Golf Saudi CEO: KSA is ‘open to the world’

Majed Al-Sorour

• His comments come on the eve of the first-ever women’s golf tournament in the Kingdom

KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY: As history beckons with the start on Thursday of the first-ever women’s golf tournament in Saudi Arabia, the man chiefly responsible for making it happen thanked the government for the opportunity and support to deliver the event despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“First of all, we have to thank the crown prince for giving us the opportunity to deliver the event,” Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, told Arab News on Wednesday.
Al-Sorour said the interior minister “has appointed to us a security committee that comprised all the bodies that we need so we have major security around the event and a major health assessment around the area.”
The historic women’s golf week starts with the first round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International tournament at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
The Ladies European Tour, featuring some of the biggest names from the world of women’s golf, will vie for prizes totaling a record $1 million, and will be broadcast over four days to an estimated 340 million homes worldwide. 
It is the first-ever women-only professional golf tournament in the Kingdom, presented by the Public Investment Fund. 
Capping the week will be the $500,000 Saudi Ladies Team International on Nov. 17-19.
“Watch Saudi Arabia transform. We’re ready to go. We’re ready for business. We’re open to the world. And it’s only going to get better from here on out,” Al-Sorour said. “Welcome everybody. We’re looking forward to seeing you.”
He added: “We’re trying to do as much as we can to accommodate all our guests and deliver a great event. Everything is going smoothly.” 
Al-Sorour said: “The pandemic did impact us, but with great adversity our purveyors in the Kingdom have given us so many opportunities.”