest, I never thought would happen in my lifetime,” said top Saudi golfer Othman Almulla. “We’re always envious of Dubai for having European Tour events, Bahrain has had one and now Oman. Thankfully officials have been pushing the sport very vigorously in the last few months and we’ve borne the fruit of the tree, I guess.”
Almulla became the first Saudi, and youngest Arab, amateur golfer to qualify and play in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2007. He got to rub shoulders with Tiger Woods.
Almulla and his countrymen will now fight it out to land wildcards to play in the event on home soil next year.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play in three Tour events and to have that experience. I hope to share that experience with the guys for when they qualify to play,” Almulla said. “I’m sure we’ll get some spots to play and make the cut. I believe any one of us can make the cut in any European Tour event. Those are our ambitions. We work hard every single day and we push each every single day to achieve those goals.”
Faisal Salhab, 21, is one of the six very competitive Saudi players. “It’s very positive as it will bring attention to the sport and that exposure will open the way for youngsters to have a new sport to participate in,” he said. “Having a European Tour event here is a big step for golf in Saudi Arabia, and I won’t be surprised if there will be a surge of new golfers in the Kingdom.”
The course at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club is a par 72 and stretches along the Red Sea coastline. “The facilities that have opened in KAEC are outstanding and the golf course is very well designed. It will be great to have the best players in the world test it out,” said Salhab. “I have very high expectations of this tournament. As a Saudi national team player, I am very proud and excited that this is going to take place in the Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, Bouchaib El-Jadiani, a Moroccan former PGA professional, said: “We all know the world’s golf courses, now the world will know Saudi Arabia’s golf courses. I’m really proud of having the European Tour in Saudi Arabia. It’s a dream come true. In terms of golf, the Kingdom is now on the map, a golfing destination. Having the European Tour event will go a long way to getting a lot of Saudi youngsters into the game of golf.”
Eamonn Hanlon, the general manager at Nofa Resorts, said: “I welcome any development that will promote the sport of golf in Saudi Arabia.
“I hope that the publicity surrounding this event, along with the ongoing promotion of healthier lifestyles, will encourage more Saudi men and women to take up golf as a healthy hobby. I also hope that, in the future, the relevant authorities will consider bringing such an event to the Riyadh region where some of the older and more established golf clubs are situated.”