JEDDAH — The Saudi International Golf Championship 2021 got underway on Thursday at the Royal Greens playground and the golf club at King Abdullah Economic City. The four-day tournament is among the world"s most interesting and strongest European round championships. The competition is being broadcast live around the world, in addition to the Saudi sports channel. As many as 139 players are taking part as the first day"s competitions began at 8 a.m. led by the titleholder Datsun Jansen and a host of renowned golf players along with Saudi stars Othman Almulla, Faisal Salhab, and Saud Al-Sharif. In a statement to mark the event, Mohammed Al-Issa, executive manager of the Saudi Golf Federation, said the participants are competing on cash prizes amounting to $3.5 million. The US Open champion for 2020, Bryson Deschamps, expressed his happiness over his return to the Kingdom. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, he said: “I always get a wonderful welcome here and I appreciate this very much. The stadium is really impressive, and I enjoy spending my time in it,” praising the organization of the championship in last year"s edition, and the continuation of that distinction this year.