Five things to know as the European Tour heads to Royal Greens G&CC for the third edition of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisors.
Third Edition
This week’s Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers marks the final event of this year’s Desert Swing, boasting an impressive field that includes 13 Major champions and four of the World’s top ten.
One of those is World Number One Dustin Johnson, who won the event in 2019. He is joined by defending champion and fellow Major winner Graeme McDowell, who defeated Johnson by two shots to win last year’s title.
Royal Greens
Situated at the heart of King Abdullah Economic City, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club is the Kingdom’s premier 18-hole championship golf course and clubhouse, boasting a panoramic view of the Red Sea coast as its spectacular natural backdrop.
Designed by European Golf Design and managed by Troon, the par-72 course has a maximum length of just over 6,900 yards and is the only grass course on the west coast of Saudi Arabia.
McDowell defends
Graeme McDowell memorably ended a 2,037 day wait for his 11th European Tour title at the second edition of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers last year.
Since then, McDowell has somewhat struggled with form, but he is now hopeful that coming back to Saudi as defending champion will renew that momentum.
“I would love to get some of that momentum back again this week,” he said. “That would be really, really awesome.
“When you come to a place with good memories, it's easy to visualise yourself being successful around a place when you've played well, and I think that's one of the big things missing for me right now is that little bit of confidence and belief in my ability to make enough birdies to score well to compete.
“It's been a disappointing Middle East so far. Missed by a few last week in Dubai. Would dearly love to play well this week and get my season kicked off. I'm bullish about the year and got to get it started somewhere, so hopefully it's this week.”
Stars making their debut
Fresh from victories at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton are both set to make their tournaments debuts this week.
For Hatton, having the chance to compete in a premium field provides added motivation to capture both World Ranking and Ryder Cup points.
“Obviously this week, we've got huge World Ranking points on offer. It's an added incentive,” Hatton said. “A little bit more motivation. But also we've got Ryder Cup points to play for. So there's plenty of things this week that you're motivated for, and it will certainly be a great event to have a really good week. I'll be trying my best to do that, and looking forward to getting started on Thursday.”
Other debutants include Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau, Kevin Na, and Viktor Hovland, who finished in a tie for third during his last European Tour start at the DP World Tour Championship.
Ryder Cup Points
The European Points List restarted in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago in the race to qualify for the team that will take on the United States at Whistling Straits in September.
Last week, the biggest moves on the points lists came from Paul Casey, Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland.
Casey moved up to 37 places to 14th on the European Points list and 20 places into 6th on the World Points list – which currently puts him in the team heading to Whistling Straits. He’s one of six players who occupy the nine automatic qualification spots teeing up this week. Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton (European Points List), and Victor Perez, Danny Willett, Bernd Wiesberger (World Points List) are the others.
Meanwhile, MacIntyre moved up three places to tenth on the European Points list, and up five places to 11th on the World Points. Hovland moved up six spots to 13th on the World Points, and both players will be hoping to improve their positions further this week as they bid to make Pádraig Harrington’s team.
