PIF Saudi International is the only professional men’s golf event in Saudi Arabia. It will be taking place from Friday February 3 to Sunday 6 at King Abdullah Economic City, and it is a new event for the Asian Tour. The tournament features Dustin Johnson (two-time major winner), Xander Schauffle (Olympic gold medalist), Bryson DeChambeau (US 2020 Open winner), and so many other amazing golfers.
Speaking of golfers, Saudi Arabia has some of its very own talents competing in the tournament. Faisal Salhab, Othman Almulla and Saud Alshareef are all homegrown players making a triumphant return to the Kingdom.
Faisal Salhab is the winner of the Saudi Open golf tournament and one of the prominent members of the Saudi national golf team who won the Arabian Championship in Cairo. Time Out sat down with Faisal Salhab himself, ahead of the tournament.
How has the Saudi Golf Federation helped your career?
So, first of all, my family was very supportive, they didn’t really push me into golf. They pushed me to do whatever I wanted. We’re a very active family, I’m the youngest in the family, and we’re super competitive, and whatever we do, we just want to be the best at, and that’s my personality, I guess.
I picked a sport, and I just wanted to be really good at it. The Saudi Golf Federation is really helping us with that, they’re helping us refine our skills, they’re helping us with the coaching, they’re helping us play in events like this, so their role is really empowering right now for all Saudis, especially us, the people that are already involved in golf, they are giving us the opportunity to do better.
You’ve won the Saudi Open and you’ve also won the Cairo Championship, how do you feel about that?
Very proud. Saudi Open was amazing; it was a great individual achievement. But for Cairo, we played in the Arabian Championship, and not only did I win as an individual, but the whole team also won, Saudi Arabia won its second-ever gold medal there, it’s a very proud moment, and I’m very happy to be able to be a part of that, and we hope to have bigger and bigger achievements one day, not just me, but as Team KSA.
Do you have any advice for young golfers in Saudi?
Definitely, just go out and try the sport. A lot of people have misconceptions about it, but once you go out, once you see the people there, you see where you are, this landscape is quite special. You don’t get to see this everywhere, and it’s nice because you can just play with whoever you’d like. You don’t have to be great at golf to enjoy it, you can start at different levels, and keep enjoying it. What I say is just go out there and enjoy, start there.
With the tournament starting today, is there anything, in particular, you are excited about?
I’m very proud to be a part of the national team, I’m excited to go out and play. We had a good run of events, it’s a great sport, we got into some Asian Tour events, and had some good amateur events before that, too. I think we’re as ready as we’re ever going to be hopefully if things go our way today and tomorrow, and we make the cut, and we’ll see how it goes there, but we’re excited.
What does the tournament mean to you?
Participating in a tournament the size of the Saudi International means a lot to me, especially after I received the invitation to participate after achieving the Saudi Open title. My teammates and I were overjoyed and excited when the list of participating names was announced and we found our names in it. It is great to watch the development that the Kingdom has achieved in golf, in addition to seeing these stars competing on its soil.
What’s one message you would like to give to the people of Saudi Arabia?
The quality with which the tournament is presented is very high in terms of organisation and in terms of the participating international names. I invite everyone in the Kingdom to attend and support the players of the national team and the Golf Saudi, whose employees worked to organise the global event with all professionalism.
Thu Feb 3 to Sun Feb 6. golfsaudi.com.
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