Innovative new golf format swings in for Saudi Ladies Team International

The 16th hole at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. (Supplied)

Captains to use live NFL-style draft system to select first pro teammate – with random draw for second

JEDDAH: Golf Saudi on Thursday unveiled the format for next month’s debut Saudi Ladies Team International, a first-of-its-kind tournament that will see 36 team captains recruit their players using a live NFL-style draft system, before competing for a share of $500,000 prize money.

To be held  Nov. 17 and 19, the team contest will be the first ever points-earning Ladies European Tour (LET) event where professionals play alongside amateur golfers with team and individual scoring running concurrently.

The event will take place two days after the Kingdom’s maiden women’s golf tournament, the $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Each captain will recruit one fellow LET pro to their team using a draft system similar to that in NFL, NBA, and other franchise leagues, and can base their pick on anything – whether that be current form, ranking, or purely friendship. Their remaining LET professional teammate will be selected at random, with the team being completed by one amateur player.

The team of four will then play three rounds at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in the Saudi coastal resort of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), where each team’s best two individual scores will be combined at the end of each round — with amateurs on three quarters of their official playing handicap.

The team with the lowest total score after all three days will be declared the champion and will see its three professionals take home a winning share of the $300,000 prize fund.

The lowest-scoring professional across the three days — who may well come from a losing team — will themselves be rewarded with a share of the $200,000 individual prize fund.

Golf Saudi CEO Majed Al-Sorour, said: “The Saudi Ladies Team International is a completely new and innovative tournament format not seen before on any Tour.

“Alongside the LET, it is a chance to grow the women’s game in new and exciting ways — and follows the first-ever professional women’s golf event to be played in Saudi Arabia earlier in the week.

“The players love team golf and will enjoy this unique opportunity to try a new format through our groundbreaking and exciting

draft system.

“We understand the impact the pandemic has had on Tour golf this year, particularly in the women’s game, so we wanted to do everything we could around the debut Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF to benefit the players across our double-header golf week in making it competitive, fun, and rewarding,” Al-Sorour added.

The Saudi Ladies Team International will hold world-ranking Rolex points for Tour professionals, with Solheim Cup qualification points and Race to Costa del Sol points also up for grabs.

Each day will have a two-tee start, and amateurs — who will be tournament guests — will receive three quarters of their full handicap allowance.

The tournament will be the second event of what has been dubbed Saudi “women’s week of golf,” with the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF taking place from Nov. 12 to 15 — only the second-ever international, professional women-only sports event held in the Kingdom.

Players already confirmed include Major-winning Georgia Hall, Solheim Cup hero and former LET Order of Merit winner Charley Hull, Wales’ Amy Boulden, and Camilla Lennarth of Sweden. Many more will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

For more information about both the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF and the Saudi Ladies Team International, visit www.golfsaudi.com/en-us/ladies-international.