RIYADH: The line-up for the 2023 Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund has been further strengthened with world No. 4 Atthaya Thitikul and 2022 Ladies European Tour Order of Merit winner Linn Grant taking their place among 15 of the world’s top-30 female golfers.
Taking place at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City from Feb. 16 to 19, the tournament will be the third stop in a record-breaking 2023 LET season, featuring 30 events in 21 countries with a total prize fund of 35 million euros ($37.4 million) up for grabs.
The event has a prize purse of $5 million, the largest outside of the majors and matching the men’s event, the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers.
Thai 19-year-old Thitikul said: “It has been a while since I last competed in Saudi Arabia. I remember playing at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in 2021 and had strong results in both events.
“I hope to go one better than I did at the 2021 Aramco Saudi Ladies International and enjoy a great start to my 2023 season.”
In her first year of the Ladies Professional Golf Association last year, Thitikul claimed two victories and 16 top-10 finishes and unsurprisingly took home the 2022 Louise Suggs rookie of the year award. The young superstar also performed impressively in the majors, securing three top-10 finishes in five majors last year.
Before her time in the LPGA, Thitikul wrote her name in the history books of the LET. In 2021, she became the youngest player to win the LET’s Race to Costa del Sol while also taking back the rookie of the year and players’ player of the year titles. In addition, she was the youngest golfer, male or female, to win a professional golf tournament when she won the LET’s Thailand Championship 2017, aged 14.
The former world No. 1 is only the second player under the age of 20 to claim the ranking other than Lydia Ko, who will also compete in Saudi Arabia.
The pair will be joined by Swedish star Grant, the world No. 28, who claimed four wins and nine top-10 finishes last season to take home the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol, rookie of the year, and players’ player of the year titles.
Grant also made history last year when she became the first woman to win an official event on the DP World Tour when she secured victory at the Volvo Scandinavian Mixed.
The complete list of the 15 of the world’s top-30 players who make up the star-studded field, which is the ground-breaking event’s strongest line-up ever, are: Lydia Ko (1), Atthaya Thitikul (4), Lexi Thompson (7), In Gee Chun (8), Hyo-Joo Kim (9), Nasa Hataoka (10), Leona Maguire (11), Celine Boutier (12), Charley Hull (13), Xiyu Lin (14), Danielle Kang (17), Hannah Green (19), Ashleigh Buhai (21), Georgia Hall (24), and Linn Grant (28).