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      Saudi Arabia cuts $15m women’s golf series

      • PIF Global Series to end this season
      • Golf Saudi signs partnership with LET
      • ‘Learnt a great deal about what works’

      Saudi Arabia is poised to end its women’s golf series, another sign of the kingdom becoming more selective about spending on sport.

      The $15 million PIF Global Series, which has staged 29 tournaments across three continents since 2021, will finish at the end of this season. The final events are due to be held in South Korea and China in October and November respectively.

      The move comes after LIV Golf, the breakaway men’s tour previously backed by the Public Investment Fund, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in September. It had between $500 million and $1 billion of liabilities.

      “We have learnt a great deal over the past few years about what works, and our focus now is on investing intelligently and building the right economic model, one that makes the women’s game commercially stronger and creates a pathway that lasts,” Noah Alireza, CEO of Golf Saudi, said in a statement.

      Golf Saudi, the commercial development arm of the Saudi Golf Federation, this week announced a multi-year commitment to The Championship, a women’s tournament in the UK. From 2027, the event will be co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour and carry a $4 million prize fund.

      Golf Saudi has also signed a multi-year partnership with the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit. The season-long points race rewards performance across the full LET schedule, with the winner receiving a season-ending bonus.

      “What we are building here is not seasonal, it is generational,” said Abeer AlJohani, vice president at the Saudi Golf Federation.

      Golf Saudi’s ambition is to grow from about 4,500 registered golfers in the kingdom to more than 30,000 within five years.

      Further reading:

      The Golf Saudi announcement comes as the kingdom reviews its high-profile sports investments. In July it was announced that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals were to be relocated to the US, cutting short the kingdom’s hosting agreement by a year.

      It was revealed in April that PIF had pulled its funding for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters after just two of 10 planned events took place.

      “Financial concerns, exacerbated by current regional turbulence, have focused minds and decisions within the government in Riyadh. This has shifted from ‘want to have’ to ‘need to have’,” said Simon Chadwick, professor of AfroEurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School and AGBI columnist.


      Source: AGBI
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