The Saudi International, the Asian Tour's flagship event, has helped dilute the field at the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as all of LIV Golf is participating in Saudi Arabia. Dustin Johnson (7-1) is a two-time winner (2019, 2021) of this event. Cameron Smith (8-1), OWGR No. 4, finished fourth in the event last year. Joaquin Niemann (10-1) finished eighth and also third on this course in the LIV Jeddah event last October.

Cameron Young (14-1), Lucas Herbert (22-1), Mito Pereira (40-1), Sebastian Munoz (125-1) and Cameron Champ (100-1) are in this field leading to speculation that they may be the next to join LIV Golf.

Brooks Koepka (16-1) won the LIV Jeddah event in October. Patrick Reed (20-1) picked up valuable OWGR points last week in Dubai, finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy and is now back to No. 57 in the world and closing in on the top 50.

Harold Varner III (25-1) is the defending champion.

The Saudi International is in its fifth year of existence but became a flagship event on the Asian Tour last year. The event is held in King Abdullah Economic City, located along the coast of Red Sea. This event is never without controversy as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s political and human rights issues have been well-documented. Nevertheless, it has not stopped many big-time names in golf from traveling there and scooping up some extra appearance fees.

The tournament ceased to be a European Tour event after the 2021 edition, and later that year it was announced that as a result, the PGA Tour would not allow its members to compete in future editions, with the European Tour expected to do the same. In September 2021, it was announced that it would become part of the Asian Tour's schedule. This involved a 10-year deal starting in 2022, with an increased prize fund of $5 million. In October, it was announced that the event would become the flagship event of the Asian Tour. In December, the PGA Tour revealed that it would grant their members releases to play in the event in 2022 on the condition that they committed to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in the following years.

This all changed, though, as Greg Norman, with the backing of the Public Investment Fund (owned by the Saudi Arabian government), started LIV Golf officially last summer.

The Royal Greens Golf & Country Club was built in 2017 and designed by Dave Sampson of Euro Golf Design. The track plays as a par-72 for members but will play as a par-70 for the players this week as the par-5s on the ninth and13th holes are converted to par-4s for a 7,010-yard layout. There are 12 par-4s on this track that only average around 420 yards and four of them measure less than 380 yards. The course is built around four lakes with some holes playing toward and alongside the Red Sea. As well as the water, native desert areas and waste areas await poor shots as well as drainage ditches. There are several doglegs, too, so the course will demand some strategy. The course features Royal Paspalum Dynasty grass throughout. Nevertheless, this is a shorter layout, so wind has the be the primary defense.

Recent History/Winners
2022: Harold Varner III (-13/267); 55-1

2021: Dustin Johnson (-15/265); 11-2

2020: Graeme McDowell (-12/268); 80-1

2019: Dustin Johnson (-19/261); 7-1

Cameron Young 14-1

Young makes his debut in this event.

Unlike many of his top-end competitors, he has already played twice in 2023 finishing T-13 at the Sentry and T-26 at the AMEX.

He has five runners-up on the PGA Tour in the last 16 months and can certainly compete with the top players in this field.

Abraham Ancer 30-1

Ancer missed the cut last week in Dubai, but that could have given him the opportunity to knock off some offseason rust.

He was 11th and 8th in the two events on this course last year and was sixth here in 2020.

Henrik Stenson 40-1

After being terminated from his Ryder Cup captaincy because of joining LIV Golf, Stenson won the LIV event at Bedminster last summer.

He finished eighth last week in Dubai and 20th the week prior in Abu Dhabi, so he will be far less rusty than some of the others who have not played any form of competitive golf in four months.