Sergio Garcia believes that the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers is already on its way to becoming a world class event as he gets ready to tee up in King Abdullah Economic City.
The 2017 Masters Tournament winner has hailed the quality of the star-studded field with World Number One Brooks Koepka, defending champion Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Bernd Wiesberger and reigning Open Champion Shane Lowry among others heading to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
Johnson claimed victory by two shots during the inaugural event last year and the Spaniard believes having the stellar names from world golf can only help develop the sport in countries such as Saudi Arabia.
"I think it's very important. At the end of the day, we are trying to globalise the game of golf as much as possible and bring it to everywhere we can," Garcia said.
"To come to new places like Saudi Arabia and some others around the world, it's important and they want to see us play. They don't get to do it too often, so it's good to be a part of it."
And Garcia, who turned 40 earlier this month, is confident that his game is in good order as he looks to add to his 16 European Tour titles.
He finished in the top ten at the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA before coming joint-23rd in Dubai last week.
"Feels pretty good. I feel like the first two weeks, they have been pretty solid," Garcia said. "Obviously a couple of things here and there that, you know, at the beginning of the year, kind of getting used to some of the new equipment and stuff like that. But overall, I've seen a lot of good things.
"I feel like the short game has been quite solid for both weeks. We're working hard on it and we'll keep on that same momentum here this week. It's just a matter of kind of keep grinding and keep improving on every aspect of the game that we can."
