Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Prince Khalid bin Saud Al-Faisal, Advisor to the Saudi Golf Federation, and Mohammed Al-Issa, Executive Manager of the Saudi Golf Federation, oversaw the launch of the sixth Saudi Open Golf Championship.

The tournament gets underway today at Riyadh Golf Club. Participation in the tournament is open to all professional and amateur golfers in the Middle East and North Africa who are registered with any golf club. 

The tournament is expected to receive wide interest from golf fans inside and outside the Kingdom.

The Saudi Open will see the participation of the most prominent players from the GCC and Arab countries, in addition to Saudi Arabia’s growing home talents from the national team, who have all gone from strength to strength in recent years, as part of Golf Saudi’s wider Mass Participation programme to grow the game of golf in the Kingdom.  

In a press conference to mark the event, Saudi Golf Federation’s Mohammed Al-Issa said: “We are proud to announce the launch of the sixth Saudi Open, which will give Saudi and Arab golf players the opportunity to participate in sports competitions of this kind.

“The events are a great opportunity for players to develop their skill levels and interact with players from different countries in the Middle East and North Africa in a competitive environment.” 

The tournament will witness the participation of the most prominent Saudi players, including the first and only Saudi professional player Othman Almulla, along with national team players Abdulrahman Al-Mansour, Faisal Salhab and Saud Al Sharif.

All four players will be in good spirits following encouraging performances on the Asian Tour in Thailand, where they were in action at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship and the Laguna Phuket Championship over the past fotnight. 

The Saudi Open represents a qualification opportunity for the 2022 Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will be held next February.  

The Saudi Open is part of a group of events that Golf Saudi holds annually to raise awareness of the game in the Kingdom as well as developing home-grown future talent.

By holding such events, Golf Saudi, an Executive Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation, is looking to increase the number of golfers throughout the Kingdom within all age groups and demographics.

By working with other sports federations and the Ministry of Sport, Golf Saudi, the commercial development arm of the Saudi Golf Federation, is looking to underline the wider benefit of sports participation more generally as part of Saudi Arabia’s progress towards its Vision 2030 goals to improve its citizens quality of life.