JEDDAH: The Saudi Ladies International is confirmed to return on November 10 to 13, 2021 after a debut event that broke new ground for women’s sport both in Saudi Arabia and around the world. Held over the last two weekends, the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF, and its sister event, the Saudi Ladies Team International, attracted no less than 108 of the best golfers on the planet to the Kingdom to compete for a share of $1.5 million prize money – the Ladies European Tour’s third biggest purse of the season. Despite being played without spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions, the impact of the ‘women’s week of golf’ was felt worldwide, with the event broadcast to more than 60 countries and almost 350 million households. In Saudi Arabia, the tournaments were the first ever all-women’s professional sporting events to be beamed on national television, a factor that directly led to more than 1,000 Saudi women and girls registering to learn golf as part of the Golf Saudi’s Ladies First Club free golf initiative, launched on the first day of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF. Both events also drew praise across the board from competing players, whose tournament performances were reported from Australia to Swaziland, to a global audience of close to a billion people, bringing unprecedented attention to the women’s game. “This has been an historic time for Saudi Arabia and women’s golf, and we could not be prouder. Congratulations to Emily Pedersen, there were some great performances, in tough conditions,” Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, said in a statement. “Both tournaments have been a great success and in terms of the Saudi Ladies Team International, I am confident this won’t be the last we hear of exciting team formats in the professional game. We are committed to building the game of golf in Saudi Arabia and to creating opportunities for women in the sport.” The one name on everyone’s lips across both tournaments was Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen, who ended up taking home all three of the week’s available titles after winning the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF in a playoff against England’s major-winning Georgia Hall, and then triumphing in both the individual and team categories of the Saudi Ladies Team International. She said: “It’s been such a fantastic experience to be here in Saudi Arabia. I have loved the course, the weather is good here, the people are nice, and it’s been a great ten days.” Scotland’s Alison Muirhead echoed that view, saying: “I’ve loved every minute of my time in Saudi, it’s been fantastic. The people here have been great. We’ve really been looked after, and I’ve really enjoyed being here.” The tournaments were Saudi Arabia’s first international-scale sporting events since the COVID-19 outbreak, and required vast amounts of planning and on-site regulation to ensure all participants and event staff could operate safely within a bio-secure environment for the duration of the tournaments, held at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.