Unlike many of the other West Asian nations, it has taken Saudi Arabia more time to get onto the sports bandwagon to showcase itself. But now that they seem to have made up their mind to have sports as part of that strategy, they are giving it a massive push.

In recent months, the Saudis planned an exhibition tennis match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, but Nadal’s injury meant it had to be called off. However, it could well be back later this year. A WWE series was held late last year, and Formula E-series race —happened in December 2018 — is again on the schedule for 2019. There is also a plan to have a series of matches between AC Milan and Juventus, and Ronaldo was here recently. Also, many changes are taking place in Saudi sports.

This week, the Saudi International Golf event on European Tour has four of the World’s Top-5 including the No. 1, 2 and 3 — Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, as well as No. 5 Bryson DeChambeau.

Big push for golf

Years ago, when a troubled South Africa was trying to make its way back into the global fold, the late Nelson Mandela said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” World’s No. 1 golfer, Rose, said, “Between now and 2030, there’s a big push here for golf. Many, many courses are going to be developed. Hopefully golf is a conduit to bridging the gap between this region and how we perceive golf in the western world.”

Yasir Al-Rumayan, Chairman of the Saudi Golf Federation, says: “Hopefully we will have more championships and tournaments coming into Saudi because we are committed to the new golf courses.”

“It’s part not only of the strategy of the Saudi Golf Federation, but also part of the strategy of the Public Investment Fund, that they’re building — and I am the managing director of the Public Investment Fund. We’re building a lot of giga-projects, so it's really huge. It’s like the sizes of cities, and most of the real estate that we have will have golf courses. So I think between 13 to maybe 20-ish golf courses would be built in the coming 12 years or so from here until 2030.”

Women’s games

On the issue of women’s golf, Yasir says: “I think we’re ready for it. I think Majed (Majed al-Sorour, the CEO of Saudi Golf Federation) is already in talks.”

“We are working now to put together an LET or LPGA (event). “We are already in talks with the LET and LPGA for an event and just need to get something to fit into the schedule. If not this year, for sure next year,” said Majed.

“One part of our strategy is focussed on mass participation. One key question that His Excellency has emphasised which has come up is: are you going to allow women to play. The old story of Saudi Arabia that's segregated is no longer applicable. So women and men, visitors of Saudi Arabia have the right to come and participate in sports. One of the focuses on the mass sports participation is the activation of other things,” he added.

He added, “If we build a course and it’s only a golf course, then you’re going to only attract golfers. We want to build the golf course, can have a polo club, we can have a family activation, why don't we have cooking and babysitting facilities, then the family can come. If we can bring the family, then we can have the participation. This is just one idea, and we’re playing with a lot of ideas.”

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