Golf Saudi has revealed ambitious plans to grow the sport across the kingdom with the creation of up to 23 new courses by 2030 and around 50,000 new jobs.
Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, told Arabian Business some of the leading golf course designers from all over the world have already been involved in early discussions about making their mark on the kingdom.
This includes legends of the game such as Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, as well as Greg Norman, while Al Sorour said America’s Tiger Woods will also be involved, with further interest from top Europeans Henrik Stenson and Thomas Bjorn, among others.
“It is going to be big and that’s a promise. That’s something that I take very dear to my heart. I know my boss is committed to golf, the Crown Prince is committed to golf. We’re going to be building as many golf courses as we can,” he said. “I promised Dustin (Johnson) and Sergio (Garcia) and Patrick (Reed), we will design golf courses for them. If it’s the first time (for them to help design courses), that would be really great.”
Al Sorour explained that the developments would include a municipality course, as well as a membership course and a championship level course, as the organisation tries to bring golf to the masses in Saudi Arabia.
Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Saudi Golf and the Saudi Golf Federation
He said he is confident this will have a knock-on effect on employment across the kingdom, saying: “For me, my target for success is when 2030 comes along and if I have anywhere between 40,000–50,000 new employment that’s never been registered as a code of human resource, that would really be good news for me and great news for the kingdom.”
Currently the kingdom is host to the Saudi International tournament, which is played over the championship Royal Greens Golf and Country Club course at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and was this year won by Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell.
The 2021 tournament already promises a star-studded line-up including world number one Dustin Johnson, 2020 US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau, defending champion McDowell and five-time Major championship winner Phil Mickelson.
Al Sorour said: “The goal by 2030 hopefully is that we’re going to have at least four tournaments, plus if we can reach an agreement with the PGA Tour where we can have a world championship or something similar. That’s what we’re aiming at.”
Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland poses with the trophy of the Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club on February 02, 2020 in King Abdullah Economic City. Image: Getty Images
Although the sport is very much in its infancy in the country, Al Surour is driving change and is looking to encourage a new generation of golfers, which has involved pitching the idea to the Ministry of Education.
“The key is not building golf courses, what we’re trying to build is a lifestyle. What I say to everybody is golf is a lifestyle,” he said. “We need to teach the teacher to teach the kids, so we are working with the Ministry of Education to get the sports teacher to understand golf and we will hopefully, eventually try to implement it at curriculum level.”
Five things we learned
- Saudi Golf is looking to create between 16 to 23 new golf courses by 2030
- Potential designers include Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Gary Player
- The target is to create up to 50,000 jobs in the kingdom through golf by 2030
- Talks have taken place for golf to be included in the school curriculum
- The goal by 2030 is to be hosting at least four tournaments
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