Mike Oliver, Director of Events at Saudi Golf, has rated very positively this second year that La Reserva has hosted the Aramco Team Series, the third of the ATS of the season. “The experience is very positive: the players like the event, the amateurs love the course, the area breathes golf on all four sides, the temperature and the gastronomy is perfect. You can’t ask for more”.
The impact of Saudi Golf in his country is measured in the number of players and licenses, and it is spectacular: “Before we started with this Aramco Series project in Saudi Arabia there were 10-20 women playing; now we have 3,000. We organize coaching days, we help young stars to reach the big circuits. Our goal is to reach 100,000 women in 10 years,” said Oliver.
Aramco sponsors six events on the Ladies European Tour: Saudi Arabia Ladies International, and the Aramco Team Series in Bangkok, London, Sotogrande, New York and Jeddah.
“Our idea is to continue supporting the European LET, to continue helping women’s golf to grow. We are ambitious, we love golf, we support the sport and we believe in women’s golf. Our intention is not to reduce tournaments but to keep increasing them. We have an excellent relationship with Alex Armas, CEO of the LET, and our objectives are the same: to give women more opportunities to grow and make a living from golf.
Oliver did not want to enter into the controversy with the Saudi LIV League: “We are different companies with different objectives. We, as Saudi Golf, have a very good relationship with the Asian Tour, with the European Tour and with men’s golf. Our relationship with the LET is good and we must continue on this path. ” The Saudi LIV League continues to recruit big names in world golf, attracted by the amount of its prizes, which substantially improve those offered by the American PGA, until now the leader and absolute controller of the most important circuit in the world, a “monopoly ” now broken by the Saudi project, which has already won over big names in world golf such as the Spaniard Sergio García and the Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
As for the tournament held at La Reserva de Sotogrande, we must highlight the magnificent show offered by the sisters Jessica and Nelly Korda, the latter final winner of the event after the collapse on the last day of his older sister, who despite starting with no less than six strokes ahead on the last day, lost it in an unexpected series of bogeys, but finally managed to rise with the second place, shared with the Malaga Ana Pelaez, who confirms with his great result of – 10 strokes his great international projection. The second Spanish player was Carmen Alonso from Valladolid, in thirteenth place with 5 under par.