The 2025 PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers is part of the WOW Festival sporting event taking place as part of Riyadh Season 2025. The WOW Festival combines golf, cars, and entertainment in one integrated experience.
America’s Caleb Surratt co-leads the tournament after a stunning round of 62, just one off his own course record of 61 (3rd round 2024 PIF Saudi International) He is alongside Poland’s Adrian Meronk who matched Surratt’s nine under with a bogey-free round…
Surratt finished runner up to Joaquin Niemann in 2024, alongside Cameron Smith after a dramatic three-man play-off, he explained his continued good form at Riyadh Golf Club…
“I’m just comfortable on this golf course. It fits me really well. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. I think I’m really starting to peak and find some good form.
I played well at the end of this year, and I’ve kind of had to fight to get back. I feel like today kind of showed me how some work has paid off.”
Meronk too has hit form at the right time on a course that suits his eye…
“Very pleased with my game today. Played very solid. My putter was hot, hit a lot of good shots. Very happy with the position I’m in at the start of the tournament. Still a lot of golf to be played, but yeah, a great place to be after the first round.”
Belgian’s Thomas Pieters on what was working so well today as he sits in solo third place…
“I’ve been playing very consistently all year. Two top 10s the last two tournaments, where I felt I played pretty good, just didn’t putt very well. Hence why I was tinkering with the putter. A new set of irons this week, for example, so we’re trying that out. It’s working out pretty well, but my caddie was pretty stressed about that. Overall very happy of course.”
20-year-old amateur Adam Bresnu on playing this tournament after finishing T6 last year…
“I like the course to be honest. I love Saudi Arabia. It’s always a pleasure to come here. I have a lot of friends here, Saud, Othman, all of them. It’s great. I feel like I’m home to be honest. Whenever I go to Arab countries, it’s like home to me. So I think it impact kind of my game. It helps me a lot too. Yeah, this tournament is unreal. What Golf Saudi does for us, Arab golfers, it’s really good. Happy to be here.”
The green keepers at Riyadh Golf Club have been much praised this week by the players as the course conditions especially the greens are now considered amongst the best on Tour.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat after an opening 64 is 4th on the leaderboard…
“It is my third time playing in this place, and I would say the green conditions is one of the best compared with the last two I played before. Conditions was always good, golf course fantastic, all the maintenance, everyone working so well to maintain the quality of the golf course.”
Meronk assessing the course condition said…
“It’s very good. It’s very good. They’ve prepared the course very well. It’s quite windy as well. It just seems like it suits my game. I really like it. I think I kind of know how to play this course already, and I like the greens. They roll nicely. I see the break nicely. I just enjoy playing here. Excited to be here again.”
Louis Oosthuizen was also enjoying the pristine course opening with a six under par after shaking off a bogey at his first hole (10th)…
“I sort of quickly felt comfortable going around the course, rolling it nicely, greens are looking so good.
The beginning of the year, we were having difficulties with the greens here, and it’s such a big improvement. I think a lot of guys on the green are going to feel like they can make a lot of putts. Just played solid today. They’ve (Riyadh GC) done a great job. I think there’s a lot of people that didn’t want to come back here because the way the greens were the beginning of the season. Right now it’s as good as you can get them. So very pleased with it.”
The leading Saudi player, Othman Almulla on being one of a record seven Saudi players in the field this week…
“I said it yesterday in an interview, it’s a super individual sport, but I feel like we’re trying to break the mold by continuing what we did as a national team together and continue to push each other to get better and kind of be inspired by each other’s results.
Khalid and Faisal have had some great results on International Series this year. I’ve been playing also on ADT. To see them play out there and get some great performances, it’s kind of keep going, let’s all do it together. Hopefully they can see one of us under par today. Reda and I played in Moroccan Amateur, he also played great.
I think AG Golf Saudi and Saudi Golf Federation is doing a great job of giving Saudi talent the opportunity to tee off against the best in the world. Hopefully we push each other. It’s going to be really, really cool. There’s a lot of people from Asia. You see multiple people from Thailand, Australia, UK. Why can’t we have people from Saudi competing higher up on the leaderboard as well as Moroccans and Egyptians? There’s a lot of really talented people in the Arab world. We’re working really hard, and hopefully the results are coming really soon.”
Report by AsianTour.com
PIF SAUDI INTERNATIONAL POWERED BY SOFTBANK INVESTMENT ADVISERS: SURRATT AND MERONK STRIKE EARLY WITH SIZZLING 62S
Caleb Surratt and Adrian Meronk rekindled their magic with Riyadh Golf Club today, shooting nine-under-par 62s to take the first-round lead in the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers.
They lead from Belgium’s Thomas Pieters who returned a 63 while Kiradech Aphibarnrat from Thailand shot a 64 – in the final event of the season on The International Series, and the third from last stop on the Asian Tour calendar.
Both Surratt and Meronk have history at this venue. Surratt shot a course record 61 in this event last year in the third round before going on to lose in a play-off, while Meronk claimed the LIV Golf Riyadh title here in February.
Surratt, who was beaten by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann in extra-time 12 months ago, was comfortably on course to break his course record when, after starting on 10, he played the back nine in seven-under-par 29.
He birdied six on the trot from 11 and made birdie on the last, before two more birdies followed on holes one and two. That put the American on 59 watch, before that was stood down after a bogey on the fourth. He closed with a birdie on nine.
“It was a great day,” he said. “I’ve been working really, really hard the last few weeks. This is my fifth week traveling, so I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had to fight a lot of battles, so it was kind of nice to win today’s battle. I’m very pleased, but it’s just the start of the tournament.”
The 21-year-old from North Carolina joined the LIV Golf League soon after turning professional and plays for Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team.
He is yet to win but has come close several times. As well as tying for second here last year he was also joint second in the International Series England earlier in 2024 and was equal third in the International Series Morocco before that.
“It’s been a much better year. I believe I’m one of the best players, and I truly have shown myself that, especially towards the back half of the year. I’m really starting to learn my process, learn what I need to do to play well,” he added.
“I think it’s an everlasting process to learn how to be more consistent. I feel like my good golf is more than good enough, but what makes all these great players so good is they can bring it nearly every week.”
Meronk’s victory here at the start of the season was his first on the LIV Golf League – which he debuted on last year.
“I don’t know. It just seems like it [Riyadh Golf Club] suits my game,” said the Polish golfer, who plays for Cleeks GC.
“I really like it. I think I kind of know how to play this course already, and I like the greens. They roll nicely. I see the break nicely. Yeah, I just enjoy playing here. Excited to be here again.”
Pieters birdied the last two holes to close in at the end. The 4Aces GC man arrived here in encouraging form after top 10 finishes in both the Link Hong Kong Open and the Moutai Singapore Open.
He said: “I putted unbelievable today. I think I had 24 putts. Usually, I don’t make a lot of putts from 10 to 15 feet, and today I made all of them.
“I was putting on Sunday night on my putting green at home, and I was just kind of messing about with different models and stuff. I always like to tinker with putters. This one is an old one that I got eight, nine years ago, never used it, but it did a good job today.”
Kiradech, the Asian Tour Order of Merit winner in 2013, also clearly likes the course, as he was joint third in the Saudi Open presented by PIF early last year.
He said: “I’m quite pleased with the way I’m playing the past couple months. Starting really good, just can’t get everything going through the weekend. But I just keep knocking on the door, and hopefully everything is coming together.
“I’ve been playing here not often, but this is my third time playing in this place, and I would say the green conditions is one of the best compared with the last two I played before.”
South African Louis Oosthuizen and England’s Paul Casey are tied for fifth following 65s, along with Korean Seonghyeon Kim and Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz.
Defending champion Niemann has work to do after a 72, while Australian Cam Smith, who was also in the play-off last year, came in with a 71.
The race to finish in the top two on The International Series Rankings to secure a place on the LIV Golf League moved one step closer.
The leading three players in the rankings, Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe, Yosuke Asaji from Japan, and Filipino Miguel Tabuena were paired in the same group.
Vincent and Tabuena both carded 67s, while Asaji fired a 72.
Vincent leads the Rankings, with 325.59 points, ahead of Asaji in second, on 285.3, with Tabuena third, having earned 232.28 points.
However, with the winner this week set to earn 324 points, the race is wide open, meaning players further down on the Rankings also have a chance to grab one of the places at the very end.
