Of course, the headline is provocative, and there is certainly no question of a team mode, a franchise concept or even poaching established golfing greats. But the fact that Saudi Arabia is casting covetous glances at women’s golf was already hinted at by its former calorifier Greg Norman during his time in office. Now Riyadh has manifested this interest and donated a Global Series to the European Ladies Tour (LET), initially with five events in five countries, financed and supported by the sovereign wealth fund PIF. In return, the Aramco Team Series has been dropped or renamed.
The PIF Global Series is organized and hosted by the LET, four of the five tournaments are endowed with two million dollars, plus the PIF Saudi Ladies International with a pot of five million dollars. Attentive observers of the women’s golf scene will have noticed that the first two competitions have already taken place: In February, Jeeno Thitikul won 675,000 dollars at the PIF Saudi Ladies International, and last weekend Korean Hyo Joo Kim celebrated a home victory in Seoul. Other venues include the Centurion Club near London (August 8-10), Houston (September 5-7) and Mission Hills in Shenzen, China (November 6-8).
As in the LIV Golf League, the PIF Global Series also has a team and an individual ranking, and PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan is sticking to his vision of team golf. The captains are named based on the world rankings and can then put together their teams. Europe’s figurehead Charley Hull is naturally delighted – and not just because the Englishwoman is an ambassador for Saudi Golf anyway. In view of the generally low prize money at the LET, such multi-million dollar commitments are more than welcome. “Golf Saudi and PIF have shown themselves to be true trailblazers for women’s golf and have once again demonstrated their commitment to equal opportunities,” said Hull. Who would have thought that the Saudis would be talked about like this?