Majed Al Sorour, Golf Saudi CEO, reflects on a huge year at home and abroad.

“Happy New Year! Before we inevitably turn our attention to 2023 and what this upcoming year will bring, I want this to cast an eye back over 2022 and recap on all the incredible achievements we have made,” he said.

“It has quite simply been our best year. We hosted more tournaments than ever before, we raised the prize money in the women’s Saudi International to equal the men at $5 million, we doubled down on our own sustainability goals and we took the game further and to more people across the Kingdom than ever before.

“From my side I was delighted to end the year here in Riyadh for the seventh edition of the PIF Saudi Open. This year was its biggest and best yet, with the Asian Development Tour (ADT) being involved for the first time and a prize money increase to $200,000. Congratulations to Naraajie Ramadhanputra who was this year’s champion and as a result of his success, has qualified for the 2023 PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. Our National Team players performed well and they continue to go from strength to strength and we will continue to nurture their growing talents.

“We continue to grow awareness through the recent publication of Golf Digest Middle East’s fifth Arabic-language edition — on top of a special Saudi November edition to mark the success of the Ladies European Tour Aramco Team Series.

“Finally, there is the progress of our Mass Participation team, who continue their great work in ensuring that we have a golf ecosystem from the bottom-up here in Saudi Arabia, where people can access our sport and pick-up a club for the first time. The team will be even busier in 2023, as they continue to take in new locations and roll out new activations.”