Around about this time last year, a Dubai-based school pupil was turning heads in the golfing world as she defied the odds and some of the world’s greatest players to claim her maiden professional title at the Aramco Team Series — Jeddah event.

Now 17-year-old Chiara Noja is heading back to Saudi Arabia to defend her crown — this time at Riyadh Golf Club in the capital — in very different circumstances. 

An LPGA bow, major debuts, injuries — and, yes, school studies — have all added to an eventful, jet-setting 12 months for the young German. Golf Digest Middle East caught up with her ahead of her title defence. 

“It’s crazy to think it has been a year already,” Chiara tells us fresh from a few days of preparation at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Florida ahead of her tilt at LPGA Q-School this month. “Obviously this is going to be a cool experience for me as defending champ and an opportunity to reminisce on those great memories. It’s going to be a new course so it’ll be exciting seeing the tournament take shape somewhere new.”

Noja is now well-practised in balancing studies and life on tour, but as she is sitting her GCSEs, fitting in time to get to know the Riyadh layout is trickier than ever.

“I’m going to be flying out later this week to play my practice rounds as I won’t have much time prior due to exams,” she tells us near the end of September. “I guess I will have a little more insight then, but I have heard lots of positive things about it so I’m excited to head over.”

Noja played through the pain barrier with a shoulder problem at her first two majors and missed the cut at both the Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women’s Open, but she is glad she got to experience the ‘big-time’ first hand. 

“It was a super cool experience having earned my way into those events, but it obviously was a tough few weeks for me,” she says. “I struggled with injury, and I guess it’s a difficult conversation to have — I knew I was not in a great place but made the choice to try and play regardless. If given the chance would I go back and change that decision? No. Do I think it was a great decision? Maybe not.”

Following the Women’s Open, Noja took some well-earned time off to recuperate ahead of the Q-School and Aramco Team Series stretch this month.

“Yeah, I think it was necessary that I focus on getting better after basically playing in pain for six weeks,” she says. “It was important for me to get healthy before going back out on tour, and I’m glad to be 99 per cent there and use the next few weeks to prep before ATS Hong Kong [October 6-8].

“I flew out to Florida to play practice rounds ahead of the LPGA Q-School as the schedule is very tight in October, so it’s good to be able to spend the next few weeks practising skills I may need to cater for those courses. Then it is going to be an exciting week in Saudi.”

The Golf Saudi Ambassador is a champion of bringing the game of golf to new audiences, and is keen to meet aspiring golfers in the Saudi capital. “I think it’s super exciting, obviously with Riyadh there will be a new, and wider, audience that we can cater to and hopefully continue to grow the game of golf in Saudi.

“The ATS events have really solidified themselves within the golfing calendar and that has been awesome to see. The events have grown both geographically, with events expanding and taking place all over the world, and in popularity. The initiatives taken to grow the game are great, and I have been lucky to be able to partake in clinics along the way, and have a first row seat to seeing both kids and adults join us in our love for the game of golf.”

Main image: supplied