This week the European Tour heads to Saudi Arabia for the 2021 Saudi International, and plenty of big-name golfers from the States are making the trip to fight for the trophy, too. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the tournament.
Saudi International Preview
If you’re used to watching the PGA Tour, you should recognize plenty of familiar faces at this week’s Saudi International. A host of star Tour pros will be at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, to compete in the third-ever playing of the tournament. Among them is the most decorated player in the field: Phil Mickelson. No one competing can top his five major wins, but Mickelson’s game has not been on point lately, as he finished T53 at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open
But the player who finished on top of the pack at the Farmers, Patrick Reed, is also teeing it up this week. Reed is the hottest topic in the game right now thanks to his win and the controversial free-relief scenario he got himself into on Saturday.
How and why Saudi Arabia is trying to spark a golf craze
The top-ranked golfer in the world right now is 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson. Johnson won the inaugural Saudi International in 2019, and now he’s back to attempt a second Saudi victory and maintain his No.1 ranking. Defending champion Graeme McDowell will also be in attendance, as will reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood and many more.
While the tournament runs Thursday through Sunday, the venue for this week’s event is eight hours ahead of the Eastern time zone in the United States. So if you’re watching from the East Coast of the U.S., the first groups will actually tee off on Wednesday at 11:10 p.m. ET. You can find complete information about streaming the 2021 Saudi International online or watching the action on TV below, as well as complete first round tee times.
Saudi International Basics
What: 2021 Saudi International
Where: Royal Greens G&CC, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
When: Thursday-Sunday, February 4-7
Winner’s share: $3.5 million
Last year’s champion: Graeme McDowell
How to watch the Saudi International on TV
With a cable subscription, you can watch the 2021 Saudi International on Golf Chanel. Golf Channel will air five hours of coverage each day Thursday-Friday, with four and a half hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. Check out the full TV schedule below.
Thursday, Feb. 4: 3-5 a.m. ET; 6:30-9:30 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, Feb. 5: 3-5 a.m. ET; 6:30-9:30 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, Feb. 6: 4:30-9 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Sunday, Feb. 7: 4:30-9 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)
How to watch the Saudi International online, streaming
You can stream the complete Golf Channel coverage of the 2021 Saudi International online Thursday through Sunday at golfchannel.com/watch by logging in with your cable credentials.
2021 Saudi International tee times: Round 1 (ET)
Tee No. 1
11:10 p.m. – KAWAMURA, Masahiro; WARING, Paul; ORMSBY, Wade
11:20 p.m. – FOX, Ryan; LORENZO-VERA, Mike; MCEVOY, Richard
11:30 p.m. – COETZEE, George; HILL, Calum; LANGASQUE, Romain
11:40 p.m. – BURMESTER, Dean; APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech; MOLINARI, Edoardo
11:50 p.m. – WOOD, Chris; KITAYAMA, Kurt; KINHULT, Marcus
12:00 a.m. – BROBERG, Kristoffer; HEBERT, Benjamin; LEE, Min Woo
12:10 a.m. – WU, Ashun; BROWN, Steven; LUITEN, Joost
12:20 a.m. – ELVIRA, Nacho; WALTERS, Justin; ZANOTTI, Fabrizio
12:30 a.m. – LAPORTA, Francesco; HORSEY, David; IEFFER, Maximilian
12:40 a.m. – HOWELL, David; DETRY, Thomas; McGOWAN, Ross
12:50 a.m. – QUIROS, Alvaro; PORTEOUS, Haydn; KJELDSEN, Søren
1:00 a.m. – DUNNE, Paul; SODERBERG, Sebastian; HALL, Harry
3:50 a.m. – SOUTHGATE, Matthew; WARREN, Marc; SAMOOJA, Kalle
4:00 a.m. – ARNAUS, Adri; NIENABER, Wilco; VÄLIMÄKI, Sami
4:10 a.m. – CABRERA BELLO, Rafa; RAI, Aaron; ANCER, Abraham
4:20 a.m. – STENSON, Henrik; REED, Patrick; HØJGAARD, Rasmus
4:30 a.m. – POULTER, Ian; WILLETT, Danny; HOVLAND, Viktor
4:40 a.m. – MCDOWELL, Graeme; CASEY, Paul; MACINTYRE, Robert
4:50 a.m. – ELS, Ernie; BEZUIDENHOUT, Christiaan; KOKRAK, Jason
5:00 a.m. – JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Ángel; BJØRN, Thomas; SCHWAB, Matthias
5:10 a.m. – SCHAPER, Jayden; ALMULLA, Othman; FISHER, Oliver
5:20 a.m. – CATLIN, John; AL SHARIF, Saud; BJÖRK, Alexander
5:30 a.m. – SHARVIN, Cormac; GAGLI, Lorenzo; HIGGO, Garrick
Tee No. 10
11:10 p.m. – HARDING, Justin; OTAEGUI, Adrian; SULLIVAN, Andy
11:20 p.m. – ROZNER, Antoine; LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo; KANAYA, Takumi
11:30 p.m. – PIETERS, Thomas; CANTER, Laurie; LI, Haotong
11:40 p.m. – MICKELSON, Phil; FLEETWOOD, Tommy; WIESBERGER, Bernd
11:50 p.m. – GARCIA, Sergio; FINAU, Tony; LOWRY, Shane
12:00 a.m. – DECHAMBEAU, Bryson; WALLACE, Matt; ROSE, Justin
12:10 a.m. – JOHNSON, Dustin; WESTWOOD, Lee; HATTON, Tyrrell
12:20 a.m. – NA, Kevin; PEREZ, Victor; KAYMER, Martin
12:30 a.m. – SHARMA, Shubhankar; VEGAS, Jhonattan; STONE, Brandon
12:40 a.m. – STERNE, Richard; CAMPILLO, Jorge; GALLACHER, Stephen
12:50 a.m. – HANSEN, Joachim B.; KORHONEN, Mikko; SMITH, Jordan
1:00 a.m. – GUERRIER, Julien; AL KURDI, Shergo; PAVON, Matthieu
3:50 a.m. – LAW, David; ROUSAUD, Eduard; PAVAN, Andrea
4:00 a.m. – GREEN, Gavin; LOMBARD, Zander; PAISLEY, Chris
4:10 a.m. – DRYSDALE, David; WILSON, Oliver; JANEWATTANANOND, Jazz
4:20 a.m. – SURI, Julian; FORREST, Grant; MORRISON, James
4:30 a.m. – JAMIESON, Scott; CROCKER, Sean; BERTASIO, Nino
4:40 a.m. – FISHER, Ross; JOHNSTON, Andrew; CHESTERS, Ashley
4:50 a.m. – LIPSKY, David; HEND, Scott; LEVY, Alexander
5:00 a.m. – MIGLIOZZI, Guido; SCRIVENER, Jason; HERBERT, Lucas
5:10 a.m. – DUBUISSON, Victor; WINTHER, Jeff; DONALDSON, Jamie
5:20 a.m. – PARATORE, Renato; SALHAB, Faisal; RAMSAY, Richie
5:30 a.m. – PULKKANEN, Tapio; JACQUELIN, Raphaël; STALTER, Joël
