Saudi International 2021 Preview
Starts: 4 February 2021
Course: Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, Saudi Arabia
Par: 70 (35-35)
Length: 7,010 yards
2020 Champion: Graeme McDowell
Course Info
Course Designer: Dave Sampson
Type of Course: Short, Coastal
Tournament hosted Since: 2019
Fairways: Narrow-Average
Rough: Thicker in 2020 than 2019.
Greens: Royal Dynasty Paspalum
Water Hazards: 2,3,9,13,18
Par 5's: 4th, 18th
Premium on: Strong wind players
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
This is a rare week that features many PGA Tour stars on the European Tour. Large appearance fees are given to the likes of Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau (to name a few) to play.
Wind is usually the course's defence here.
Continue to exercise caution in relation to Covid-19 related withdrawals.
Weather Forecast
Sunny every day apart from Friday. Morning showers expected with light rain steady in the afternoon.
Thurs - Sunny and strong breeze. Winds of 15-25mph,
Fri - Showers and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-20mph.
Sat - Sunny and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-15mph.
Sun - Sunny and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-15mph.
Trends
Winning score: McDowell won with -12 last year but Dustin Johnson won with -19 in 2019. Given the quality of the field we can probably expect it to be closer to -19 again.
Price of Winner: Both winners have been under 100/1.
Correlating Courses - Al Mouj Golf Course (Oman Open) is also laid with Paspalum Grass. We should look for comfortable links players, perhaps due to the strong winds that tend to arrive.
Course form: Since there has only been two editions, it is hard to tell yet how important course form is. Dustin Johnson backed up his win with a 2nd in 2020 but McDowell and Mickelson (3rd) were both making their debuts. It's not a necessity to win here.
Recent form: McDowell had a 4th place finish at the Sony Open in 2020 a few weeks before his win but missed his previous cut in Dubai. Dustin (2nd) had finished 7th at the Tournament of Champions beforehand. In 2019, Dustin arrived in hot form with 16-4 already that year. Tong Li (2nd) had finished 12th the week before. We should look for some form already shown in 2021.
Nationality: Lat two winners were American and Northern Irish
Stats Analysis
Strokes Gained stats are available since 2019 but don't include PGA Tour players like Dustin Johnson. McDowell showed you could putt your way to victory here as his other stats weren't anything special. Ignoring McDowell, driving distance seems a massive advantage here.
Driving Distance: McDowell only ranked 47th in 2020 but Green and Pieters ranked top 10. In 2019 the top 5 all ranked 1st-13th.
SG: Off The Tee: In 2020, McDowell was 36th but Green (3rd) ranked 3rd. In 2019, three of the top six ranked in the top 10 for this category.
SG: Approach: McDowell was 32nd in 2020. Pieters (3rd) was 1st. Tom Lewis (3rd) ranked 4th for approach in 2019 but the rest of the top 10 didn't rank highly.
SG: Around the greens: McDowell was 19th but Green (3rd) was 81st. Lee and Li scrambled well in 2019 finishing 8th and 9th in this category.
SG: Putting: McDowell was a putting masterclass last year finish 5th in this category. Three of the top six ranked top 10.
In-play
Tough Holes: Long par 4's 9th and 13th traditionally play as the hardest on the course and averaged over 4.25 last year.
Birdie Holes: The two par 5s (4th and 18th), played the easiest last year and need to be taken advantage of. 7th and 10th (both short Par 4's) played next easiest.
Fast or Slow Start: McDowell led after round 1 and was always near the top. Pieters came from 6 back on day 1 to finish 3rd though. In 2019, DJ was 5 back after round 1 and Tong Li (2nd) was 4 shots back. Catch up is possible around here.
Closing stretch: The 17th and 18th rank among the five easiest holes on the course. 17 is a driveable par 4 for the long hitters and 18 is 2nd easiest hole on course.
Course Notes 2021
Draw Bias - In 2021, the wind was much stronger Thursday afternoon, then on Friday the morning starters had rain and wind all morning before the weather calmed down slightly for the afternoon starters. As a result, none of the PM-AM draw were in the top 10 at halfway and none of the top 5 at the end of the tournament played PM-AM.
First Round Leader Market - If similar wind forecast for Thursday, focus on the morning starters. Horsey and Gallacher were 100/1+.
The cream will rise - Out of the top 5, only Calum Hill was outside the top 40 in the world rankings.
Bombers Paradise - Once again, the course proved a perfect fit for long hitters like DJ and Ryan Fox. The leaderboard was packed with big hitters. There is plenty of room to miss the drives off the tee so the longer the better.
Player Notes 2021
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I knew it was going to be a tough day. There was a lot of really good players right around the lead. The conditions; it was really windy and hard to get it close to the hole. The greens are tricky and with the wind, too, you have to play some wind, so it was definitely hard to get a really good line. (Round 4)
A lot of people are saying they are not holding putts. Is it the conditions?
IAN POULTER: It's the type of grass. Paspalum, that's a very -- so the grass goes all over the place. It's a strong grass. They (the greens) are immaculate compared to last week. I didn't think the greens were great at HSBC Abu Dhabi. I thought they were a bit soft, spongy. They (Saudi) are probably the best-looking surface of the three.
*As ever, follow our daily in-play updates and tips on our Saudi International in-play page*
Course: Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, Saudi Arabia
Par: 70 (35-35)
Length: 7,010 yards
2020 Champion: Graeme McDowell
Course Info
Course Designer: Dave Sampson
Type of Course: Short, Coastal
Tournament hosted Since: 2019
Fairways: Narrow-Average
Rough: Thicker in 2020 than 2019.
Greens: Royal Dynasty Paspalum
Water Hazards: 2,3,9,13,18
Par 5's: 4th, 18th
Premium on: Strong wind players
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
This is a rare week that features many PGA Tour stars on the European Tour. Large appearance fees are given to the likes of Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau (to name a few) to play.
Wind is usually the course's defence here.
Continue to exercise caution in relation to Covid-19 related withdrawals.
Weather Forecast
Sunny every day apart from Friday. Morning showers expected with light rain steady in the afternoon.
Thurs - Sunny and strong breeze. Winds of 15-25mph,
Fri - Showers and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-20mph.
Sat - Sunny and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-15mph.
Sun - Sunny and moderate breeze. Winds of 10-15mph.
Trends
Winning score: McDowell won with -12 last year but Dustin Johnson won with -19 in 2019. Given the quality of the field we can probably expect it to be closer to -19 again.
Price of Winner: Both winners have been under 100/1.
Correlating Courses - Al Mouj Golf Course (Oman Open) is also laid with Paspalum Grass. We should look for comfortable links players, perhaps due to the strong winds that tend to arrive.
Course form: Since there has only been two editions, it is hard to tell yet how important course form is. Dustin Johnson backed up his win with a 2nd in 2020 but McDowell and Mickelson (3rd) were both making their debuts. It's not a necessity to win here.
Recent form: McDowell had a 4th place finish at the Sony Open in 2020 a few weeks before his win but missed his previous cut in Dubai. Dustin (2nd) had finished 7th at the Tournament of Champions beforehand. In 2019, Dustin arrived in hot form with 16-4 already that year. Tong Li (2nd) had finished 12th the week before. We should look for some form already shown in 2021.
Nationality: Lat two winners were American and Northern Irish
Stats Analysis
Strokes Gained stats are available since 2019 but don't include PGA Tour players like Dustin Johnson. McDowell showed you could putt your way to victory here as his other stats weren't anything special. Ignoring McDowell, driving distance seems a massive advantage here.
Driving Distance: McDowell only ranked 47th in 2020 but Green and Pieters ranked top 10. In 2019 the top 5 all ranked 1st-13th.
SG: Off The Tee: In 2020, McDowell was 36th but Green (3rd) ranked 3rd. In 2019, three of the top six ranked in the top 10 for this category.
SG: Approach: McDowell was 32nd in 2020. Pieters (3rd) was 1st. Tom Lewis (3rd) ranked 4th for approach in 2019 but the rest of the top 10 didn't rank highly.
SG: Around the greens: McDowell was 19th but Green (3rd) was 81st. Lee and Li scrambled well in 2019 finishing 8th and 9th in this category.
SG: Putting: McDowell was a putting masterclass last year finish 5th in this category. Three of the top six ranked top 10.
In-play
Tough Holes: Long par 4's 9th and 13th traditionally play as the hardest on the course and averaged over 4.25 last year.
Birdie Holes: The two par 5s (4th and 18th), played the easiest last year and need to be taken advantage of. 7th and 10th (both short Par 4's) played next easiest.
Fast or Slow Start: McDowell led after round 1 and was always near the top. Pieters came from 6 back on day 1 to finish 3rd though. In 2019, DJ was 5 back after round 1 and Tong Li (2nd) was 4 shots back. Catch up is possible around here.
Closing stretch: The 17th and 18th rank among the five easiest holes on the course. 17 is a driveable par 4 for the long hitters and 18 is 2nd easiest hole on course.
Course Notes 2021
Draw Bias - In 2021, the wind was much stronger Thursday afternoon, then on Friday the morning starters had rain and wind all morning before the weather calmed down slightly for the afternoon starters. As a result, none of the PM-AM draw were in the top 10 at halfway and none of the top 5 at the end of the tournament played PM-AM.
First Round Leader Market - If similar wind forecast for Thursday, focus on the morning starters. Horsey and Gallacher were 100/1+.
The cream will rise - Out of the top 5, only Calum Hill was outside the top 40 in the world rankings.
Bombers Paradise - Once again, the course proved a perfect fit for long hitters like DJ and Ryan Fox. The leaderboard was packed with big hitters. There is plenty of room to miss the drives off the tee so the longer the better.
Player Notes 2021
DUSTIN JOHNSON: I knew it was going to be a tough day. There was a lot of really good players right around the lead. The conditions; it was really windy and hard to get it close to the hole. The greens are tricky and with the wind, too, you have to play some wind, so it was definitely hard to get a really good line. (Round 4)
A lot of people are saying they are not holding putts. Is it the conditions?
IAN POULTER: It's the type of grass. Paspalum, that's a very -- so the grass goes all over the place. It's a strong grass. They (the greens) are immaculate compared to last week. I didn't think the greens were great at HSBC Abu Dhabi. I thought they were a bit soft, spongy. They (Saudi) are probably the best-looking surface of the three.
*As ever, follow our daily in-play updates and tips on our Saudi International in-play page*
Saudi International - Pre-Event Tips
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We will be in full charge of the Telegram group and Premier Sports Plays will handle the payments and administrative functions, allowing us to focus on the golf.
You can sign up by clicking the button below.
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