SEVEN SCOTS IN FIRST WOMEN'S PRO EVENT IN SAUDI

Seven Scots are set to tee it up in this week's inaugural Aramco Saudi Ladies International at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on the Red Sea coast.

The small 'Tartan Army', that will help make golfing history this week as they play in Saudi Arabia’s first ever professional female tournament, will include LET winners Carly Booth and Kylie Henry.

They will be joined by Kelsey MacDonald, Michele Thomson, Alison Muirhead and Laura Murray, who have secured spots in the $1m event through their LET categories, and also Heather MacRae, who was delighted to land an invitation to the LET event.

Catriona Matthew was due to make it eight Scots, but the Solheim Cup captain was withdrawn after testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of last week's Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, although she was later cleared after two subsequent tests proved to be negative.

While some LET players, including England's duo Meghan MacLaren and Mel Reid, have decided to skip the event due to concerns over Saudi Arabia's human rights record, there is still a strong line-up for the event.

Heading that line-up are four 2019 Solheim Cup team-mates, Georgia Hall, Charley Hull, Anna Nordqvist and Anne van Dam, and the 2020 Race to Costa del Sol leader, Emily Pederson.

The field will also include four-time major-winner Laura Davies. Thrilled to be part of the landmark event in womenʼs golf, Davies said:

"The Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF will be quite the watershed moment that allows us to bring the sport we love to a whole new audience in a way that I think blazes a trail for women and sportswomen in and out of Saudi Arabia."

"Weʼre taking womenʼs golf to a new frontier, both in terms of inspiring new women to give the sport a try and in helping grow the Ladies European Tour event calendar, so itʼs a tournament Iʼm really excited to play in."

The LET event, which takes place from 12-15 November, will be followed on 17-19 November at the same venue by the Saudi Ladies Team International.

To celebrate the historic nature of both tournaments, Golf Saudi is launching a ‘Ladies First Clubʼ, which will offer free golf to 1,000 women living across the Kingdom.