The PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers brings the season to a close on The International Series, while it is the third from last stop on the Asian Tour calendar.

Boasting prizemoney of US$5million it is the most lucrative event of the year, where much will be decided.

The leading two players from The International Series Rankings at the end of the week will book their places on next year’s LIV Golf League, while the event will play a significant role in determining who claims the Asian Tour Order of Merit title.

The tournament first became part of the Asian Tour in 2022, and regularly attracts the strongest field of the year with a glittering array of stars.

First played in 2019, it has been won on two occasions by American Dustin Johnson while Chile’s Joaquin Niemann is the defending champion.

The event was held at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah for the first five years before moving to Riyadh Golf Club last year.

General view of the !8th hole at Riyadh Golf Club. 

Tournament Information

• Tournament: PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers
• Date: 19 – 22 November
• Venue: Riyadh Golf Club
• Par/Yards: 71 / 7,411 yards
• Purse: US$5million (First place US$1million)
• Previous Winner: Joaquin Niemann (CHI) – won play-off against Cameron Smith (AUS) and Caleb Surratt (USA)
• Previous winning score: 263 (-21)
• Asian Tour leg: 19^th
• The International Series leg: Ninth
• Edition of tournament: Seventh (Asian Tour 2022, 2023 and 2024, DP World Tour 2019, 2020, 2021)
• Total number of players: 120
• Format: Stroke play tournament over four rounds of 18 holes with a cut after 36 holes to leading 65 pros plus ties.
• Social media hashtags: #TimeToRise # InternationalSeries #ThisIsEverything

Sergio Garcia.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: John Catlin (2024), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Scott Hend (2016), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2013)
• Nationalities: 30
• Top contenders: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Cameron Smith (AUS), Dustin Johnson (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Tom McKibbin (NIR), Scott Vincent (ZIM), Kazuki Higa (JPN), Miguel Tabuena (PHI), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Yosuke Asaji (JPN)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Tyrrell Hatton #20
• Highest ranked player on 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit: Kazuki Higa (JPN) #1
• Highest ranked player in 2025 International Series Rankings: Scott Vincent (ZIM) #1
• Number of amateurs in the field: 6
• Number of Saudi players in the field: 7

Graeme McDowell.

Tournament Notes

• Englishman Tyrrell Hatton is the highest ranked player in the field this week, after a successful season in which he won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, finished runner-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and had a T5 at the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour. He also finished T4 at the U.S. Open, his seventh career top 10 in a Major. He has won eight DP World Tour events, including one BMW PGA Championship and five Rolex Series events, and one PGA Tour event, the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is also a four-time Ryder Cup player for the European side. Playing on the LIV Golf League as part of John Rahm’s Legion XIII squad he has recorded one individual win which came in 2024.
• Defending champion Joaquin Niemann from Chile won an incredible five individual titles in the 2025 LIV Golf League season, as well as one team tournament as captain of the Torque GC team. This year he also recorded his first top-10 in a Major, finishing T8 in the PGA Championship. Prior to joining LIV Golf he recorded two wins on the PGA Tour, the 2019 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and the 2022 Genesis Invitational, and he also won the 2023 ISPS Handa Australian Open on the DP World Tour. Niemann was the number one ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 44 weeks, from May 2017 to April 2018 when he turned professional.
• Australian Cam Smith was one of the two players in the play-off for this tournament last year that was eventually won by Niemann. He famously won the Open Championship in 2022, and during this career-best season he also picked up the winning trophies at the Players Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, a T3 at the Masters Tournament and a T4 at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. As captain of Ripper GC on the LIV Golf League he has won three individual titles since joining in 2022.
• Dustin Johnson of the U.S. is a two-time Major champion, having won the 2020 Masters and 2016 U.S. Open. He was ranked number one in the world from February in 2017 and he held that position for 64 straight weeks, the 5th longest run as number one. He returned to the number one spot in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 and has been at number one for a total of over 130 weeks. Currently playing on the LIV Golf League as captain of the 4Aces, he has won one tournament each season there in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Johnson has won 24 PGA Tour events during his career and been part of five Ryder Cup teams and three Presidents Cup squads.
• American Patrick Reed has been in fine form this season in world-wide events, with a win at LIV Golf Dallas, a third-place finish in the Masters, and a T3 in the BMW PGA Championship. On the Asian Tour he was runner-up the International Series Macau presented by Wynn in March. On the DP World Tour he also recorded two other top-10’s while on LIV he posted five other top 10’s, finishing seventh in the individual standings. He won last year’s Link Hong Kong Open, his first title on the Asian Tour.
• Tom McKibbin from Northern Ireland won the Link Hong Open wire-to-wire three weeks ago for his first Asian Tour and International Series titles, after setting the tournament scoring record by six shots. Playing on the LIV Golf League as part of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team he posted four individual top-10s and four team wins this season. On the DP World Tour McKibbin has posted three top-10s this year, with a T3 at the Porsche Singapore Classic as his best result.
• Japan’s Kazuki Higa has led the Order of Merit since his T2 at the International Series Philippines four weeks ago, after earlier winning the Yeangder TPC and Shinhan Donghae Open in back-to-back weeks in September. He also had a strong start to his 2025 campaign, going T8, T5 and T2 in the Smart Infinity Philippine Open, International Series India Presented by DLF and New Zealand Open presented by Sky Sports respectively. On the Japan Tour he has recorded seven top 10’s this season, including wins at the Shinhan Donghae Open and at the ISPS HANDA Explosion in the Summer in mid-August.
• Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe tops The International Series Rankings after a win at the International Series Morocco in July, a runner-up at the Jakarta International Championship three weeks ago and a T10 at the International Series India presented by DLF earlier this season. He now sits in second place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit after Higa passed him with a T2 in the Philippines, and among Vincent’s other strong finishes are T2 at the Shinhan Donghae Open in September, T4 in the Kolon Korea Open and T8 at the Smart Infinity Philippine Open. In addition to his good results on the Asian Tour this season he has also posted three top-fives on the Japan Tour, the most recent at the Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament in late August.
• Miguel Tabuena from the Philippines had a story-book week at home last month, winning the International Series Philippines on his home course for his fourth Asian Tour victory. Starting out the 2025 season with a T5 in the Smart Infinity Philippine Open he also added another T5 at the Yeangder TPC in September. With his win at Sta Elena, along with a T11 in the Jakarta International Championship a T14 in the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and a T21 in the Link Hong Kong Open, Tabuena sits in third place on both the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings.
• Sergio Garcia of Spain has won 38 tournaments as a professional notably the 2017 Masters Tournament and the 2008 Players Championship. In addition to his Masters win Garcia has recorded an impressive 22 other top 10s in Major championships, including two second place finishes and two T2s. He has represented Europe in the Ryder Cup 10 times, on the winning side on six occasions, and he holds the Ryder Cup record for Most Overall Matches Won with 25, Most Overall Points Won with 28.5 and Most Wins in Foursome Matches with 12. His highest ever rank on the OWGR was second, which he reached in late 2008. Captaining the Fireballs GC team on the LIV Golf League Garcia won two individual titles, the 2025 LIV Hong Kong and 2024 LIV Andalucia.
• Japan’s Yosuke Asaji won the Moutai Singapore Open two week’s ago for his second Asian Tour and first International Series title, a fortnight after finishing T2 in the International Series Philippines. After these two great finishes he is now in second place on The International Series Rankings. On the Japan Golf Tour Asaji has recorded a win at The Crowns in early May and a T2 at the Kansai Open Golf Championship two weeks later as his best results this season.
• Major winners in the field this week: Martin Kaymer, Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson
• Current LIV Golf League players in the field this week: 40
• Past champions in the field this week: Joaquin Niemann (2024), Abraham Ancer (2023), Harold Varner III (2022), Dustin Johnson (2021, 2019), Graeme McDowell (2020)

Pictures by Ian Walton/Asian Tour.