Aramco Team Series opening
event slated opposite
the PGA Tour’s
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Story by: Len Ziehm
Photos by: Beverly and Greg Wise
CLEARWATER, Florida – The scheduling for the Aramco Team Series opener was unusual, its opening event being slated opposite the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational just an hour away in Orlando.
With a tee off Friday on International Women’s Day, the Aramco event is unusual enough. Imagine a women’s team event — one put on by the Ladies European Tour (LET) with $1 million in prize money provided by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which also bankrolls the controversial men’s LIV Golf League — being played on American soil.
After this tourney concludes on Sunday the series will have stops in South Korea, London, Asia and Saudi Arabia.
Beautiful trophy awaits the winner with a portion of the $1 million purse presented by PIF / Saudi Arabia
This women’s tourney at Feather Sound Country Club has a stellar field. The 82 players come from 24 countries and own 39 wins on the European Tour, nine on the LPGA Tour and three in major championships.
Though it’s an LET event, the field includes American stars Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome, Marina Alex and Megan Khang. Top Europeans are England’s Charley Hull and Bronte Law and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who won the tournament last year at Trump International in West Palm Beach, FL.
Brittany Lincicome
Lexi Thompson
Megan Khang
Defending Champion – Carlota Ciganda – Pamplona, Spain
Ciganda and Alex were the only ones among those hotshots to show top form in Friday’s Round 1. Both carded 6-under-par 66s to share the lead with Chloe Williams, of Wales, and Kim Metraux, of Switzerland.
Defending champion Ciganda had a great start (birdies on the first two holes) and a solid finish. “I birdied three of my last five holes. I’m very happy,’’ she said.
Amature Sophia Dyer, plays a beautiful sand shot to 4-feet to save par on the 18th hole. Dyer and caddie Bella Dovhey live up the putt on the 18th at Feather Sound.
This year’s tournament was under the radar because lining up a U.S. site was a slow process. Feather Sound wasn’t assured of hosting until five weeks ago, a very short time for tournament preparation. First-round play was also slow, reaching 5 ½ hours at the end of the day on Friday.
This event, though, is being contested in four-player teams (of three pros and one amateur) for two days. It’s the only team series on any of the pro golf tours.
Annabell Fuller – Roehampton Club – London England
Possibly the “Best Hair” of the week
After 36 holes the top 60 pros will compete for individual prize money in Sunday’s final round with no qualms about going head-to-head with the $20 million Arnold Palmer Invitational, one of the “elevated’’ events on the PGA Tour schedule.
Len has been covering golf for over 56 years. He was the golf columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for 41 years and has been in the same role for the Daily Herald and several regional newspapers since 2009. Len is also a regular contributor to the Chicago District Golfer magazine and his travel pieces are regularly published in Pro Golf Weekly, New England.Golf, eSouthernGolf and the Ohio Golf Journal. His works for all publications are available at lenziehmongolf.com. It is in its 15th year of operation and has been enhanced by the photography provided by his partner Joy Sarver. An inductee into the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004 (for his reporting and youth coaching, not as a player), Len was also inducted into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also on the Advisory Board of the International Network of Golf, is a lifetime member of the Golf Writers Association of America and a member of the Golf Travel Writers of America.
