Saudi International: Links form could be key

Steven Rawlings
29 January 2019

Bryson DeChambeau on his way to victory in Dubai last week

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The European Tour moves from Dubai to Saudi Arabia for the much-criticised inaugural Saudi International. Steve Rawlings has looked at the brand-new event here...

“Bryson DeChambeau has now won four of his last eight starts and he broke the tournament scoring record in Dubai last week so I can see why he’s winning the race to the head of the market and he looks a reasonable price at 7.87/1.”

Tournament History

This is the inaugural staging of the Saudi International and personally, I find it sad that the European Tour has chosen to go to Saudi Arabia at all.

It's impossible to guess how much cash has been splashed out on appearance fees to get four of the world's top five to attend and it's also impossible to gauge how much each of them knows about the country they're visiting? How many know that up until last year women couldn't even drive in Saudi Arabia, how many are aware of how atrociously the gay community is treated there, or even, how many are aware of the Jamal Khashoggi murder?

One only has to follow pro golfers on Twitter to realise that the majority of them live in a bit of a bubble though and it's no surprise to read sadly dismissive quotes like this from world number one, Justin Rose, when asked about appearing in the event. "I'm not a politician, I'm a pro golfer."

The whole thing leaves a bit of a nasty taste and I did toy with the idea of not previewing the event but that would be too hypocritical perhaps.

I'm a lifelong supporter of Manchester City for starters and they're now owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family, who aren't exactly known for their outstanding human rights record. In my defence, I don't get to choose my club or who owns it, and it's nearly 43 years since Denis Tueart's overhead kick in the League Cup final permanently sealed my fate. I am a hypocrite though...

I like to think I care about my fellow man and the environment but I don't often check how ethically my food or clothing has been produced. I even have a wood-burner and I go on unnecessary holidays requiring air travel now and then, and I don't give every spare penny to charity either.

I, like most, am a hypocrite, and it's only the extent of the hypocrisy that's up for debate, so for those that want to know about the tournament, and have had more than enough of my pathetic attempt at justification for this article, read on.

Venue

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia

Course Details

Par 70, 7010 yards

Designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design and opened as recently as 2017, the Royal Greens course is grassed throughout with a Paspalum variety called Dynasty.

Set alongside the Red Sea, there are numerous dog-legged holes, often framed by waste areas and wadis. The course is described as undulating and there are large bunkers in place and five holes are played alongside four different lakes.

The greens will run at around 11 on the stimpmeter and they're described as gently undulating.

The course is usually played as a par 72 and at a slightly shorter yardage but extra tees have been built on holes two, seven, eight, 14 and 18 and the ninth and 13th have been converted from par fives to fours for the tournament - hence the par of 70.

The Royal Greens website provides a decent hole-by-hole guide of the course here.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, beginning at 08:00 UK time on Thursday

What Will it Take to Win the Saudi International?

It's always very hard when assessing a course being played for the first time and I've read that it's important to find the fairways in order to be able to attack the hole locations but while accuracy is always better than inaccuracy off the tee, it rarely matters that much nowadays and I get the impression, looking at the course, and its yardage, that this could be something of a birdie-fest.

I expect a low-scoring tournament with the more aggressive types being rewarded and I can see a winning score of at least 15-under-par.

Is There an Angle In?

The weather forecast doesn't look too bad but given its coastal location and the exposed nature of the course, wind will still be a factor and I suspect links exponents will fare really well.

It'll be an awful lot warmer than Scotland in autumn but the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is staged on an easy links set up so form there might be worth considering. There's also the Scottish Open and the Irish Open and of course, the Open Championship, which is always staged on a links course but it's not easy given the cream of the crop here won't have played the Dunhill and the European Tour's lesser lights won't have had too many Open starts either.

Players don't encounter Paspalum very often so events like the Fiji International, the Indonesian Masters and the CIMB Classic and the Malaysian Open, which were both staged at the Kuala Lumpur Golf Club, are maybe worth exploring. Although CIMB Classic form is only relevant up until 2017 as the course changed to Bermuda before last year's renewal.

In-Play Tactics

If scoring is good on Thursday, concentrating on the leaders may make sense. As a general rule of thumb, the easier the scoring, the harder it is to make up ground.

Market Leaders

Last week's winners, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose, are vying for favouritism with the American judging edging it.

DeChambeau has now won four of his last eight starts and he broke the tournament scoring record in Dubai last week so I can see why he's winning the race to the head of the market and he looks a reasonable price at 7.87/1.

Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson have been chilling out in the Maldives in between events after the pair both underperformed in Abu Dhabi two weeks. Both are great par 70 performers and links-style golf exponents but I'd just have my reservations as to how hard they'll push themselves. I could be way off the mark, but I fancy, of those towards the head of the market, these two are here for the cash and will happily cruise around for four days before flying home as carefree as they arrived but considerably richer.

Sergio Garcia should be suited by the test I can happily turn my nose up at less than 20/1 given the calibre of those ahead of him in the market.

Selections

I've thrown a few pounds at Bernd Wiesberger (Paspalum angle) and Brandon Stone (links angle) but that's it. I'm taking a bit of time off this weekend so I won't be following the tournament.

Selections:
Bernd Wiesberger @ 300.0299/1
Brandon Stone @ 330.0329/1

As I'm away, Paul Krishnamurty is going to cover the In-Play Blog and the De-brief and I'll be back with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am preview next week.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter