Saudi fund PIF deepens investment in women’s professional golf

Saudi Arabia is deepening its investment in women’s professional golf.

The Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, announced on Wednesday that it will become the title partner of five events that will take place on the the Ladies European Tour.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of this latest deal, the tour will revamp the five events, which will be collectively rebranded as the PIF Global Series. The events take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Seoul, South Korea; London; Houston; and Shenzhen, China.

“PIF continues to be a catalyst for the growth of women’s sports, committed to delivering long-term transformative impact by inspiring and empowering female athletes at every level,” Alanoud Althonayan, head of events and sponsorships at PIF, said in a statement.

The revamped tournament format will feature team and individual competitions happening simultaneously.

The Saudis are also injecting additional money into the prize pools, with a collective purse of $13 million across the five events.

Alexandra Armas, CEO of the Ladies European Tour, said the partnership with PIF has helped raise the level of competition in the women’s game and gives players more opportunities to succeed on the world stage.

Saudi Arabia has been aggressively investing in professional sports in recent years as part of its vision to diversify the country’s economy away from oil. Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia has been slow to give Saudi women rights, those investments have included spending big money on international women’s sports.

Last May, the fund signed a multi-year partnership with the WTA Tour, the women’s professional tennis organization, to grow the game and improve women’s benefits in the league.

And in March, PIF announced it will fully fund the tour’s maternity fund, which would allow women to take up to a year of leave fully paid.

However, PIF’s foray into men’s golf has been more complicated.

Nearly two years ago, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan appeared on CNBC, announcing a merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. But that deal has yet to happen, despite the latest push by President Donald Trump to bring the two parties together.

The Aramco Korea Championship kicks off Friday in Seoul.