PIF Saudi International Golf 2024 Tips: Puig to outshine star names

The final event of the Asian Tour season has attracted a high-quality field to the Middle East, for the Saudi International at Riyadh Golf Club.

With the main tours in a quiet period over winter, our star golf tipster Jamie Worsley's has some bonus previews for us and here is his PIF Saudi International golf 2024 tips, featuring five selections ranging from 22/1 all the way out to a massive 125/1!

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Saudi International debuted on the DP World Tour in 2019 and remained there until 2021, before becoming an Asian Tour event in 2022.

Each of those first five editions across both tours took place at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, but it will be staged away from that venue for the first time this year, at Riyadh Golf Club.

Tournament winners:

• 2023 – Winner: Abraham Ancer (-19); runner-up: Cameron Young (-17)
• 2022 – Winner: Harold Varner III (-13); runner-up: Bubba Watson (-12)
• 2021 – Winner: Dustin Johnson (-15); runners-up: Tony Finau, Justin Rose (-13)
• 2020 – Winner: Graeme McDowell (-12); runner-up: Dustin Johnson (-10)
• 2019 – Winner: Dustin Johnson (-19); runner-up: Haotong Li (-17)

Abraham Ancer won the most recent edition of the event in February last year. He returns to defend this week but has had to wait almost two years due to this new position on the schedule.

THE COURSE

Riyadh Golf Club opened in 2005 and has been tweaked by Spaniard, Javier Farran in recent years, bringing the course up to tournament standards.

Whilst it may be staging this event for the first time, it has hosted the Saudi Open for the last two years, with John Catlin firing a 24-under-par winning score to win the most recent renewal in April of this year. In addition, it has also held several events on the Ladies European Tour, where we’ve again seen that low scoring. No more so than Alison Lee’s incredible -29 in last year’s Aramco Series – Riyadh, which was played over just three rounds.

The course will play to the same par and yardage as it does for the Saudi Open, with this par 71 measuring in at 7411 yards. It possesses 4x par 3s (175-207 yards), 11x par 4s (386-510 yards) and 3x par 5s (593-681 yards).

Riyadh Golf Club is typical of many courses in this part of world. It is exposed and undulating, with sandy waste areas, that are dotted with palm trees and other vegetation, framing most holes.

The fairways are very generous, though the landing areas are squeezed by a wealth of large, strategic bunkers and there are numerous sharp doglegs. These same imposing sand traps then provide the primary protection of the large, sloping paspalum putting surfaces.

The other main defence at the course comes in the shape of water, which is in-play on seven holes through a series of manmade lakes and streams.

With two of the three par 5s measuring 681 and 631 yards, they aren’t the most obvious birdie chances, but opportunities can be found across the rest of the layout. None of the par 3s are especially difficult and the par 4s can be got at with a strong drive and a wedge.

Scoring has been extremely low here in events across several tours and unless there are some adverse conditions on the way, I’d expect another birdie-fest this week.

THE WEATHER

The forecast looks excellent, with clear, hot and sunny conditions predicted throughout. With very little wind on show, there’s little to stop the field again taking the course apart.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation
• SG: Putting (paspalum)/Putting Average
• Driving Distance
• Birdie Average

Players will have to be at their birdie-making best this week and it’s going to be quality into and on these large, challenging putting surfaces that will be the key to this.

That being said, the fairways are wide and there are several holes on which the bigger hitters in the field will be able to take on the angle of those doglegs; greatly reducing the distance to the hole and leaving themselves a mere flick of a wedge into the green. Therefore I’d be keen to favour those with an excess of power.

CORRELATING EVENTS

Whilst not all identical, golf courses in the Middle East share many similarities. They’re often exposed, flat and built on firm, sandy turf, with heavy bunkering and manufactured water features providing the main defence.

Paspalum is typically the grass of choice in this region, as we saw with the International Series – Qatar last week, and we can too look at previous editions of this event at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club – which also hosts the LIV Jeddah event – as well as the International Series – Oman.

There will be many players here with form on the DP World Tour, which leads me to events such as the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dhabi Championship, Ras Al Khaimah Championship, Oman Open and Bahrain Championship.

Further to this, events in the Middle East have often appealed to those with a strong links pedigree, due the exposed, sandy nature of those courses. Therefore, any form in the Open Championship, Scottish Open or Alfred Dunhill Links Championship would be a positive.

Lastly, the heavy LIV golf contingent carry lots of PGA Tour form with them and desert events such as the Shriners Open, Phoenix Open, Texas Open and The AmEx (Desert Classic), could also provide us with some clues as to potential performers this week.

THE FIELD

Tyrrell Hatton is the highest-ranking player in this week’s field at #16 in the OWGR, with #100 David Puig the only other member of the world’s top 100. However, this obviously isn’t a true representation of a field that is strengthened by over half of the LIV Golf roster, with major champions such as Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Louis Oosthuizen teeing it up, along with the in-form Joaquin Niemann and Dean Burmester.

All five former winners of this event are from the LIV circuit and are stated to play, with defending champion Abraham Ancer joined by Harold Varner III (2022), Dustin Johnson (2021, 2019) and Graeme McDowell (2020).

Other notable entrants include Asian Tour Order of Merit winner John Catlin; the leading player on the Korean PGA Tour, Yubin Jang; and Ryan Moore will tee it up after losing his PGA Tour card for the first time in his career.

PIF Saudi International Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main PIF Saudi International market on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this tournament.

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Tyrrell Hatton 13/2, Joaquin Niemann 7/1, Cameron Smith 16/1, Dean Burmester 16/1, Louis Oosthuizen 16/1, Patrick Reed 16/1, Sergio Garcia 16/1

Players from LIV dominate the betting and it’s hard to see the winner coming outside of those players. Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann have each been playing well on the DP World Tour of late and are deserved market leaders, though in an event that may turn into a putting contest I’m not keen on betting such short prices.

Instead, my eye is drawn to another player who has been playing well on various tours since the LIV season finished and looking a perfect fit for this setup, I’m taking Spain’s David Puig to win in Saudi.

2 pts David Puig each way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 22/1

Puig was in fine form at the beginning of the year, winning the Malaysian Open on the Asian Tour and almost going in again when 2^nd in Macau. He then recorded his best LIV finish of the season in Houston, finishing 3^rd, though failed to hit the top 10 across the last five events of their season.

He teed it up in a trio of events on the DP World Tour after that, finishing 3^rd in the Open de Espana and following that with an excellent 4^th-place finish in the Dunhill Links, before finishing 12^th in the Andalucia Masters.

The Spaniard then positioned himself well in Qatar last week, sitting 4^th at the halfway point, though a disappointing weekend saw him drop to 19^th on Sunday. However, I’d be much more confident about him forging on if he were to get into contention this week.

Ranking top 5 in driving distance, putting and birdie average on LIV last season, Puig looks ideally suited to this challenge. We saw evidence of this when he fired four rounds in the 60s to finish 5^th at the course in the Saudi Open in April this year and with that 4^th-place finish against a strong field in the Dunhill Links strengthening his case, he looks likely to be a big player this week.

1.5 pts Thomas Pieters each way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 33/1 

Thomas Pieters is a proven desert performer and having gone well away from the LIV circuit in 2024, I’m expecting him to be a factor in this season-ending event in Saudi.

Pieters only recorded two top 10s on LIV last season, though looked sharp on his couple of starts on the DPWT, finishing 2^nd in the Soudal Open and 9^th in the BMW International Open. Whilst he’s also looked in decent shape when teeing it up on the Asian Tour, recording top 20s in the International Series – England & Qatar events.

He ranked reasonably well across all stats last season, with that high-class tee-to-green game still showing signs of life. It’s a positive to see he’s generally putted well, ranking top 25 on LIV and as a lengthy hitter, he should appreciate this generous layout.

Pieters has played this event on four occasions and has never finished outside the top 25, recording a best of 3^rd in 2020. His excellent record in Abu Dhabi should serve him well, indeed his last DPWT win came in the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2022 – one of four top 5s in that event – and he can add another trophy from the Middle East to his cabinet this week.

1 pt Dustin Johnson each way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 45/1

Dustin Johnson comes into this with little form but he’s one of the class acts of the field and possessing a superb record in Saudi, he’d look a huge price if coming to life at this suitable course.

DJ started last season well, following a 5^th-place finish in Mexico by winning in Vegas. Surprisingly, he was only able to muster up one further top 10 following that, finishing 7^th in Singapore and did little in the first three majors of the season, missing cuts in the Masters and US Open, and finishing 43^rd in the PGA Championship. He did look better when 31^st in The Open only five starts ago and though he’s played a light schedule since, I’m hoping he’ll at least be arriving here fresh.

He has been hitting the ball well this year, ranking 9^th in driving distance, 25^th in driving accuracy and 12^th in GIR on LIV. At 13^th in birdie average, he’s been scoring well enough for this birdie-fest.

Johnson has played this event on four occasions, winning in 2019 and 2021, finishing 2^nd in 2020 and he was 8^th on his latest start in 2022. As a player who has amassed five Open Championship top 10s, it’s little surprise these open desert courses suit his game.

1 pt Adrian Meronk each way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 50/1

Adrian Meronk’s 2024 campaign has been a story of two halves, with his strong performances in the first half of the year replaced by generally average displays in the second half. He has looked decent on two recent starts in the Middle East on the DPWT, and as a player with a great record in this region, I’m taking him to finish the year strongly in Saudi.

Meronk started the season with finishes of 10^th and 2^nd in Dubai on the DPWT, before then finishing top 10 in two of his first three LIV starts. He added further quality results when 10^th in Singapore and recorded his best finish of the season in Houston in June, finishing 2^nd, though hasn’t had another top 10 since.

The Pole’s high-class, power-packed driving game and quality on the greens was on show in recent midtable finishes in the Abu Dhabi Championship and DP World Tour Championship. He’s also looked good in these areas on LIV, ranking 14^th in putting and 15^th in driving distance, and with top-25 rankings for birdie average and GIR, he appears an ideal fit for Riyadh Golf Club.

Meronk’s only previous Saudi International start came in 2020, when he finished a solid 27^th. He again looked promising in Saudi earlier this year, finishing 6^th in LIV Jeddah. Having recorded top-5 finishes across the Dubai Desert Classic, Qatar Masters and Ras Al Khaimah Championship on the DPWT, he has plenty of previous in the Middle East and will be one of the more comfortable players in this week’s surroundings.

0.75 pts Yuta Sugiura each way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 125/1

I’m going to finish with Japanese youngster, Yuta Sugiura. The former #11 amateur has won two of the Japan Tour’s biggest titles since turning pro at the end of last year and looking at home amongst PGA Tour and DPWT fields in 2024, he could well outplay his odds this week.

Sugiura won the Dunlop Phoenix on the JGTO – an event won by the likes of Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka – at the end of last year when still an amateur and turned professional the following week.

He added the Japan PGA Championship in July this year for his second victory on tour but it’s a couple of non-winning performances that stand out. Back in April he finished 7^th in the ISPS Handa Championship – an event co-sanctioned by the DPWT – and just five starts ago he was 6^th in the PGA Tour-sanctioned ZOZO Championship, ending the week as the highest-finishing home player. Both results displaying his ability to perform at an enhanced level.

This week’s course will no doubt be different to what Sugiura is used to playing. However, he showed himself to be a player who possesses a strong approach game in the ZOZO Championship, ranking 6^th and rating as a lengthy driver and decent putter on the JGTO, who can make plenty of birdies, his game may well suit the test.

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