Sandwich, England: Two-time PGA Tour winner and world number 24 Jason Kokrak is the second international ambassador to join Golf Saudi in 2021, following on from icon of the game Gary Player in April.

One of the in-form players of the last 12 months, American Kokrak will support Golf Saudi in its journey to bring golf to new audiences both globally and within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

News of Kokrak’s ambassadorship was announced at the 149th Open at Royal St George’s, where he entered the weekend in joint 53rd place on even-par.

As part of his new role with Golf Saudi, Kokrak will look to share his insights on how golf can reach new audiences and ensure its future development. Kokrak has been positive in his support of Golf Saudi’s plans to date and at the start of 2021 he played in his first Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, where he made the cut, finishing tied 41st. 

“Watching Jason star in this year’s Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, it was clear his form was going from strength-to-strength,” said Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi, an Executive Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

He added: “This is a player who has won at the big tournaments and has also featured in the Masters twice, appeared in eight PGA championships and five US Opens.

“At Golf Saudi we think his winning journey is just getting started and as such we feel this is the right time to develop a strong mutual working partnership, learn from his winning mentality and leverage that to support our on-going development in terms of growing the game of golf in Saudi Arabia.”

Kokrak, who won his first two PGA Tour titles in the past nine months, said: “It was fantastic to come over as a guest of Golf Saudi earlier this year and compete in my first Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. During my visit I was lucky enough to see the work that is being done to draw more people to our sport, particularly young boys and girls. 

“Golf Saudi is doing amazing things for the game, whether it’s through their Mass Participation programmes to drive youth engagement or their efforts to ensure environmental sustainability is taken seriously within the sport.

“For me, it’s a real honour to be named as Golf Saudi’s newest ambassador and to work alongside one of the most forward-thinking entities within golf currently. I’d like to share my own insights with them and do my part in terms of growing golf within the Kingdom, while also telling my own fans about the many marvels that Saudi Arabia has to offer.”

The 2020/2021 season has seen Kokrak perform consistently well on both the PGA and European Tours.

His first victory came in the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, where he saw off Xander Schauffele. His rich vein of form continued in 2021, overcoming Jordan Spieth to scoop his second Tour victory in just 17 starts. That success saw him rocket up the world rankings to a career high of 22nd and put him in contention for the US Ryder Cup team.