Golf Saudi has announced a multi-year commitment to The Championship, the UK-based women’s golf tournament that will be co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET) from 2027 and carry a US$4 million (Dhs14.7 million) prize fund.
The event moves to 19-25 July 2027, a premium slot in the European summer schedule, and the purse places it among the richest tournaments in the women’s professional game. Golf Saudi has also agreed a new multi-year partnership with the LET Order of Merit, the season-long points race whose winner receives a season-ending bonus.
The two deals mark a clear change of direction. The PIF Global Series, which has delivered 29 tournaments across three continents since 2021, concludes at the end of the 2026 season, with events in Korea and China still to come in October and November. From 2027, Golf Saudi’s tournament investment in the women’s game will centre on one higher-profile championship, supported by season-long backing of the LET and continued grassroots development in the Kingdom.
What changes for The Championship
LET
Staged in London since 2021, The Championship was last played in August, when 17-year-old Anna Huang took the title. Its addition to both the LPGA Tour and LET schedules means leading players from the two tours will compete in the same field, in the middle of the busiest part of the season.
“We’re excited to add this championship to the LPGA Tour schedule alongside the LET,” said LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler. “With a strong multi-year partner and top players from both tours in the field, this event will bring a lot of energy and give players another great opportunity to compete during one of the biggest stretches of the season.”
Why the Order of Merit deal matters
Golf Saudi has partnered the LET since 2020, helping to expand the Tour’s international schedule. Backing the Order of Merit shifts that support from individual tournaments to the full season, which rewards consistency across the schedule rather than a single week.
LET CEO Tom Phillips said the investment represents “a commitment to strengthening our entire organisation”, adding that the Tour “is part of an essential pathway for new golfers, including those who will emerge from Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world in the coming years.”
The numbers behind Saudi Arabia’s grassroots push
According to Golf Saudi, events across the Kingdom have contributed to more than 15,000 people signing up for golf lessons, with over 4,000 more on a waiting list. More than a third of them are women.
The stated target is to grow from around 4,500 registered golfers today to more than 30,000 within five years, a more than sixfold increase. Therefore, Golf Saudi is expanding its academy network and launching a new programme with LPGA Professionals, the LPGA’s arm dedicated to teaching, coaching and golf facility management.
“Our ambition is for Saudi women and girls to see a future in golf – as players, coaches, and leaders,” said Abeer AlJohani, Vice President of the Saudi Golf Federation. “What we are building here is not seasonal, it is generational.”
Liz Cooper, Executive Director of the LPGA Foundation and LPGA Professionals, said the priority was retention as much as recruitment: “Our mission is not only to bring more women and girls into golf, but to create the opportunities that keep them in the game.”
A more commercial footing
Golf Saudi CEO Noah Alireza was unusually candid about the thinking behind the reset. “We have learnt a great deal over the past few years about what works, and our focus now is on investing intelligently and building the right economic model – one that makes the women’s game commercially stronger and creates a pathway that lasts,” he said.
He framed the professional game as the top of a funnel that starts in the Kingdom. “Every girl who watches them and picks up a club is demand we can build a golf economy on.”
The thinking is that fewer, bigger events at the elite end, steady support for the tour that develops players, and investment at home to turn spectators into golfers. Whether the 30,000 target is reached will be the real measure of success.