4 February 2020, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:  The 2021 Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers – the Kingdom’s leading global golf tournament – tees-off in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) today, bringing the sport’s biggest and best names back to the Red Sea coast for another four days of thrilling golf.

 

This is the third year of the European Tour event, which has $3.5million in prize money up for grabs and is the final leg of the Tour’s season-opening ‘Desert Swing’.

 

While the pandemic means the tournament will be held without any fans, it is still expected to be one of the biggest Saudi sporting broadcasts of all time, with all four-days being beamed to 330million homes on six continents and KSA Sports broadcasting live across the Kingdom.

 

With that being the case, here is the low-down on everything you need to know about the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, to ensure you’re gripped this weekend!

 

• Third time out…third new champion? The debut Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers took place in January 2019 and was won by the current world #1, USA’s Dustin Johnson, who shot a 19-under-par 261 – the still-standing tournament record. Last year’s 2020 outing was won by Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who shot a total of 12-under-par to beat Johnson by just two shots. Could this year’s tournament crown a third different champion? Or could in-form Johnson return to claim back his title?

 

• The jewel in the crown of Saudi golf courses: The tournament is held at the Kingdom’s finest golf course – Royal Greens Golf & Country Club – which sits on the Red Sea coastline in KAEC. Spread over 40-hectares, its 18 holes are at their pristine best – and greenest of green – ahead of this Thursday’s opening rounds. How are they kept so green? Well, with a lot of water: an extraordinary 4,000m3 of water each day, to be precise – enough to fill nearly two Olympic-size swimming pools, every day!

 

• An unrivalled field packed with the world’s best: There are big names in golf, then there are huge names in golf – and most of them are in Saudi Arabia this week! World #1 Dustin Johnson leads the way, joined by the likes of five-time Major-winner Phil Mickelson, big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose, reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na…the list goes on and on! Put more simply: there’s 22 Major Championship wins, more than 900 international victories and 29 Ryder Cup players in the field!

 

 

• The best of local talent: Three Saudi players will tee it up from today (Thursday): the Kingdom’s only professional player Othman Almulla, plus amateur stars Saud AlSharif and Faisal Salhab. All three competed last year and return this year feeling good about how they’re playing and hopeful of becoming the first Saudi players to make the cut in the tournament.

 

• The next stage of growing the game in Saudi Arabia: This is the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers third staging and follows last year’s debut Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund. With the event being broadcast live across the Kingdom on KSA Sports, it offers yet another prime opportunity for Saudis to get to grips with golf as the game continues to grow nationwide.

 

How you can be involved: The tournament begins today (Thursday), and runs every day until its concluding rounds on Sunday. As well as being broadcast live on KSA Sports, fans and newcomers to the game can engage online via the tournament’s social media channels, which already this week have been packed with exclusive behind the scenes footage and loads of fun content explaining everything around the tournament and golf in general.